Per Stephen King’s advice in On Writing, I’ve been reading a lot lately, tearing through a half dozen books in the last fortnight. One biography really speaks to me above the rest, The Man Who Heard Voices.

Director M. Night Shyamalan extends writer Michael Bamberger unprecedented access to his life and career, with great emphasis on the story behind the Lady in the Water. The point that resonates like a clarion call is the sheer belief buoying M. Night’s risk taking; M. Night hears voices and listens.

For a lot of writers–screenwriters or otherwise–he’s a hero, and if he isn’t, here’s why he could be: M. Night literally wrote his way out of a suffocating production deal. When it became clear he could not make films he believed in because Miramax management took issue with his vision, he wrote The Sixth Sense and left for Disney. He did this because the voices told him to. Later the same voices told him to leave Disney for Warner.

This level of conviction is relatively rare, even among hyper-creative individuals. Whether the final product connects with audiences or not, M. Night is a believer who seeks out like minded individuals to foment his vision. In M. Night’s view, there are no coincidences, and the older I get, the more I concur with his position. Seemingly unrelated events and people are often connected, but not everyone sees–or wants to recognize–the threads binding them.

Michael Bamberger paints a picture of an eclectic writer and auteur, one that can fumble, and also one that can–when the forces align, and the voices say the right things–deliver a true movie experience.