Of Bears and Emails
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 taking many small steps necessary for the feature film I’m trying to get made. Specifically, I set the goal to send a minimum of 20 emails/texts/dms related to producing the film.
And I very much succeeded. The majority of the emails are on the BUSINESS side of the SHOW BUSINESS paradigm—dealing with finance, legal documents, time estimates, and frankly asking lots of people from many parts of my life for help. Every day this week was like a slightly stressful version of This Is Your Life.
Sometimes I prepare like seven emails and then pretend a bomb will go off if I don’t hit SEND on all of them in under one minute. (Typing that out, I’m now proud of myself for injecting some imaginative zest into the BUSINESS part of the work.)
One of the many reasons I decided to put the majority of my energy into filmmaking is because it’s an art form that requires community. For multiple deep-seated reasons, I have an instinct to not ask for help. To hole up and do the work myself and not bother anyone. I use to look at the credits for a major motion picture and think, “I’d like to make a movie, but I need to do all those things myself.” This is, of course, bonkers.
So even though it’s stressful, it’s a good exercise for me to continue to build community, build connection, ask for help. One to seven emails at a time.
ADVENTURES OF THE WEEK--
Despite all the business work, there were some creative highlights to this week.
Having completed the 6 minute sizzle reel for the feature film, I got to send it out and share it with people. I filmed it at my Dad’s house in North Minneapolis and he was very curious to see it all come together. As I hit send on that email, I had the sudden realization: “I’m not sure if my Father has ever watched a horror movie all the way through.”
And, indeed, he had not! He enjoyed the short and we had a great conversation about horror. Among other things, we both agreed the flying monkeys from Wizard of Oz count as a horror monster.
I’m also working on revisions to the script for the feature. Or rather, in between emails, I’m stealing moments to make notes ABOUT revising the script. Thinking about the art, the story, the SHOW part of the SHOW BUSINESS reinvigorates me to work on the business stuff. It also makes me double-down on my belief in the FINISH YOUR MONSTERS mantra of getting first drafts done quickly. I wrote the first draft of this script in October of last year in about four days. If I hadn’t pushed through and finished that first draft, I wouldn’t have the joy all these months later of daydreaming about fine-tuning small and specific moments of the story.
Along the way this week, I also had some great moments of community. Our friends, Alex and Mollie Damon of the fantastic YouTube channel Star Wars Explained were in town so we enjoyed an evening out with them. In a wonderful double-feature, I saw veteran star of stage and screen, the 93 year old Hal Linden, do a staged reading in Beverly Hills then zipped across town to see my friend Laser’s phenomenal one-man show A Shark Ate My Penis. And during some stressful work moments, I rewarded myself with some cheese.
The other big adventure of the week was a cautionary tale. I strained a rib muscle while exercising. Clearly, the universe’s way of telling me not to exercise.
I then tried to ignore the strain and push through. The strain, however, said NO to this. So I made myself take it a little easier this weekend.
Luckily, the strain did NOT interfere with my ability to send emails or prep for podcasts. The only major problem with the strain is sleeping. The strain does not want me to lie down so I got to make a little fort on our couch, propped up by pillows and necessity. Sleeping upright in my own living room is the closest I may ever get to glamping so I’m going to try to enjoy it.
The strain is now healing quickly, but I think the algorithm heard my wife and I discussing that we might need to buy something for me to lean up against. The answer the algorithm presented was showing me a large bear from Ikea. I haven’t hit purchase yet, but my finger is hovering over the button.
All in all a mixed week, but good time with friends, art, and forward movement. I’ll take it.
MY GOAL FOR THE WEEK--
This week requires some multi-tasking so I’m going to dance with my old pal, hubris, and set two goals. I’m going to get some legal advice on a crucial document for the feature film and finish setting up a live comedy show to celebrate my birthday. My birthday is a big one this year so I’m doing a show on August 16th, the night before my birthday, to celebrate. I love show day but I also really love basking in the glow of a good show the day after so that’s what I’m going for. I’ve almost got my ducks in a row for the show but there are a few wild ones out there, chasing people in parks and fighting over bread, so I’m going to fix that this week.
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? Is it creative? What are the challenges? What are the joys? How can I help you finish your monsters?
LIGHT PLUGS--
A huge JOY for me! Our short film The Nightmare Adorable will be screening in the UK! Screening in July at the B Beside the Seaside Film Fest!
Here's the poster for the latest short film! Submissions to film festivals add up extremely quickly. They average is about $25 per festival and the more I submit to, the better odds at getting exposure for the film. All proceeds from sales of my comedy albums on Bandcamp go to film submissions!
A LITTLE SKETCH--
This week’s sketch comes straight out of my fever dreams! A large, friendly bear is very happy to get an email from me. I hope you all get a good response this week from your dream bears.
