A Cheap Idea Made of Gold
This is Finish Your Monsters, a weekly blogletter about the creative process. I'm sharing adventures in art and life as well as setting CLIFFHANGER goals for myself, so--
DID I MAKE MY GOAL?
Big picture, I’m working away on the post-production of our horror film, Dead Media. Last week, I committed to the goal of editing two more scenes of our horror film, Dead Media.
And my eyes were a little bigger than my calendar. I managed to get one scene done and the next prepped.
I’m going to go easy on myself about missing this one because I was in Minneapolis most of the week spending time with family. (We were celebrating my wife’s uncle’s 95th birthday! This is a man who listened to Orson Welles’ infamous War of the Worlds radio broadcast live. “It was clear it wasn’t real if you listened,” he said.)
Also lost a chunk of time to fighting the maddening battle of “how often should I check the news?” Multiple times I decided not to check the news then noticed my hand going to my phone against my very will.
But I did get some conversations going about more post-production work for Dead Media. Take that, wandering hand!
ADVENTURES OF THE WEEK--
This week was very rewarding on a personal level with family but felt a bit frustrating on a creative level.
And I’m here to tell myself: Those feelings are wrong, dammit!
I was very excited to take the family trip, but I was also longing to get back to editing the film. With all of the numerous stresses in the world, the thing that is making me feel the most focused and calm is editing the film. It’s satisfying to see a scene come together. And I feel good because I’m focused on my goal.
Focusing on goals is, largely, the goal of this blog. But I also need to make sure I don’t become so goal-focused that it diminishes the value of actual creativity.
Because here’s what I actually worked on while I was traveling: An idea for another film.
Writing another film is one of my goals for this year, but I haven’t decided which of my many ideas I’m going to commit to, when I’m going to make the time to write it, etc.
It all feels so far off and dreamy.
But far off and dreamy is GREAT for actual creativity.
I was in my childhood bedroom packing up some more props from filming Dead Media and my mind wandered toward ideas for making the least expensive film possible. I thought of an absurd way, laughed at myself, then my mind just kept wandering down that road.
And I realized I was actually very intrigued by that idea. Throughout my life—whether it’s writing comedy sketches, 2 act plays, stand-up bits, television pilots, whole screenplays—if I get one idea and several other ideas immediately stumble out behind it like ducklings darting across the road following their mother, then I know it’s an idea worth at least exploring. And this one had a mess of ducklings.
For the next several days I kept finding stolen moments to write ideas down on my phone. In car rides, at restaurants, suddenly stopping in the middle of an aisle at a record store, during restroom visits that probably seemed mysteriously long to my loved ones, etc.
So I spent a ton of time this week doing two things: Beating myself up about being behind on my goals and actually making progress on a goal.
It was a great reminder that my biggest goal is to just spend as much time being creative as possible. The goals are only there to make sure I stay on track. The creativity is the point.
In that spirit, I have a request for you, kind reader! I really want to encourage people to find more stolen moments for unfiltered, non-critical creative time.
So along with my own little sketches, I would love to feature some quick sketches from readers.
Here are the very minimal rules:
-The image can be anything you want
-Try not to take more than 5 minutes
-Use a pen, marker, or other permanent ink
All with the goal of freeing yourself from the need for perfection. If a line or shape goes wonky, embrace it. Make it part of the image. Just enjoy creating. Just enjoy making a mark.
If you’re interested, send me a jpg of your image at this email account: joseph at jokingenvelope dot com and let me know if you’re okay with me sharing it on the blog. (The only reason I wouldn’t share is if the image is graphic in a way that might be upsetting to other readers.)
Okay, time to go for my walk and see if I end up standing still in the middle of the sidewalk writing down an idea.
LIGHT PLUGS—
We’ve got a fiscal sponsorship with the great Minnesota organization Film North. They can accept one-time donations that will go directly toward finishing the film: SCORE, VFX, COLOR GRADING, etc. It’s like a Kickstarter where the rewards are A) a tax deduction and B) helping us make the film.
For full info, please check out the page for the upcoming horror film, DEAD MEDIA!
Or if you have any questions about supporting the film, feel free to reach out to me personally!
MY GOAL FOR THE WEEK--
I want to press on with editing Dead Media but I need to keep working on how to best quantify those goals. I’m editing the film chronologically so I’m going to experiment with what minute of the film I want to get to this week. I’m currently on minute 12. So my goal for next week is to edit up to minute 16.
YOUR GOAL FOR THE WEEK--
I would absolutely LOVE to hear what you're working on this week in the comments below. What's your goal? How can I help you literally finish your monsters?
A LITTLE SKETCH--
This week’s sketch is working through my demons. I do think it’s great to stay informed. I’m just slipping into checking a little too often. So maybe real me will listen to picture me and knock it off.
