What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Turk Pipkin’s background in the arts
• What the Book of Every Other Month Club is
• Turk Pipkin’s philanthropy work

Turk Pipkin is an author, actor, comedian, and activist hailing West Texas and is now living in Austin. He is best known for his documentary Nobelity which premiered at SXSW in 2006 then released two subsequent films premiering at SXSW in 2009 and 2011, respectively. The first film lead to the founding of his and his wife, Christy Pipkin’s, non-profit The Nobelity Project. He has also worked as a screenwriter and written novels such as Angles Sing, which was released later as a film of the same name, and Tao of Willie, co-authored by Willie Nelson. He is also the founder of The Book of Every Other Month Club.

The Nobelity Project is an education non-profit that has worked locally and globally. In Austin, they work with Project Help to assist houseless students and are tree planting partners in Bastrop State Park. They work with partners globally in Latin America on conservation education and to improve literacy. Pipkin states the biggest part of the work takes place in Kenya with public schools to improve infrastructure.

The Book of Every Other Month Club was created to assist The Nobelity Project with their efforts in Kenya. He ran the campaign on Indiegogo, and subscribers would receive a new book every other month written by Pipkin. He took on the challenge of writing and releasing six books in a year. Whenever someone would subscribe to receive their six books, six books would be put into libraries in Kenya built by The Nobelity Project.

Listen to our eighth installment of Masters & Founders to hear more about Pipkin’s history in the creative industry, his philanthropic work, and why he loves Austin. You’ll also hear his advice to young creatives on the “secret to success”. If you like what you hear, be sure to share this episode with a friend or colleague!

Masters & Founders is a founding_media podcast created in collaboration with foundingAUSTIN.

Hosts: Dan Dillard & Ryan Francis

Guest: Turk Pipkin

Find Turk Pipkin on Twitter and Instagram

Transcript:

Chances are you’ve seen heard or read or enjoyed some kind of art from our next guest Turk Pipkin is an actor writer and activist he knew he wanted to write and work in film and he made it happen recorded during our time at South by Southwest we got a chance to sit down with her and here how he made his passions his career here’s our conversation with Turk Pipkin

Hello everybody and welcome to masters and founders the podcast is brought to you by founding Austin before we begin I want to thank our sponsors for enabling us to do this

we wanna thank Waterloo sparkling water, tiny house coffee ,kind bar, still whiskey, and of course Russell collection fine art gallery that we’re doing all this and today we have Turk Pipkin

who is the founder of was an author founder of book of every other month club we’re going to hear a little bit about his story from beginning to end and I kind of just wanna jump right and so we will do that how are you Turk are you having a good day Sir good morning I’m having a great day up and I’ve got coffee and in itself by an Austin Texas happy spring break too well yeah but you know spring break if you want you don’t have kids in school it is the work of the whole idea of it being spring break even forget that and so is the not like I’m going to go to a beach bar that’s right so let me I am I not during spring break yeah yeah course so let’s jump right in and tell the audience what you do and and how you got into it and and basically the whole story wherever you want to start off well I am what I do pretty much take the whole podcasts I think about I people tend to know me from however they first heard about me which I don’t think it’s unusual for people in the creative arts so but in my case because I’m a writer and I’ve always been a writer since I was a kid really and the filmmaker and work as an actor sometimes and and also my wife and I founders of the nobility project in education in film non profit so if if people no one of my day I’m like a novel for my novel fast greens for instance which is twenty five years old at this point but still really wonderful book affects what they know that’s pretty much what they know and if they if they know me from novella the the first of the three features made for that about a project which is a film about look at global issues and then they’re developing fans and it’s amazing world sometimes years later people go wow I don’t know you an actor after they’ve been very involved in our work I know me from the sopranos then then obviously that’s one that sticks out that’s cool

I have a question so out of as we discussed in found in Austin Fannin masters and founders is all about helping others find their path path and as the you know I’ve been with me for a long time and during that eighteen years I was able to understand a lot of people follow a path is really necessarily there’s and what we like to highlight the two masters of ours is anybody’s had more than ten thousand hours doing what they were pursuing that passion I re look at you is the epitome of that you just kind of do whatever you want to do and I want to go back to where you started and didn’t take the traditional path and then decide on one of my own thing well you know it’s it’s a trust that that you’re doing whatever you want to order whatever it is it doesn’t rely on that at this a long time but you still when you you know if I say I’m going to do something called the book of the every other month club I’m in a public six books this year I don’t know if it’s going to work or not you know I know I’ve got a couple of the books down and I know that I’ve got to do a whole lot of writing and a whole lot of you know conversely when you work in the creative arts secretive world but I don’t know is that different if you’re in the business world or any other field you know you there’s a lot of facets to the work it’s not just the right the book right now and you know it’s not just come up with a business idea you actually you know Tito says wow I’m gonna make vodka my bathtub you know was that the aha moment or did everything in detail do from then till now bill this multi billion dollar business Graham so in my case I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid and I started trying to write a novel and I was probably twelve years old and and I didn’t know I wanted to make phone my became a huge fan of film I grew up in West Texas on their way I had to go over to theaters in town we and you know we’re sort of video tapes or DVDs and was basically no film on TV unless you your last you stayed up really really late at night and you know watch movies in black and white which is okay and I’m so I don’t know how to get in the film business and I don’t know how to publish books so I in my case ended up becoming a performer disorders and everybody else to write for I I wrote for myself but I think ultimately that’s the key is people I wanna weather and creative arts or in any other kind of endeavor the key as you you say well I’m gonna do this instead of that other life which is a nine to five job and when you get off work you’re not at work red you’re in a job where you’re never off work

so am starting out of the sick kid doing the into acting or an actor and was there any fear that this may not work out because I mean you have all these other people saying well it specifically you have people saying with a sigh of zero five a nine to five path but whether any fears that this would work or we just like all of this will work and I think we should work in the past and here we should be talking is there any fear I’m not one not nothing is guaranteed no I I you know I know when you’re young it’s you know you gotta be love fearless when you’re young and and I am reminded very unconventional path and I was a street performer and but you know and I’m not sure that and I would like a likely never was a street performer at a time when that didn’t really have a lot of negative connotations before walking by and go on what the heck is like I do and while you know now it’s like a it’s a street performer gotta get away there’s nobody J. Reynolds walking well that’s why it’s nice to be here the so the fear part of it I I think you know it’s still there you know if you’re an actor and you have to go in and you gotta go audition I don’t think that you you know it’s to me the nature of auditioning is don’t be scared the second nature of audition is auditioning is you will be scared and I don’t know why I mean some but I know I know there are great masters of the craft to of course that would never occur to them to be nervous or something but in essence no matter how much you learn the part when you go in there in front of the director and the casting director and all these other people you don’t know and you’re not in the set you’re not in costumes you have no idea what this character is really supposed it’s all guesswork and but that’s not that yeah I think it still comes back at some kind of a good analogy for anything else you’re trying to accomplish you don’t know what’s going to work right you know you would have to follow your instincts and and and your instincts you know that’s some that’s the key really

and then that that transitioned into so acting transition to writing is that we have our our like I said I would I would actually very early on I was working as a street performer and then I started I was a stand up comedian I work in clubs however I did figure out roads I guess before I was really stand reading I was done one round theater shows and that work okay for awhile or kind of all over the world really and then I moved on to his comedy clubs became more commonplace such started doing comedy and which really been a kind of an arc for and I I spent a year on tour is Rodney Dangerfield opening act alone in that so you know it’s like I was about six lifetimes back there that are forgotten I don’t know how many shows I did armadillo world headquarters because I was the one like non music active played the armadillo here in Austin probably did fifty shows there ma’am that’s fifty times you’re up in front of five hundred thousand people find out what works and what doesn’t work and when you’re in a comedy club you find out you know real quick you know the comedy club we call them comedy clubs but really it’s just a bar full of drunk people there whose attention you’re trying to hold you know and so big in the feedback is a media am feedback as a way or and and everyone you’re right your feedback comes you can spend two or three years writing a book and then you send it to an editor you send it to us your friend in a hurry and you give it your spouse and they read it and got it didn’t quite get it you’re like oh well start again so it is a sin feedback building feedback in your life I think is one of the most important things finding people you trust the evidence an audience or you have to trust them you know but if it’s just people that you’re running your ideas by you need to get the feedback and you need to listen to a we had we had to be shut down but you know two thirds of our ideas side yes those were the person and and and make an effort and keep going just like those periods and learn and grow so excellent sense

I don’t I I want to get back to the masters of of this project we say ten thousand hours how many hours you think that you’ve spent right could you put another another well I don’t I have to commend it a different way but I know the like at home in a closet that I’m trying to figure out whether I’m going to box it up and somebody is going to pretend that it’s worth something somewhere or whether I’m just gonna take it all the recycling but never in about a minute spent a long time since I’ve done it a spot right about a hundred hours of primetime television you know kind of in the middle of all these other things HM you know so the scripture everyone of the scripts ways you know this is John I think script and I is some cases are like to live shows like farming where the room you’re where you’re writing for five or six cameras with different hosts and one thing another world literally the script is like eighteen inches thick and it’s certainly side Sir how many hours it’s like well twenty hours a day you’re on that project for you know for a month so then you you know if you factor all out times a hundred ten thousand won’t even touch it and that’s just that’s just the the television screen place you know and and no it’s the same thing with Britain more nonfiction and fiction but about time I finish this book club at the end of the year with a new book coming out every other year it’s going to be what way north of fifteen Bucks we close to twenty Bucks of a published an right now I’m rather eight it’s impossible to calculate the hours all of them but I like to write

what’s the the the thing you love the right the most whatever I’m writing right now where do you where do you so when you get your inspiration to where where your ideas come from back I think that the two of those problems questions probably go hand in hand but what but literally like last week to this week inspiration and and what do you like the most so it is kind of keep this was heavy in my head right now we’ve been back to the book clubs so I just sent to you well I I have been working on it because it is made of the printer but this book requiem for a screenplay which is it is three screenplays are written when I was in Hollywood that never got made there I think they’re all great reads so month ago ordered two months ago that was being I was copying the insurers and and we’re going to lay on the design and so that was just kind of a man’s almost a visual endeavor at that point wasn’t really writing that much anymore the book was written I was just trying to make it all right but as soon as I was finished I was back into the draft of this the next book which is a novel called all for love that I’ve one of been working for a very long time AM we are absolutely love the book and and so I would literally just kind of couldn’t quit going back to a segregated done and then the next thing you know next morning getting up and going well maybe I better look one more time and then reading the entire book again and then you know maybe changing twenty little things in the read the entire book and then say okay stuff okay was one of the thing I want to go back and look at so the inspiration in that case is a mass of story that’s kind of that’s about it a dad is daughter lost at sea on a fishing trip in the sea of Cortez so I have daughters who were about that age when the story started in so much pain I but a lot of time in Mexico on a lot of time a Super tales and a lot of natural world built into it so all those are inspiration to comes on my life Ms other things I love to do and and a lot of it’s connected always to the natural world but network went to the designer two days ago and now I have to reveal a because I have to have another book ready in two months it’s partially done the next one is called is called portrait machine and I work with Bob Schneider on this the great thing Cup option others poacher machine the books all work for your songs were it’s based on my work for poetry machine so we know for the next six weeks all that’s what I’ll I’ll be focused on and it’s a completely different inspirations story because your writing poetry I’m out I probably only a half a dozen pieces short but we go in this in this speech I’ve got all the illustration work in the in the works but I the that’s a half a dozen ideas I have no idea what they are some might have to write one about about masters and founders like it would be great

where where did this idea of book above them the real McCoy well it it some of it started I had all for love which I thought was finished of course now that I’ve done nine more passes out but I had all for love finished him I I had this other book Moleskine ministry which was the first one that’s a little novel that I got about a guy finds a mall scandal classic Italian journal he finds it in a bar in search reading and he gets caught up in it and then he turns page and it’s black and since hand written in blue ink that somebody’s journal it seems just wrong for to be blank so yes a partner for patents blew me search writing so it’s a it’s a novel about a guy finding your novel and it’s really the mystery is really about who this guy as he found the book more than about who would think it’s some issues loss of work but it’s really the mystery of who found it mac I’m was working on that book I want to publish them both and there’s no publisher New York who wants to novels at the same time and it my point much you want any novels you know the book business is a little bit broken right now am so in that sort of masters look at what you do you have to we even if it’s creative arts or you’re starting an aperitif thing else you’re doing if you if you if you’re gonna do occur in a great way you have to figure out a way to make it successful so I thought of this idea well maybe I should do a book club and I’d had a book at the book in the book of the month club in the old days novel when angel saying that was published by Elgon Quinn which was made into a movie with Willie and Harry Connick junior number bunch great people but I’m I that had been a book of the month club official selection back in the old days ago they mailed your card every month and if you didn’t mail it back they would make you buy the book and and I thought well I sort of to do a book of the month club and I after I now there’s no way I could write twelve Bucks a year and then somewhere in there I thought I could write six books and then the title book of the every other month okay leave in

six months is is aggressive for most it’s very aggressive it’s absolutely insane ain’t gonna say that since I was hasn’t not if their dress I was looking for two of them done ma’am in one albums and one of them’s off to the designer and and one of them is finished and is being illustrated in Kenya for children’s story as full color really beautiful book and spring illustrating Kenya so other than the meeting with the illustrator when I’m over there in a couple of weeks and finalizing all it’s done the three so I I’m I’m getting her

well the it there’s a saying the everything’s impossible somebody doesn’t yes yeah that happened with the four minute mile that was where it came from it nobody could break the four minute mile and till and I’m I don’t know his name Roger yester Roger Bannister of course he knows the name Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile in from them from that time thousands of people broke the four minute mile certain certain standards of exactly what it is you can get there first in that case you know would likely I’m in as a an actor writer there’s not like a there’s no bars for world records yeah you know six books in here might be pushing of that that might be pushing the barman of the guesswork out that

the proceeds of this book though is when it was when I see here is can you tell us more about what the purpose of it yeah so the the book club I set it up a little bit it was an India it’s and it wasn’t any go go project is an indigo go project still on for anybody who’s thinking about launching a project on Kickstarter indiegogo one of the great advantages of indigo goes if you meet your goal they will allow you they will you know not only allow you but they’re really heard you and get behind you to keep your project active so you can continue to to sell pass at the opening window so you know people can still find my book club on indiegogo unsubscribe which is helpful but yeah I’m sorry your now would be back to the question again I went too fast so the the purpose of besides over yeah so that the nobody project is there’s a mention only briefly earlier my wife Cristy pick and I are the founders of the nobility project and made a film called ability which looked at the world’s problems in the eyes of Nobel laureates and made a couple more sequels to that it’s a really a trilogy of features and and actually all those films premiered at south by southwest Film Festival which is pretty good record in those there’s three in one angel saying I’ve had for feature premieres at south by AM baited we did fairly well in the enable us to establish this non profitability project we still make films about global issues but really an education nonprofit and in Austin we work with great homeless students program here project help but they obviously and we work with paramount theatre on ours programming there were quite a bit a worker we’re one of the big tree planting partners Bastrop state park but the biggest chunk of the workers in Kenya where we are where we work with public schools to build new infrastructure because the schools or whatever falling down are there any areas where they never had a school so we haven’t built as many libraries as we have classrooms in preschools and a lot of the other components and we’re trying to build more libraries and you have to stop the libraries and so I decided to do this like Tom shoes the book club if you win your subscriber gonna get six books of than that but six books and to look in to new libraries were rolling over there and we’re gonna open three of the the first three hours ago all in those are all going to open on you know well about two weeks so we’re going fast

where did that seed where that seed grow from why why did you end up going down that road with the nobility that is a very good question I am which to Kenya a woman in one garment tie was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize when any Nobel Prize which she won the peace prize for her tree planting relaxation and women’s empowerment group the greenbelt movement the one guarding invited me to come to Kenya and to plant trees with her group and and I fell in love with Kenya in in many ways reminds me of Texas and I want to plant trees of the school and while I planted trees the school they said you know would you help us build a water system and if so this kind of story we’ve all heard many times this is quite awhile ago since two thousand five and I know was a little shocked that they didn’t have any source of water at all of the school and the kids are walking long distances and drinking water that made them sick so we we work with the community to build a purified water system rainwater collection system kind of thing you do in central Texas and and then our next time I went back you know they said would you help us build a high school with me give her a lot early education was ending after the eighth grade and it gets pretty hard to say now I don’t really care that your kids can’t go to high school so we built a one has stolen that led to another one and you know we felt almost thirty two year preschools now on with bill almost all of four full high schools and and work at a lot of primaries with a lot of kids in college it just started in a snowball

it’s got to be pretty easy to fall in love with the with the project like that when you’re helping so many people I would imagine I mean I would imagine you know it’s interesting about it is that I don’t think that if we were in Austin I’ll think of it the very much of it actually would’ve happened and I don’t know people are struck by what makes Austin special but you know when we show these movies like we showed no value one piece at a time and Austin the audiences would say oh my god we have to we want to be a part of that are building hope was a third film which is about the first trimester we bill and the audience to get the paramount theater with a thousand people five hundred ever be waiting outside saying how can we help I’m one of when I would show the movie in LA on sorry all my friends in LA were going to show that we really we didn’t like the premier at the arclight cinema and we in the Hollywood the best place to possibly be the Cinerama dome we have a red carpet premiere an amazing people would come out of that I knew from right Texas connections and all friends in films and you know Billy Bob Thorton and Dennis Quaid and and Matthew McConaughey and Camilla alls and a lot of other Peter Fonda would all come out walked the red carpet and take pictures with us and everybody would love the movie and I’d say congratulations good movie see you next time M. in Austin people want to do good things there are always the same thing in New York I think New York’s been a little easier about really a large part of our support has come from just being a part of Austin

and this is a great community it really is love it so we built a magazine yeah and then then that’s a community on its own it’s incredible three N. NA I think if you you know if you they may you may be pining found in New York for you may be planning founding Hollywood or something yeah it’s a it’s a bit different it’s harder no I do

I do want to ask you for any aspiring author out there that maybe has an idea whether it’s fiction or non fiction what what kind of advice that could you give anybody listening that is maybe going down that road with an idea good or bad to to pull the trigger you know the first advice I give us don’t ask me to read it because you’ll be waiting years and them but but you know it’s funny that comes back to some advice and in general which is you know when you finish a draft or something a screen play book you’re gonna be so eager to get some the back so you know ill of so let’s say a friend of mine finishes a screen places we really well you re will you read it like okay are it and then if I read it I’m not my socks are not blocked off by reading the screenplay well I’m done I’m not gonna come back and read it again once they re write it down I have pretty consistently found that if somebody says we read something else out I’m gonna put on my stack and we get to the soon as I can but it might take awhile if I get back to a couple of months later and I say Hey I still haven’t read that book in the summer that screen players are used still looking for feedback ninety percent of the time they’ll say don’t read that draft I started working on it again it wasn’t ready and you know so some advice I would give is when you think it’s finished is it really good time to set it aside for a few weeks am then go back and read it with a fresh eye and see if it if it knock your socks off as much as it did when you had that rush of enthusiasm when you when you were finished I think the service book requiem for screenplays speaks to that really well I went back in there were several obviously a lot of drafts of these three screenplays death and taxes one AM that was the earliest one is that some story I wrote really almost of a came out of the Willie Nelson iris days and Willie and I’m playing golf and talking about the iris it wasn’t cetera Willie one seven Texas but it was a it’s about an architect in LA is a kind of a lost soul these buildings early day corporate strip centers and it’s just money you know he was guy wanted to be an artist have you know have his paintings that they’re also collection gallery but instead he’s building strip centers whether you know a big bottle alcohol spectrum in a on top of the liquor store on the corner and and he gets audited by the IRS is a kind of a gonzo a tax attorney gets audited by the IRS and it’s kind of what you think what happens death and taxes you know but the auditor he literally with the minute the door opens he falls in love with the auditor so it’s a love story about a letter of real love hate relationship is we all hate the iron ore specially back then this is kind of out of control so I went back and sort of looking at the ground in the difference between like one draft that I read and I I hadn’t found like the last draft of the screenplay and I got in all my old computer files and printed files on the shelf and I pulled one down I read it I was like gosh I thought the screenplay was so good and now I see you now I see why it didn’t get made you know it when I see all these weaknesses and hear the story and I get this character that even stronger and am and I was actually pretty bummed about it and then as I was looking for and then I think next spring play and looking for draft so that I found a later copy of death and taxes and it was like night and day yeah between the quality of the first one the quality of the second one and I know that what happened is I took it to a couple of screen writers I liked in LA and they read it and said you got to go they didn’t say fix this week’s loud they said go back to work on such patients yeah that’s a patient’s right it’s don’t rush the process especially if it’s a creative process and you’re dealing with thoughts and I’m sure and I don’t know anything about writing really but I’m sure the process changes throughout the book as you’re writing it right yeah spring new ideas all the time we’re different twists and while

I was writing will scan mystery this mystery was a mystery to me too I have I love the idea of what the how this book started and where it was and but I didn’t I didn’t know and I don’t even know the lead character’s name and you’ll notice the book says the most in mystery by anonymous and I have a couple of friends call me up another screenwriter my buddy Mike rich call me up road who wrote it the screen play the finding Forrester and refraining I like some secretaries and radio a lot of really great well and Mike read the book a call me apple last week I was like I still have not expecting such a little book on one hand and really have that high road which is a good way to start a book in the hive expectations I just may not have completely caught up in it it was like so much more to it than expected in a city and he said I love the lead characters something about the you know the city yeah I don’t know I could never figure out you know about his name we did you thank you maybe have the right name you know when you’re naming these characters anyone well it’s a in the years like wow I’m kind of embarrassed I can’t remember what is name is some say well that’s because it’s not in there anymore while and so you you I didn’t know the name the name of the character was and it turned out it didn’t matter that turned out to be an asset you know am because let’s face it it’s fiction I can calling Dan I can call inter cooking calling anything I want to call them but that persistence thing and I’m gonna go to another screen other great master real master screenwriting and I’m like is to my gracious two of them another great master Scott Rosenberg who wrote beautiful girls and things to do in Denver when you’re dead and con air and a whole lot of really big movies I mean probably a billion dollars worth of movies and when beautiful girls I think was the first of those when it sold and and got made with its incredible cast it’s like one of the great indie films of all times and Scott was out doing promo and somebody said what was the secret to your writing your first screenplay and becoming an in an instant hit he said all the Sigur was it was my thirteenth screenplay not the first practice practice practice here and he wrote thirteen we wrote twelve before he wrote the one that was good enough to be a classic birth let makes a point

well thank you very much Sir for being command and be our guest we certainly enjoyed another so much more to your story I wish we had time to dive into every every nook and cranny but what will have you can and I’d love to do that and I’ll I’ll toss it in there if people want to subscribe same thing if they want to learn about the ability project you can go both ways you can go to normality and you know be E. L. I. Nobel laureate nobility dot org there’s a link there and there’s tons of video if they want to watch some of our video and and or they can go to Turkey creek in dot com and there’s a link to get into go go there about for shipping and we’re building library that’s awesome awesome everybody go visit go visit the website and support the the project and also support the subscription but club it’s all for a good cause thank you for listening thanks thanks

it’s always important to remember how much work goes into mastering the craft your first draft will not be the when you sell and often times your first venture will be the most successful either eating to ten thousand hours of mastery literally cannot happen in a day Turkey for the reminder and for speaking with me the masters in founders team includes me down to learn to produce from right across it thank you Ryan Francis for co hosting this episode with me and a special thanks to all the folks at county Austin if you enjoy the show make sure you were a member of our Facebook group masters and founders to get access to even more content and don’t forget to rate review us on either iTunes or whoever you get your podcast as it helps other listeners find the show thanks for listening