Ward.

I didn't know what to expect. Today's Master Class brought in Donel Lardner Ward from... a couple of movies that I hadn't seen. His IMDB profile is pretty wide-ranging in the work he does, but nothing really iconic.

I really got a lot out of this one. Don Ward's come close to breaking through, to "making it big" a handful of times, but every time it's been close, but not quite. What does this add up to? A successful career that he's been able to have a lot of fun with and create movies with.

Don Ward has been the most human of the master class speakers - Mike Judge and Richard Linklater both have impressive and well respected bodies of work, Ross McElwee is a Harvard professor, all seemed to have some sort of level of removal between them and us. Don Ward is a guy who loves what he does and just does it.

Of course, this is not to say that he doesn't have his accomplishments - he's written and directed and acted in two feature films, his own television series, and worked for over 15 years in the film industry. He credits his being able to support himself and maintain the ability to get projects rolling to endurance. Most people will quit eventually as it's too tough, if you stay in there, something is going to work for you.

Don's got some amazing stories to go with all this - from developing a project with the Rolling Stones and meeting Mick Jagger to a series of events that's currently known as "Untitled Ben Stiller project".

Will this be Donal Ward's big break? I don't know, but I know I'm certainly rooting for him.
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