Not Giving Up on Not Giving Up
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. I’m editing the film in chronological order. Last week, I committed to the goal of editing up to minute 40 of the film.
I didn’t quite make the goal. I made it to 37 minutes.
The goal of 40 was always going to be a reach. Partially because many of the scenes I’m editing right now are complex, tension-building horror moments with fun supernatural flashes.
Setting the difficult-to-hit goal did help me keep my head down (literally as I bent over my laptop for hours at a time) so I’m glad I set it.
I also had a really great meeting with a horror producer/director team who gave me some great insight into marketing and selling an indie horror film in the current market. Big picture: In the current entertainment landscape, a lot of the marketing is going to be on the shoulders of the creative team. I’ve got some marketing ideas I’m very excited about, but it’s also daunting to think about the marketing mountain while I’m busy climbing the post-production mountain. Perhaps this is why I’ve had several dreams about riding high-elevation cable cars this week.
Anyway, marketing the film also means marketing myself. If you’d like to help, following me on Bluesky would be great and/or recommending this blogletter to friends.
ADVENTURES OF THE WEEK--
This week reinforced a simple idea that cuts across many aspects of life—DO NOT GIVE UP.
First, I had some very nice times this week which helped me level out a bit. I’m still experiencing a constant inner scream, but instead of bouncing around a concrete cell, the scream is now rolling around some nice grassy valleys and hills.
ForceCenter, the Star Wars podcast I co-host, did a livestream to benefit two important charities (Trans Lifeline and St. Baldricks) while discussing our favorite hopeful moments in the franchise. Lots of great comments and encouragement from ForceCenter friends in the chat.
My wife and I ate some great empanadas. (If you’re in the LA area, check out World Empanadas!) We also enjoyed a two-person Oscars party. It was nice to take a break from editing an independent film to watch an independent film, Anora, win lots of awards. Sara and I also had dinner and drinks with some friends at The Prince. A great, old school restaurant and cocktail bar with a storied history and a modern flair under its current ownership.
At dinner, I expressed a thing I’m wrestling with that I think a lot of people are. I said it was hard to concentrate on creative work because it felt unimportant compared to the horrors people are enduring in the assault on democracy. Our friends very kindly reiterated the good wisdom that art is important. It helps people. And none of us should be robbing ourselves of our joys and passions.
So in that spirit, I’d like to share some joy I found in my creative work this week.
I was editing a scene that we had to film very, very quickly. (14 filming days to shoot a 90 - 100 minute movie is very, very tight.) In this particular scene, I wanted a character to react to a shock with manic, flustered energy.
When I reviewed the footage of the scene, it wasn’t quite there. No individual take quite conveyed the sense of panic. This is no fault of the cast or the crew—everyone did a great job while moving fast. It’s just that the scene was at an 8 of intensity and I wanted to get it to an 11.
Refreshed and inspired after the pep talk, I DID NOT GIVE UP on getting the scene to an 11.
While no single take reached the 11, lots of individual moments did. I put my back into it and cut the hell out of the scene, combining all those moments of 11. There was a fantastic focus pull shot and a great delivery of an absolute bombardment of f-bombs from one of the actors that tied it all together.
It’s now one of my favorite scenes so far. I got distracted from typing this to stop and rewatch it.
As always, I write this blogletter to tell myself what I need to hear and hope it helps others. This week, it was nice to hear it from some friends. Whatever you’re working on—don’t give up. The thing that will help inspire you to keep going might be right around the corner. Or hiding in a suit of armor. Just find it.
LIGHT PLUGS—
VOTE FORWARD! The letter writing campaign to encourage voters to actually, you know, vote is BACK. They’ve got a campaign to write to voters in Wisconsin about the upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court election. Full details on how to write letters here!
The Nightmare Adorable! I wrote and directed this explicitly political short horror film back in 2023. It’s on YouTube now and getting more views will help with the eventual promotion of Dead Media. You can watch here!
Speaking of Dead Media, 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 need to stay focused on Dead Media editing. And Sara has to work for part of the weekend. So I’m going to try again with the hubris. My goal for next week is to edit up to minute 45 of the film.
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 I took inspiration from Duolingo and did a very fast, energetic sketch of a guy who does, indeed, have two knives. Perhaps I was also processing some emotions as well as practicing my Spanish. Anyway, I hope you have a great week with just the right amount of KNIVES.
