What In The World Influences Us These Days?

22 Glimpses OF The Real World Beyond Our Navels

Sometimes you can’t hide the problem.

Did you notice I’ve been trying to break down how we got to our current state of producing? Yeah, that’s what’s been afoot here on HopeForFilm as of late. You got my back story, my new rules and even the historic events that changed things for us; those are the experiences. But how did they change us?

Just to try to get a wee bit closer to the completist I aspire to be, allow me to also remind you of some earlier excursions into the producer realm. I wish this was how everyone saw us. But… no. It’s not, is it? Otherwise we’d actually get paid for the work we do and get respect for it with more protection for the credits we earn.

And I’ve shared about of my struggle just keeping on keeping on. I have also warned you of the problems… um… challenges we face, and how to prepare for them. And I’ve also offered far too many suggestions to list here — that’s what this newsletter tries to be about. But enough of all that. Let’s look at something new.

Whereas today’s post IS about producing, it is also about another aspect. Today’s post is not about the material word, or events in it. It is about our mindset. It also pertains not just to producers, but to all those around us.

You may not agree with what I have to offer today. Others may see things differently. That’s fine and you are certainly entitled to your beliefs. And yeah I did most of the work on it weeks ago, back when here in the States we were going to have a battle of the grandpas. Things have grown much more hopeful here in the two weeks since. But… Still… here we are. Don’t know about you, but I find it hard to forget.

This is drawn from a deeply scientific subset… of one: me! My list is biased towards my beliefs of course, but the same factors effect you, even if you have different conclusions. Perspective IS the story. Perspective is ALL stories. The frame determines the picture. There is much that we can agree on, much we can’t; things affect us differently. Our experiences are not the same. And that is very cool, and why we must share as much as we can.

Like the posts before it, I thought this one would be just that: one. Yet, when I started to dig in, I found too much to consider again. Today we are just going to tramp around the world at large. We will save the cinema domain for yet another time, as that deeply influences how we approach producing too. Stay tuned, my friend, stay tuned. It is always a longer walk than we anticipate and then it is often just to that next plateau.

The origins of this post come from trying to address what I would do differently if I was just starting out as a producer today. That said, this post is also emblematic of a very particular part of my creative process. We need to see The Big Picture. We need to see The Big Picture for our world, our country, our community, our industry, our cohort, our relationships, and for ourselves. We should capture it. We then need to ponder what it all means for our creative and business practices. One must make time for it. I have found it to be core and incredibly beneficial to my creative practice.

But let me warn you, whether you agree or not with how I see the world today, it can be pretty triggering to just contemplate it. The very fact that I have to prepare myself before I even bring myself to look at the world, is not a great indicator of the state of things. Feeling down or even downright paralyzed by how fucked it all is, is an appropriate reaction; at least, it is an appropriate initial reaction. I mean, after all, we have made such progress, right? Some, at least. We no longer have to farm for the king’s henchmen. And we have books to read. It could be worse! No one ever said it would be easy, or just, or kind, or fun. In fact, it has always been quite sucky.

Buckle up, chum. We are fortunate that there is so much that has already gone wrong; we now have so much purpose in life. We are here to fight that good fight, and that really is a soothing bath of sweet kisses; pushing hard for what we want is an act of love. We are here to make things better than we found them. Put all that on a t-shirt, and let’s get down to business.

Although, let me first offer another tangent. Perhaps as an appetizer you should just next touch down upon my unifying theory of everything – it explains why life is so hard.

With that to set your mind straight, I think you can accept the hell of the world we are in, and you can use it as a map towards your work ahead. It’s not your fault, at least it’s not provided you try to do something about it. Now you see right? The shittier it gets, the more we have to do. Don’t me get me wrong though: the pain itself does not give our life meaning; that only comes when we work to stop it.

I think the cataloguing of the grievances allows us to recognize  that life is a struggle and within that we find our meaning and then from that we move on to desire, satisfaction, and joy. We recognize what’s missing and what can we add. It is how we find The Missing Peace. It will lead to better movies, trust me!

Look broadly. See the big picture. If you struggle to do that, I’ve got you. See the themes. Weave them into your create practice. Speak the secret languages. We are all connected and can connect still further. That is art. That is the business of art.