Geoff Thompson has written 30 published books – 250,000 copies in print – and was on the Sunday Times Best-Seller list with his autobiographical book Watch My Back about his nine years working as a night club doorman.
He has published several articles for GQ magazine, and has also been featured in FHM, Maxim, Arena, Front and Loaded magazines. For two years he was a contributing editor for Men’s Fitness magazine. He has been featured many times on mainstream TV about his book and his articles. Geoff has completed several book signing tours of Great Britain promoting his books in Waterstone and W.H. Smith.
As one of the highest ranking martial arts instructors in Britain Geoff was voted the number 1 self defense author in the world by Black Belt Magazine USA and was invited to teach for Chuck Norris twice in Las Vegas Nevada.
As a freelance journalist he has also written articles for or been featured in the Independent, London Standard, Guardian and Times Newspapers.
His first film Bouncer, a ten-minute short for the Film Council (produced by Natasha Carlish at Dreamfinder) and starring Paddy Considine, Sean Parkes and Ray Winstone was nominated for a BAFTA in the 2003 awards. Bouncer was also nominated at The Edinburgh Film Festival for the Best Short category and it was also highly commended at both The Raindance Festival and TCM and subsequently licensed to Holland and Film 4.
The film was also chosen by the British Council to be part of the Brittspotting tour and is being screened in cities such as Berlin and Toronto. It was also shown in Birmingham prior to every screening of Cronenberg’s Spider. As if that weren’t enough it has was also screened at the Cracow Film Festival and appeared in videoteque at Cannes in May 2003 as well as The Sydney International Film Festival in June 2003.
Due to the success of Bouncer Ray Winstone agreed to executive produce his second short Brown Paper Bag which premiered at The Edinburgh Film Festival. Since it’s first screening Brown Paper Bag has been nominated for a RTS Award. The film has also been invited to film festivals in the US and Europe. Most importantly it has just won the BAFTA 2004 for best short film.
His first play Doorman has just been produced by Paul Crewes (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and it premiered at The Drum Theatre in Plymouth in April 2003 and did a national tour in 2005. This was a spin off from his experience at the workshops with The Royal Court Writers Group which Geoff was invited to join a couple of years ago.
Geoff’s first novel Red Mist was published in hardback by Summersdale Publishers and made the Times bestsellers.
Geoff has written many motivational books to which he has a loyal following. Geoff conducts workshops and seminars to encourage others to take control of their fears and harness their talents.
Geoff’s first feature film for cinema, Clubbed, has been optioned by Destiny Films and won an EMDA development loan. It is dues to go into production in winter 2006.
He is also developing another feature – Cracks on the Pavement – which has been optioned by Natasha Carlish at Dreamfinder Productions, and has Paddy Considine signed up as the lead.
-courtesy blog.geoffthompson.com/about
Interviews
AN INTERVIEW WITH GEOFF THOMPSON
August 9, 2017 | 3 minute read | by Tom Czaban
Geoff Thompson is a British Academy of Film and Television Arts-winning writer, filmmaker, teacher and self-defence instructor. He has written several books on self-help, self-defence and martial arts, as well as many screenplays for short and feature films.
I first heard him on a podcast; his words were so inspiring I felt compelled to reach out to him. Being the generous man that he is, Geoff agreed to answer a few of my questions.
Question: Hi Geoff, thanks so much for agreeing to this interview. Let’s get straight into it. First up, what’s been the most valuable experience of your life?
Answer: Discovering categorically that I do not need to trust anyone; I only need to trust myself. If I can trust myself, I can find equanimity in all things.
Q: What advice would you give to a person unsure of the direction in which his or her life was heading?
A: The answer to direction and purpose is always just below the surface; hidden from us by fear and conditioning, covered over by pornography (i.e. anything we do to excess). If you are brave enough to strip back the layers of addiction and perception, the direction/purpose will reveal itself. Start by cleaning up your palate and practicing meditation.
Q: What are your views on creating a happier life?
A: It is something that everyone is in pursuit of, no doubt, but they tend to look in all the wrong places. In my life, happiness comes from following love, in what I do, in who I surround myself with, my influences, my impressions, my beliefs, my identity.
If we follow love, then happiness will be the by-product. But before we can follow the love, we have to first ask our self, “Who am I?”
Every man is a crowd; a pack of disparate personalities that are all following or trying to follow different paths to find happiness. Until we identify our true self, we will never locate our true purpose. So, the job then is to strip away all of the false identities and reveal the true self. The true self and the true purpose are one and the same.
Q: What brings you fulfilment?
A: Working from love; exchanging energy with people and projects at the level of love. The fulfilment at this level is not in the attainment of any specific goal; rather the fulfilment comes from the pure exchange of energy itself. Bliss occurs at the moment of exchange.
Q: What do you do when you’re feeling down?
A: I look at the circumstances that are creating my depression and I contemplate them. I find out where the block is, and I dissolve it. I may be working too hard and burning out; I may be not working hard enough and experiencing a log-jam of energy that is looking for a behavioural release.
Perhaps inner-tuition is telling me through the feelings that I am in the wrong place, in which case I will move, or it might be saying that I am in the right place but feel unworthy of my success due to limiting beliefs, in which case I will work on dissolving those beliefs, and creating new and better perceptions. I usually find the answer to my down periods just below the surface of the feelings.
Q: If a child asked you for one piece of advice, what would you say?
A: Don’t follow anyone else’s map; follow your own. And change your own map regularly; they outdate very quickly. Be directed by your divine sat nav — the intuitive direction.
Amen, Geoff, amen. Thanks for your time, this has been great!
