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?

My goal for last week was to complete the shot list for the new horror short we’re filming in May.

And I did get that done! I completed the goal during a whirlwind visit to the Midwest that made me three days late getting this blogletter out.

I really enjoy building a shot list. Like a lot of film endeavors, it’s half wild carefree imagination and half strict logistical planning. On the creative side, it helps a ton to check in with yourself about how much of the film you can see in your head. And on the practical side, I’ve been using the shot list to try to be more accurate about how long the filming will take. Very excited about this short film.

I’m lucky to have a lot of exciting stuff on my plate this month. I’ve got some behind-the-scenes work to do for our horror film Dead Media, my friend and podcast partner Ken Napzok invited me to do a longer stand-up set for his show on May 24th (more info on that soon), our Star Wars podcast ForceCenter has a new film to cover this month, and I’ve committed to making another 6 minute short film with my friend and fantastic actor, Jessica Fenton.

So after a long and honest talk with my calendar, I probably need to take a break from the blog for a few weeks.

I might pop in with some news and a quick sketch. And I hope to return to full blogletter soon!

LIGHT PLUGS

NEW SHORT FILM ON YOUTUBE:

This past week we released VICTIM SEVEN starring Jessica Fenton, Jared Rivet, and myself. It’s about a woman facing down an old monster in a new form. This film helped me get some frustrations out about the time we’re all living through. And it’s doing some good numbers on YouTube! You can watch Victim Seven here!

We’ve also released these other short films:

The Narrator, starring Phil LaMarr. A cosmic horror/comedy tale depending on your point of view.

The Demon’s Commentary. A commentary track for a 1970s horror movie goes horribly wrong.

Deep Into Norway. A travelogue horror about a man finding himself in Norway.

The Nightmare Adorable. A 22 minute short about horror hosts who try to sell a cute toy of a blasphemous beast.

Unboxing The Cosmos. A middle-aged man tries his hand at unboxing videos and opens nothing but soul-rending Lovecraftian terror.

Over an hour of storytelling across all these short films!

DEAD MEDIA: More news coming soon on the future of our horror film, Dead Media! (For now, if you’ve seen the film at the Minneapolis premiere or one of the film festival screenings, we’d love a nice review on Letterboxd!)

A NICE THING THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK

My nice thing this week was completely unplanned. On Thursday, I met an old friend for lunch in Downtown Minneapolis. We wrapped up at about 3 pm. I had a planned gaming session with more old friends at 6 pm.

When lunch wrapped up, I told my friend that I needed to get back to my car, drive home, and get a couple of hours of work in.

But it was a nice sunny day. So I thought, “What if I just made a loop walking around some old favorite spots in Downtown Minneapolis?”

I got to the edge of Downtown and thought, “What if I walked through Loring Park?”

I got through Loring Park and thought, “What if I wandered through the Sculpture Garden?”

After I wandered through the Sculpture Garden, I thought, “What if I poke my head into the Walker Art Center?”

I found the free micro-cinema playing short films, sat down, and watched A Trip to the Moon. Twice.

Then I thought, “Hey, I should check the time. Oh shit. It’s 5:15 pm.” And enjoyed a lovely power walk back to my rental car in Downtown.

It was a great reminder of many things: That taking a break from work is an essential part of work. That it’s great to do tourist things in your own hometown. That I’m pretty good at walking fast.

I also figured out a mystery that had been vexing me for a long time. For many many years, there was a sculpture outside the Walker Art Center facing the street. I passed it in cars and on foot thousands of times. I never knew the name of the sculpture or the artist, but it made a big impression.

Several years ago, the sculpture was moved from the front of the building and I was bummed out. People told me it was in the Sculpture Garden now, but I was always too busy to go look for it when I lived in Minneapolis. And too busy when I visited to make time for a stroll through the Sculpture Garden.

After I did make time to strol through the Garden, I still didn’t see it. So I asked someone inside the art gallery if it was still here. The answer was yes. It was on the other side of the street up a hill. Very, very tucked away compared to its prominent position facing the street back in the day.

So I wandered up the hill and found my old friend. Turns out it is called Octopus and it was made by Alexander Calder.

But the reason I had always loved it was that it looked like a strange fantasy creature struggling through a liminal space. I saw fierce angular shapes plunging through a portal and coming out the other side, changed into rounded blobby shapes surging toward the future.

Our horror film, Dead Media, also deals with portals between worlds. As I stood there reconnecting with this piece of art, I’ve been seeing since I was probably about 14 years old, I wandered how deeply it got into my psyche.

How much of an impact did something I just walked and drove by make? A piece of art I thought about a lot, but never even bothered to find out its real name? A piece of art that from the artist’s description isn’t really about plunging through a portal?

As I stared at Octopus, the answer was clear.

Thanks, Octopus, and I can’t wait to visit you the next time I plunge through the portal from Los Angeles to Minneapolis.

MY GOAL FOR THE WEEK/S--

My goal for the next several weeks is to find some moments of balance and joy as I get all the creative work done. I look forward to sharing whether or not I succeed!

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 thinking about striving through portals in many forms. I hope you have good times with portals and creative work in the coming weeks. Thanks for reading!