TED Community » Simon Lewis
About Me
Born in London, England, Simon Lewis is an American film and television producer, writer, author and educator, whose industry experience includes career management of writers and directors; and production of shows ranging from the hit movie Look Who’s Talking, to an Emmy award-winning international coproduction for HBO, to variety specials with Howie Mandel, to critically acclaimed independent films such as The Chocolate War.
As educator, he has taught film producing at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and UCLA Extension (Outstanding Teacher of the Year in Performing Arts Award) where he co-founded an award winning Short Fiction Film program. A current member of the Writers Guild of America, he is author of "Rise and Shine," an inspirational autobiography based on his recovery from a 1994 hit and run, which is endorsed by the Brain Injury Association of America, the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, doctors and TV stars alike, and is due for publication spring, 2010.
Simon Lewis has lived in California for more than thirty years. He has law degrees from Christ's College Cambridge University in England and Boalt Hall School of Law in Berkeley, and is a California attorney.
He has personally mentored filmmakers for many years, including Nice Guys Sleep Alone (1999) featuring Morgan Fairchild; Mad Song (2000) an independent film reviewed by Kevin Thomas in the LA Times as the writer-director’s “dazzling debut,” and Keep Your Distance (2005) starring Stacy Keach, Jennifer Westfeldt, Gil Bellows, and Elizabeth Pena.
His management experience includes as investment banker in the City of London for what is now a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland, and as film producer, Executive VP and President of various special purpose production entities in the US and Canada.
- Location:
- United States, Sherman Oaks, CA
- Current organization:
- Writers Guild of America, west
- Past organizations:
- Screen Actors Guild, AFTRA, California Bar (Attorney)
- Current role:
- Author
- Gender:
- Male
- Areas of expertise:
- Film / TV Producer, Lecturer, Author, Surviving Death
- I am:
- Artist, Brainstormer, Consultant, Filmmaker, Lawyer, Single, Writer/Editor
- Associations:
- California Bar Association
- Languages:
- English, French
- My website links:
- Simon Lewis
- Universities:
- Boalt Hall Law School, Christ's College, Cambridge, UCLA Extension
More About Me
I'm passionate about
The story of my recovery, and what I learned as I searched for the hidden path to it, which I hope might inform other survivors, and inspire them to find their way to tomorrow.
An idea worth spreading
A New World of Health, and Spiritual Potential: The Hidden Path to Full Recovery
From US and international endorsements of Rise and Shine and the response to my talk at the INK conference seen also on TED, these ideas are something The World Needs Now.
To find the hidden path is to bridge the gap between potential mind and actual mind through cognitive training and other modalities. Bridge the gap between what can be done for patients by modern medicine, and, often, what is done through early discharge and other rationing systems. Bridge the gap between treatments focused on short-term management of symptoms, and functional medicine which, through advanced science, maximizes our inner potential, yet is not widely known or available.
Talk to me about
My memoir, and perspective on the health and spiritual potential within us. when you find the hidden path to full recovery.
People don't know that I'm good at
Private business and legal consulting
My TED Story
Rise and Shine," is the story of my sixteen year recovery from a tragic 75 mph hit and run, in which my wife died and I was reported dead at the scene. I wrote it to help other survivors.
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A comment on Talk: Simon Lewis: Don't take consciousness for granted
I set up a FaceBook page for Rise and Shine, and the great response inspires me to keep speaking, at OCTANe's MDIF in Irvine, CTV in San Francisco last month, on Radio Netherlands Worldwide and in London this June.
INK and TED offer the chance to change the world one mind at a time-- how great is that.
I'm so pleased that these ideas reached you, and hope you'll read Rise and Shine one day and share your comments. There's more information on my personal and book websites or the
INK and TED bio pages. Best wishes for 2013, Simon Lewis
A reply on Talk: Simon Lewis: Don't take consciousness for granted
I'm sorry I missed you at the METal Breakfast too, and look forward to hearing your thoughts on Rise and Shine. I apologize for delay in this response. I gave a keynote in San Francisco at the annual CTV meeting a few days ago. All my focus was on preparation, and I am now catching up with TED. Incidentally, isn't it interesting that our minds only know "now", making your 7th grade accident ever present for you.
In turn the potential to make the most of our minds is for the long term, the life term. I'm so pleased my talk inspired you, and sorry again to have missed you at METal. Happy new year, ever day of it. Simon
A reply on Talk: Simon Lewis: Don't take consciousness for granted
And thank you for sharing also. We're all in this process of discovery together. I'm sorry for your husband's injury and hope my story shines a light on ways forward for him. In my book I describe some of the specific processes my therapist took me through. Gentle exercises focused on specific functions of learning. You might "Like" the Rise and Shine site on FaceBook, because I post there when I speak (at the RSA in London in June, for example.) In my new talks I include part of a map of the Functions of Learning. I can't endorse specific treatments or clinicians, since each injury to the mind is unique and geographically specific, in your case to Florida.
My purpose is to build to the point where I can build a Foundation that integrates the Cs of Consciousness into a cohesive program to make the most of our minds repeatably and measurably. Frankly, I think it's the hope of humanity. I hope this answer gives you some clues on a way forward on your husband's hidden path, and wish you both a very happy new year. Simon
A reply on Talk: Simon Lewis: Don't take consciousness for granted
A comment on Talk: Simon Lewis: Don't take consciousness for granted
A reply on Talk: Simon Lewis: Don't take consciousness for granted
That our minds can contemplate this is the miracle of consciousness.
A reply on Talk: Simon Lewis: Don't take consciousness for granted
A reply on Talk: Simon Lewis: Don't take consciousness for granted
All good questions. I wrote my book "Rise and Shine" to explore consciousness (and its recovery over the long-term, the life-term) because there are so few resources to help people make the most of their Actual Mind. That is why my book is dedicated "to everyone who needs to find the hidden path."
For example, my experience of cognitive therapy is described there, and I'm researching these modalities for a book because so many have written to ask this question from around the world. INK and TED are extraordinary organizations to have enabled me to reach so many, from Norway to Switzerland to the PRC (see my TED Conversation for a small sample of the responses.)
In my current essay for Chicken Soup for the Soul: Boost Your Brain Power! (lead author Dr. Marie Pasinski of Harvard Medical School), also titled "Rise and Shine" in the final chapter "Don't Accept Labels", I describe my goal to form a nonprofit to undertake a long-term population study in different countries to prove out an integrated approach to maximizing our minds.
My approach is multi-faceted (my books, talks, radio interviews, the Four C's of Consciousnesses in my INK on TED talk) because If I am successful, the way forward on "the hidden path" will use an integrated approach to assist the processes of learning and make the most of our minds.
I am one person dependent on individual responses and access to advocacy from readers of my book such as Lakshmi Pratury and Chris Anderson, Content Curators for INK and TED. A program called "Unfictional" for KCRW Santa Monica National Public Radio here in the US which begins with my interview "It's Always Now" is presently a finalist for the LA Press Club Annual Awards, to be held on June 24 to recognize excellence in journalism for 2011. So at each step, I am making progress. You may find the interview of interest as another facet of Actual Mind:
http://soundcloud.com/kcrw/sets/simon-lewis-a-hollywood
Best regards, Simon Lewis
A reply on Talk: Simon Lewis: Don't take consciousness for granted
http://riseandshinethebook.com/
A reply on Talk: Simon Lewis: Don't take consciousness for granted
I'm researching a book, as so many wish to know more details on this most important issue of our time (please see the TED Conversation which explores online the question of how we can make the most of our consciousness.)
It's important to remember that within our one shared consciousness there are infinite individual expressions of it. My goal in Rise and Shine is to give people tools to help them explore for their hidden path, and I will continue this process in my next book I plan, with more elements of my cognitive training and the sub processes of consciousness.
Thank you for your good questions.