The Ravenstones

I hadn’t planned on this post until coming across the following Youtube excerpt from last Sunday’s Actor (SAG-AFTRA) Awards:

Harrison Ford, in accepting the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Life Achievement award for 2026, demonstrates a rare combination of honesty, modesty and gratitude. It’s a thank you well worth sharing widely.

In just over eight minutes, the actor – one of those unique individuals, whose name and reputation can be evoked simply from hearing the music score of a single movie – talks about his early struggles in the business and his luck at connecting with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, while giving thanks to the many people who contributed to his tremendous success along the way.

As an actor, Ford says, he’s part of the “storytelling community”, one that requires a “whole host of contributors” to bring a story to life. In the movie business these days, huge teams are involved, including writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, makeup artists, set designers, animators, CGI specialists and so many more. In essence, one can’t do it alone.

Through his work, Ford says he has come “to know” himself and he doesn’t take any of it for granted. Finally, he declares that it has been a privilege to work in the “world of ideas, of empathy, of imagination”, where an emotional bond can be created and audiences brought together.

I can still remember seeing the first Indiana Jones movie in 1981 (Raiders of the Lost Ark), back in the day when moviegoers still lined up around the block to catch a release of this magnitude. Here’s that iconic (seven minute) opening:

“Sometimes we make entertainment, sometimes we make art,” Ford says near the end of his speech. “Sometimes, if we’re lucky, we get to do both at the same time. And, sometimes, if we’re really fortunate, we get to make a living doing it.”

As a writer of epic fantasy (my Ravenstones series), and, therefore, someone who also works in the realm of ideas and imagination and who hopes that his readers can share in an emotional connection with his characters, I applaud Ford’s words of wisdom.

And as someone who’s been given both opportunity and support over the years, which allowed me to bring an entire world to life, I, too, feel a debt of gratitude to all those who have helped me along the way.