Quit for Quality

I posted a blog yesterday on our Lost In Sunshine filmmaking blog that got a lot of attention on our Face Book, particularly.

The question I asked was, "What do you do, or tell yourself, to get through an intimidating moment/day/year/scene?"

READ ORIGINAL BLOG HERE

The idea isn't to just wait out a bad idea until you can do no more, but to figure out what's a mediocre (boring!) idea from a great one, by asking yourself the right questions!

In example, you may have ten ideas that really sound fun/interesting/worthwhile, but you only have time to really focus on a couple of them. It's important to be able to brainstorm your ideas out, and search for the purple cow in the mix.

In other words, don't quit something just to quit. Quit for quality. Quit other things so you can focus on the ones that DO matter. The GREAT ones.

The idea of quitting isn't just to quit something that's hard, either, but to the contrary, we should stick with what is hard if it's our dream-job. Let everyone else quit!!! Scarcity equals value, as demonstrated in Godin's, "Purple Cow."

It's our job to quit the stuff that doesn't matter, and to be able to tell the difference between something worthwhile, that just has a huge dip perhaps, vs. something that's at a dead end.

Reading "The Dip" was a great refresher. It inspired me to (again) reflect upon all of my own on-going projects and ask pertinent questions about them.

I encourage you to read them both, if you haven't.

It's never too late to transform yourself, and be the Extraordinary you that you were meant to be.
:) Jentri

Filmmaking: Why he did it. Why I do it.

A friend, Misti, forwarded this article on to me today (thank you!). I was happy to learn that other filmmakers are seeing the value of being intimate with their audience and taking risks (if that's how you view it). After all, filmmaking is an intimate experience, really. Why not allow your supporters/viewers to share in that wonderful, chaotic living room space? Some people will never get the opportunity to otherwise learn or appreciate what we do in our (behind the scenes) crafts.

That is a direction we've always hoped to emulate with Lost In Sunshine - creating a wide open space, free for all to explore, interact, share, and grow with us. If we're lucky, our true fans (as Ted Hope often refers to them as) will be there in the end, supporting us on our journey to expand and eventually, yes, even profit from!

I mean, you can scream your ass off, but if no one is listening it doesn't matter, does it?

Which leads me to my next thought on why I do (and will continue to do) what I do. All the blogging, youtubing, posting pictures, videoing, participating in social (media) interaction (i.e., twitter, facebook, myspace, etc.) is a chance for me to connect with different groups that gravitate to different spaces for various reasons. Perhaps they learn through video, or rely on friends to navigate them... maybe they just like to tweet occasionally, or maybe they just want good old fashion words. Whatever it is - I want to be there. In fact, I'd go as far as to say it's my job to be there - as an indie artist. Who else is going to do it for me? My assistant? (I'm laughing really hard right now).

So let's get down and dirty for a second. Let's get the grit outta the way, so we can be inspired again! 'Cause it's easy to feel yucky and unappreciated when things aren't seeming to go our way. After all, filmmaking is fucking hard work (excuse my language, but there's no other perfect word!). There's no easy way to make a film, contrary to what anyone reads about in a magazine or is told by a friend that was maybe an extra in a movie... once. You don't make films unless you're completely in love with the fabrication of them. I have yet to meet a person in the universe who makes films 'just for money.' If they do, there was a long time in the making, where they did it for love! Trust me!

But why do we love it so much? It's not fame, and it's hardly money. Sometimes it's downright exhausting. Sometimes we feel defeated and drained by everyone and everything. Maybe we can't get financing when we need it. Maybe someone with a stupid loose mouth pisses us off, and all we want to do is (however mean, but true!) stuff a burrito in their face so they'll shut up and stop distracting us from our vision. Sometimes we have 2am call times, and barely get to see our families. Sometimes we forget to eat, or our stomach's in knots over a decision someone made to do something we haven't had time to know if we agree with YET. Sometimes we are denied sleep, work for cheap, and eat cocoa pebbles to survive. Does it sound like I've done it before? :) If you're a filmmaker of any sort, YOU'VE DONE IT BEFORE, too!

So what? We get to do what we love, and that's pretty wonderful. PRICELESS. And, it's (as Shad's dad would say) stinkin' fun, too!

The next time you feel like complaining, or going in a hole somewhere and dying (there are certainly days I wanna!), ask yourself this: Would I rather be doing something else? An office job perhaps, where my legs are cold in the summertime, so I have to bring in a mini portable heater and wear skirts & heals to impress my boss? Or a sales job where the chances of making a living are equally as challenging, but a calculator's my best friend? Does it sound like I've done this before? Hey, it's for some people, I know! They're delighted (and meant) to do it- and thank goodness. 'Cause we're not one of them. Deep down, we both know the truth - we thrive on people telling us "no" because it creates a challenge. And us Indies adore a challenge! I haven't met one indie anything that isn't passionate, and hardworking when it comes to their heart's mission.

So stop complaining about how your life is sooooo bad (I see it all the time posted on FB and twitter) and just take a nap. When you wake up, ask yourself the above, wipe away any dew, stop feeling sorry for yourself, and get back to work. That's what you really want to do anyhow!

Film (work) is for the soul. And being a soul survivor, you know - that to just keep going when things seem really shitty - is the only way to survive this business they call show.

Now go on, knock 'em dead!

With passion, love & hope,

Jentri

Lost In Sunshine website launching next week!!

Our official Lost In Sunshine website is almost complete, and I'm feeling a little OCD about it today. Is it wrong to love your project so much? It's not about ego - it's all excitement. Just reading our key crew's thoughts, words they've graciously contributed to our "crew" page, has touched me so deeply. And once again, reconfirmed my thoughts about what attracted me or Lorie to them to begin with. Does this happen on every film? If so, I'm making features for the rest of my life. This is the coolest thing I've ever experienced. I'm not naive to the idea that problems may (some say will) occur with our production in the future, but it'll be dealt with in a respectful way. And the reason I know this? Because of all these beautiful folks on board. They care about this project and want it to succeed. It really feels magical right now. The collective focus of everyone is to make a lot of good shit happen to a lot of well-deserving people. Ya can't beat that.

So what does this new development mean for this blog? Not too much. I'm going to keep writing and sharing my thoughts about our project, and my feelings about being a first-time feature writer-director here with you. But I'm also going to be blogging about my thoughts on other indie films, projects, actors, and filmmaker friends, as well.

On our official movie website, the filmmakers' blogs will be specifically about Lost In Sunshine. Anything you could ever want to know about the film - you'll have it.

I sure would love it if you'd follow me and my sunshine making crew there, too. You'll be the first to know when it's up! :)

Lots of love, Jentri

ps.

Thank you, Lorie, Ari, and Shad for working so hard to create such a beautiful instrument for us to share our experiences through!

Down the list of Jon Reiss' cheat sheet.

Today I went down Jon Reiss' web marketing cheat sheet, courtesy of Ted Hope's blog (link above). Do you have the name of your domain/movie reserved across the board for your film/project? I was surprised that lost in sunshine was taken on twitter already! I've had jentrification now for a while on twitter, as well as my filmmaking blog (forloveofindiefilmmaking.blogspot.com), but never thought to have them ALL in sync with our movie name for the purpose of audience convenience (we all can be lazy!!)....

(this blog has moved -- read the rest here!)