Tag: TV

Matt Graham, a British writer talks about the dark history of the USA

London (Rosita Pirulli) – Matt Graham, a British writer talks about the dark history of The USA

Matt Graham is a British writer now settled in the USA well known for its talks about the untold facts about USA’s history. This journey  throughout the dark American routes started with Oliver Stone. The famous American writer and filmmaker was looking for a cowriter to complete his dream: a ten part documentary series about the unknown side of American History, now well known as “The Untold History of the United States”.

A writer who talks about other countries tales may be subjected to criticism but at the same time: “Outsiders often have the best perspectives because they can be objective and have fresh perspectives” – as Mr Graham said.

This is one of the reason why Oliver Stone chose him after having discovered to have in common the same passion: history. It was the Graham’s script about the British mercenaries in Angola in the 1970’s that caught the attention of Oliver Stone who decided to hire him.

From that time Matt has been recognised as a historical writer, now involved in several projects. He now lives and works in America. He told, one time, he is not the only one British writer who works in Hollywood. In order to get hired in those environments you have to: ‘write well and have good ideas’ – Matt underlines. 

However, there is a difference between writing in EU and writing in Hollywood: in the US writing means mainly ‘entertaining’. This is why a writer in LA can adapt his script in several ways, including TV and cinema and if you are not able to entertain your audience, then you will be easily cancelled.

Consequently, Matt Graham looks at LA as a centre of revolution in storytelling, in which writers can express theirselves more creatively. Nevertheless, ‘living by writing is very, very difficult’ says Matt, unless you are very ambitious and you keep to be perseverant in what you are doing and writing. 

Such profession was an occasion for Matt to discover the world by travelling  between Hollywood and Latin America for example and getting incredible experiences that a person can hardly forget in life. 

Amongst his trips, Matt got also the chance to write a movie in Mumbai recently, for example, directed by one of India’s biggest directors, Abhinay Deo. 

As he highlighted, such a life can be great and engaging as well as stressful but:  ‘its a price you pay without question if you’re creative and ambitious.  Those of us that do this, I think we all feel the same way’. 

 

Riccardo Moratto: from bullying victim in Italy to TV star in China

London – by Chiara Fiorillo

Riccardo Moratto, a 32-year-old Italian man, has had a very touching life. When he was young, he suffered from bullying at school, but despite this he never gave up. When he grew up, he moved to China, where he is now a popular TV star.

He told LondonOneRadio his story:

Riccardo, you can speak many languages, but how did you learn Mandarin?

For me, languages have always been a way to compensate for something I did not have. Since I was a child, I never had many friends. Because of this, I have always told myself that learning as many languages as possible could be useful for me to find a new friend somewhere in the world. My love for Chinese language was born around 2005 as a personal challenge: I told myself that many people in the world could speak Mandarin, therefore this could be a good choice for me.

When you were at school, you were a victim of bullying. Can you tell us what happened to you and how you managed to cope with this issue?

I was very strong, I must say. Many people are not as strong as me: an example of this is Matteo, a friend of mine, who decided to end his life and commit suicide in his bathroom.

In this occasion, I want to tell every victim of bullying that they should not be afraid to go on and to look for people to talk to. Many people diminish the power of bullying, because they do not understand how dangerous and mortal it can be.

For example, once we went on a school trip and those bullies targeted not only me but also another guy, they took some alcohol and they threw it into our hot water heater. Luckily, we had not turned it on, otherwise it could have been potentially deadly.

You also wrote a book about your experience.

Yes, I wrote it in Taiwan and I would like to publish it in Italian as well to help as many people who suffer from bullying as possible.

In the end, however, you became a TV star in a country that is not yours.

Yes, I have become the first Italian to host a TV show in China. Now, I am hosting three programmes and for me this is great. For me, moving to China has meant experiencing a new culture: one day I will go back to Italy, I hope.

For me, television is, like university, a platform to communicate messages. It can be very powerful.

You can also play the piano.

Yes, it has always been my only friend since I was a child. Every time I was sad and I did not want to speak to someone, I played it and I felt it was sharing its emotions with me. And so did I.

 

You can listen to the full interview here: http://www.spreaker.com/user/londonair/riccardo-moratto-vittima-del-bullismo-a-_1