the secret

Do you want to fulfill your most ambitious dream? If so, self-help film producer and author Rhonda Byrne advises you to learn “The Secret.” Follow the law of attraction, Byrne says, because everything that happens to you – good or bad – you attract to yourself. "The Secret” is selling fast, but Newsweek‘s Jerry Adler wonders if it isn’t just “the same old stuff” marketed in a new way.

One spring day towards the end of 2004, Rhonda Byrne discovered a secret - the secret laws and principles of the universe.

Almost immediately her life was transformed, as she began to put into practice what she had learned. It seemed to Rhonda that almost no-one knew the things that she had discovered, even though the concepts could be found in almost every religion and field of human endeavour throughout history. And in that moment her greatest wish, and mission, was to share this knowledge with the world.

Rhonda began to see that her entire life - everything she had ever done - had been quietly and steadily moving her towards the most perfect place for her to be able to fulfil her wish. And to fulfil it on the grandest possible scale! She had gone from working as a producer at the Nine Network in Melbourne, Australia, to starting her own television production company, Prime Time Productions, in 1994. And after ten years of creating internationally successful shows such as 'The World's Greatest Commercials', 'Great Escapes', 'Marry Me', and 'Sensing Murder', Rhonda was ready for something new. She wanted to take Prime Time Productions in a different direction; in a direction that fulfilled people rather than just entertained them. And on that spring day in 2004, when a small, old book called The Science of Getting Rich was put into her hands, and Rhonda's whole life suddenly pulled into spectacular focus, she knew exactly what her mission was to become. She was going to take this knowledge to the world. She was going to make a movie to carry joy to every corner of the Earth. And so the great journey that was The Secret began. In early 2005, when The Secret was simply a name and a (momentous) vision, Prime Time Productions was made up of Rhonda, Producer Paul Harrington, and Director Drew Heriot. Paul, who had worked with Rhonda at Prime Time Productions virtually since its beginning, and Drew, who had directed several projects for the company as well, became, with Rhonda, the foundation for The Secret team.
For eight weeks Rhonda intensively taught everything she had learned to Paul and Drew. In two short months she had studied the great leaders from the past, read hundreds of books, and amassed countless hours of research. Previous to what Rhonda had thought, she discovered there were people out there alive who were aware of this information. Actually, there were lots of them, and they were some of the world's greatest living scientists, philosophers, and authors. In every part of the world, different fragments of The Secret were being offered, to anyone that would listen. All that was needed was to pull all of the pieces together...

One of Rhonda's initial intentions for the creation of the show was that Prime Time Productions would use The Secret to make The Secret... that it would be an effortless, joyful journey as they attracted everything and everyone that was needed to fulfil the vision. And right when the company was ready to begin production, as if by magic, the perfect people to make The Secret began to appear.

Suddenly the office was filled with people, all working to complete the most ambitious project any of them had ever worked on. And without fail, every person required on the team, materialized exactly when they were needed: Glenda Bell, Production Manager extraordinaire, Marc Goldenfein, a talented young Producer and Director, genius editors Damien Corboy and Daniel Kerr, extraordinary graphic artists James Armstrong, Shamus Hoare, Andy Lewis, and Nic George, post production co-ordinator Emma Franz, the youthful and eager production assistants Skye Byrne and Leni Mex, and literally hundreds of others. And without exception, every single person was taught The Secret, and together worked in total joy as they worked for the joy of billions.

The day Prime Time Productions arrived in the United States to film the living masters of The Secret, they only had one interview lined up. But they brought with them an entire crew, and the firm intention that they would film every person they needed for the show. And in a matter of a few weeks, the team filmed fifty-two 'teachers' of The Secret. Wherever the team went, more and more amazing teachers would emerge - great writers, leaders, philosophers, doctors, and scientists. These teachers created the foundation for The Secret.

Today The Secret is the Prime Time benchmark, and the company's firm intention is to produce work that inspires, uplifts, and, most importantly, continues bringing joy to billions. To fulfil this vision, in the future Prime Time Productions will also be working out of the United States, beginning with their offices in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Spreading the word

"A film like this works much better when people hand it off from person to person," says Bob Rainone, president of The Secret, now a company with other projects in the works, including a just-released book and at least one film sequel, due out next year.

"When somebody gets the film from somebody, or somebody recommends it, there's usually a story that goes with it," says Rainone. "It's `I watched it; it helped me in my life.' It gets an endorsement as it's being handed off."

That doesn't happen with most films, generally made for pure entertainment, he says.

"This is an entertaining film," he says, "but it has a much deeper meaning."

Since its April release, "The Secret" has sold more than half a million DVDs and more than 100,000 online views. But producers estimate millions have seen the movie. Compare that to Hollywood blockbusters, and it seems paltry. But in the viral world, and in the budding genre of spiritual cinema, Rainone views it as a success -- and a phenomenon he still considers in its infancy.

That buzz is beginning to spread from niche groups and into the mainstream. CNN's Larry King devoted two episodes to the film in November, and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" featured it last month. And while the producers have no plans for widescreen cinema release, spontaneous screenings are cropping up around the country -- from intimate dinner parties to large gatherings at churches and community centers. (The producers allow such mass screenings under two conditions: that the film is shown in its entirety and at no charge.)

So just what is this big secret stirring so much commotion?

Rhonda Byrne, as Australian filmmaker whose story begins the movie, says its principles are tucked in the words of the greatest thinkers, writers and leaders throughout time -- Plato, Albert Einstein and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., among them.

It's the law of attraction. The power of positive thinking.

Like a magnet, the film says, the thoughts and images held in one's mind determine what is attracted to them and, ultimately, the quality of life they live. Go anxiously through the day with a negative loop of thoughts in your mind, anticipating bad things will happen, and they will. Approach that same day with positive thoughts, anticipating good things, and they'll be drawn to you.

Keeping the faith.

It's a philosophy the 25 teachers in the film say they have seen applied successfully to all aspects of life -- finances, career, health and relationships.

"Deep down, every single person knows this. Every person knows, deep down, life is not meant to be hard," says Byrne, who came upon "the secret" after the string of misfortune she describes in the opening. In September 2004, she began reading a century-old book called "The Science of Getting Rich" and continued her studies from there.

In fact, she says she used the secret to make "The Secret." After a string of failed projects, her accountant reported her company was weeks from going broke. But Byrne was determined to launch the film project. Not knowing how she would cobble the resources for what would be a $3 million endeavor, she says she and her crew focused daily on the end result and held an unwavering faith the film would be made.

Byrne says the resources drew to her -- the finances, the participants, even the distribution method -- and the film was completed by January 2006.

It might sound like hocus-pocus to some, says Mike Dooley, one of the film's speakers. "But these principles, these laws of the universe -- some would call it quantum physics -- are as predictable as gravity," says Dooley, an author and international speaker who owns an inspirational Web site and retail business, Totally Unique Thoughts (www.tut.com). "There's no society on Earth that doesn't talk about the benefits of visualization and positive thinking," he says. It's a powerful, if controversial concept, considering we have tens of thousands of thoughts each day, says author Hale Dwoskin. Those thoughts, he says, literally create our daily existence. "Most people are living life as victims -- victims to life, victims to their inner landscape," says Dwoskin, who has taught his Sedona Method for 30 years. (www.Sedona.com). "But you don't have to be a victim. " Thinking negative thoughts about mounting debt or a dead-end job, these teachers say, will only ensure more debt and more years of unfulfilling work. The antidote is to visualize what it would look, feel and be like to have checks come in the mail or to have your dream job -- and to believe with absolute faith these things are headed your way.

Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune