A new short film

It was earlier this year that I realised that I hadn’t been “on to the next one” – I hadn’t shot a short film for myself in about four years. Four years! Even the fun sasquatch short/ad I shot with Matti was two years ago!

It shouldn’t take that long. I feel like I was waiting for the “right” idea… or a better idea.

I have a feeling the great directors/artists/creatives simply know how to be decisive and move on while fans and critics are busy critiquing, ranking, and listicling their bodies of work. They do the only thing they know how… The work. On to the next one.

So with a bit of prodding from the people I’m blessed to have around me… the ones that tell me to shut up and just pick one…

We made a short film.

That 4 year gap is really a symptom of not taking myself seriously. When a client asks me to jump, I’ll say “how high” while already in the air… but a project for me? I’ll get to that as soon as there’s a lull in client work… There is never a lull. There is never a right time. The reward for good work is more work.

So we called ourselves on it and booked it right in the middle of the busiest time of the year. I had a couple panic attacks. I didn’t plan it as well as I could have. There are holes. But we got it done. If we had waited for a better time, it wouldn’t be posted online today.

Like an intervention I helped plan myself, I was held in a room until we had the idea we were to film on the already chosen date. And when the idea came, I recited it with glee, and confidence, as if it came effortlessly.

This reminds me of a few things I harp on about on the channel (to myself equally as much as you) Do the work! Get rid of distractions and focus! And something I’ll be talking about soon: the artist’s mystique… How artists present as effortless genius, while they still need to wallow in the mud until something, somehow, and in my case someone, nearly at gunpoint… makes us act.

So where I’d obsess about the details in the past, we decided to just shoot something.

Is it perfect? God, no.

Should I have made more detailed shooting storyboards? Yes.

Should I have dialled in the performances more? Sure.

We’ll talk about all of that later.

But it’s done! I can make all those tweaks on the next one.

By the time the old me would have gotten around to shooting this one, the new me will, hopefully, be on to the next one.

Thanks for reading and watching.

Watch here.

Browse the newsletter archives here.