Enjoying The Impossible
This is Finish Your Monsters, a weekly blog/newsletter/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?
Last week, I committed to sending a minimum of 15 business related emails to keep things moving for the feature film.
And I did it! I even heard back from 10 of those already! (Sincere apologies to some Minnesota friends I emailed last night before realizing you were in the middle of a thunderstorm that turned your sky into a heavy metal album cover and knocked out your power.)
It felt great to put quality time into the feature film. We’re aiming for a shoot date in November so this will be my main goal-related project for the next several weeks!
ADVENTURES OF THE WEEK--
Besides moving forward on the feature film, I had two other big adventures this week. Both of them were victories. Impossible, naive victories snatched from the jaws of defeat.
First, I completed another short film for the horror filmmakers group I’m involved with here in LA. It’s called Just Scare Me and if you’re a horror filmmaker, I highly suggest checking it out!
My short for this round is called DEEP INTO NORWAY. It’s inspired by real events that took place in my soul during my trip to Norway in July. I had written a rough script before the trip so I knew what kind of footage I wanted to collect. And still I went WILD with the amount of footage I shot.
Luckily, I didn’t get caught up in analysis paralysis deciding which footage to use because, unluckily, I was deeply behind schedule on editing the film.
By the time I finished last week’s blog, I had about 12 hours of actual work time to edit the footage into a 6 minute film, do the voiceovers, make new graphics, compose the music, color correct, export and upload.
And while it was stressful, it also ended up being lots of fun. Stressfun. In particular, it was wonderful to realize that I was able to finish by the deadline because I was building on all the skills I’ve learned making other short films like this. I knew what instruments I wanted to use on the digital keyboard, the color correction settings I wanted, how to avoid export problems that pop up with iPhone footage, how to zoom in real fast on the troll’s eyes. Their always staring eyes.
The screening went well and I bought myself an action figure as a treat. Victory! (All film screenings should happen in vintage toy stores, in my humble opinion.)
I’m making a few tweaks to the film then I’m going to post it early for my kind supporters on Patreon!
The other big victory this week was not mine, but through the magic of community, I got to feel like a part of it.
My wife’s work group had a team-bonding trip to Dodgers Stadium and I was lucky to be a plus one. I’d been to the stadium twice. Once to see Guns N’ Roses and another time to see Lady Gaga. I contain multitudes.
I’d really been wanting to just experience an actual baseball game, though. Feel the community vibes. Have a human walk by me screaming about hot dogs, then I get to eat one right there. Amazing.
I’ve never been a huge sports fan. As a kid, I tried to get into baseball. My dad even bought me a glove. But I wasn’t naturally good at it. There was no one around me who was knowledgeable to teach me much about the game. And other kids were cruel at the first sign of weakness. A couple dropped balls and gales of laughter were big encouragement to “stick to drawing weird pictures of Batman, art boy.” So it isn’t so much that I disliked sports. I didn’t find a way in at the right age and time.
I’ve asked sports-loving friends about the appeal and I feel like I understand. But this Dodgers game was an opportunity to viscerally feel it myself.
I watched all these different people of different ages, cultural backgrounds, etc all dressed up in Dodgers blue. We drank, ate, cheered, danced, yelled our jubilation and frustration. It didn’t feel very different to me than a rave in the 90s. We traded glow-sticks and techno music for hot dogs and “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” singalongs. Because more than anything, it just felt like permission. A safe encouraging space to actually express emotion.
I enjoyed myself immensely and started to feel very bad for the hardcore Dodgers fans because it really looked like the team was going to lose.
Then the impossible happened. The score was tied. It was the bottom of the 9th inning. The bases were loaded. And the star player, Shohei Ohtani, stepped up to the plate. Throughout the night, people had wandered in and out, paying different levels of attention to the actual game. But not now. Now everyone was on their feet. Standing, cheering, screaming.
I mumbled to myself “tied game, bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, star player at the bat” because it sounded like a hack metaphor. Not an actual real thing that was physically happening in front of me. Then—CRACK! The ball went up in a very high arc. It looked to me like it was going to come down in the middle of the field. But my pessimistic eyes were dead wrong. I didn’t even see the ball go over the wall, I just saw a sea of blue as everyone around me jumped into the air and screamed. And I happily joined in.
Friends have long told me that good sports is good storytelling. And this was a great story. Almost too good. It felt too on the nose. Too perfect. Too scripted. But it wasn’t. It was real life. It was hard work. It was skill. It was the willingness of the players, the crowd, to not give in to cynicism. To hold out hope for the impossible, last minute victory.
And to relate it back to the main thrust of this blog, I think we can carry that attitude into our art. We are all capable of knocking it out of the park at the bottom of the 9th inning.
As I work hard on pulling this feature film together, I’m rationally aware that the possibility for failure is all around me. There are financial challenges. There are creative challenges. And perhaps even more BUSINESS challenges trying to get the film to the biggest audience possible. Lots of people try to manage your expectations. Sometimes that’s realism, sometimes that’s pessimism. I’m determined to tackle the challenges with maturity and pragmatism. But also with the conviction that a tied game-bases loaded-bottom of the 9th—GRAND SLAM VICTORY is possible, too. It is for all of us.
MY GOAL FOR THE WEEK--
I need to keep pushing forward with lots of communication for the feature film, get the ball rolling on casting, etc. But I think the most crucial and controllable goal is a pass on the script. So for this week I’m committing to completing a revision pass on the script for the feature film. A fun goal!
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? Will sentient hot dogs be involved? How can I help you finish your monsters?
LIGHT PLUGS—
All proceeds from the below go straight to my production company, Strange Path, and will help us continue to make films, podcasts, and more.
Multiple comedy albums and a cosmic horror tale on Bandcamp.
Strange Path t-shirts as well as art prints from my photography on Threadless.
Early access to films and other rewards on my Patreon.
Letter writing! Vote Forward provides a typed form and you add a personal message about WHY voting matters to you, nothing partisan. The org has done follow up studies and it really works to increase voter turnout. My goal this year is to write 200 letters. I’ve written 100 so far. If you’re interested, you can find out more by visiting Vote Forward!
Our short horror film, THE NIGHTMARE ADORABLE, has now been accepted in 19 film festivals. Screenings coming up in Missoula and more! Details on my website!
A LITTLE SKETCH--
This week’s sketch is inspired by my internal and external adventures this week. A large sentient hot dog, splattered with mustard has a moment of existential crisis. We’ve all been there, large hot dog. I hope your adventures are great this week and free of too much existential crisis! Thanks for reading. Onward!
