Tag: film

10 Years From Now…

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

It’s hard to imagine where we will be any amount of time from now. So much can change between now and then. Some things we can control, others maybe not. All we can do is make the best of what we’re given, when we’re given it.

To explain where I want to be in 10 years, I should first explain where I am now. I’m almost 34 years old, I work at an ice rink, and I just got an AAS in motion picture and TV production in May. I’ve been doing ice rink work for the last 14 years. As for the degree, I haven’t found a job yet, but I have been writing and producing a series for YouTube which can be found here. The series is called My Video Journal. I’m very proud of it, and with season 1 coming to an end, I can’t wait to work on season 2.

So in 10 years what do I want to change? Well, for starters, I’d be approaching my mid-40’s. I hope I’m married by then, but who knows (still very single). As much as I love doing ice rink work, I hope to have a job in the film industry. Since I spent 15 years in college and got my degree in video production, getting a job in that field is the ultimate goal.

One idea I had not long ago was the possibility of being a history teacher. I love history, mostly American, but I don’t like teaching. If I was going to teach, I’d want the students to be into what I’m teaching. I know that some will be while others aren’t, but I think it also matters what age level you teach as well.

In any case, my goal for 10 years from now is to be working on movies or TV shows. While I do that, I will always work on stuff for YouTube as long as YouTube exists. Not only that, but anything I do for YouTube is experience I can show potential employers later.

There’s no telling where I’ll be in 10 years. I could be doing the same thing I am now, but I hope not. I am currently working toward a better future for myself one day at a time. The film industry is highly competitive, but I know I can make it there if I try hard enough. That’s the goal. And while I’m not there yet, I’m certain I will be one day.

FIN.

15 years ago, in 2010, I started on a long journey. It was a journey I thought would never end. It came with many ups and downs, and it just seemed to drag on and on for years. What was this journey that I finally finished? College.

It all started when I was 18. I went to a university fresh out of high school, and I had the time of my life. I met some cool people and I was finally on my own. I got to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. There was no one to tell me otherwise. Unfortunately, being on my own was also my downfall. I screwed around too much, and in doing so, I was put on academic probation. What’s academic probation? It means if my grades were to drop any lower, I’d be kicked out of the university.

The following year, I went to a community college. I took several classes and worked on getting my GPA back up. After that year, I returned to the university only to find that all the work I did was for nothing. My new GPA didn’t transfer over. I stayed at the university for the fall semester, and I lived the college dream for a week in January before I went back home. What’s the college dream? I was at the university, but had no classes to take. My bad grades meant no financial aid. No financial aid meant I couldn’t pay tuition. Since I couldn’t pay tuition, I couldn’t sign up for class. The only option left? Leave the university and go back to community college.

I HATED COMMUNITY COLLEGE. I was mad I had to be there. I was mad at myself for being such a screw up. I let myself and everyone else down because I didn’t do my best. I didn’t take school seriously (up to that point, I never did). I was lost. I didn’t know what I wanted or what to do. I kept taking classes, but nothing seemed to interest me. I was bored. I was bitter. The only light I found in the dark was when I wrote for the college newspaper. It was something I enjoyed doing and it was fun. Shortly after I started doing that, I had my own radio show at the college.

For about seven years, I HATED the fact that I screwed up my only chance to become something. I finally got away from the disaster of high school only to be brought back home in no better position than before. I had a shot to become something more than just a kid from Chicago. Everyone around me was moving on. What was I doing? Nothing. I was a nobody. I needed direction. I needed to find something interesting. I needed to be shown that I could be something more.

As fate would have it, I got my wish. We moved to a different town and I had to go to a different college. I looked at the new college and found the one thing I felt I’d be interested in. Boy was I right. I started taking classes in TV and movie production, and I never looked back. I finally found what I wanted to do.

Over the last eight years, I’ve been taking classes that cover every aspect of film making. I’ve helped make short films. I’ve made my own short films. I just made my own music video for my final class. Every class, every assignment, every project was something that I never once regretted doing. Everything I’ve done since taking that first motion picture/TV production class has been what I was looking for.

I’ve had people make fun of me for being in college in my 30s. I’ve had people laugh at me for it. But you know what? It doesn’t bother me. Everyone is on a different timeline. I spent so long being angry at myself, regretting what I had done to myself that everything I’ve done for film has made it all worth it.

I don’t regret a second of anything I did. I don’t regret almost getting kicked out of a university because of my own stupidity. I don’t regret taking a bunch of classes I’ve never used or thought of since. I don’t regret going to community college for so long. And I surely don’t regret the student loans I have to pay back either. I messed up my own life and I needed to find my way out of it. Once I did, all that anger and regret I had went away. I was comparing myself to everyone else. The problem is, I’ve never been like everyone else. I’ve always been me. I finally understood that.

Now that I’m finally finished with college, degree and all, what’s next? I don’t know. I want to work on a TV show or movie, but I also love editing videos. My ideal job is to be a writer/director, but I know that’s hard to get into. Not impossible, just really, really hard. I want a job in film production and it doesn’t matter for who. When I’m not working in that field, I’ll be writing and filming my own projects that I’ll post online.

It took me such a long time to get where I am today, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. I’ve done some cool things. I’ve learned a lot. I met some awesome people that I’d love to do more projects with in the future as well. Everything I did over the last 15 years has lead me to where I am today. I’m so glad I stuck with it and didn’t give up. Deep down, I think I always knew I’d find something I’d love to do. It just took me a lot longer than I wanted it to.

Repeating a First Experience

I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. Not for any particular reason, either. It just popped into my head. There have been a few TV shows and movies I wish I could see again for the first time. Even albums I wish I could hear again for the first time. Things that just hit different when I first experienced them.

What are these things I wish to experience again for the first time? In terms of music, the album Endless Forms Most Beautiful by Nightwish. I have been a fan of Nightwish for years, and that album absolutely blew me away the first time I heard it. To this day, that album holds a special place in my heart as being one of the only albums to truly leave me speechless.

There are three TV shows I wish I could see again for the first time. They are Daredevil, The Punisher, and Vikings. Daredevil and The Punisher were everything I wanted them to be and more. I was so upset when they were canceled, but I have a new hope with Daredevil: Born Again being made by Disney. I also loved every bit of Vikings. It’s true, after Ragnar died, it lost something, but I also feel they did a great job carrying the show on without him. Bjorn was a very worthy successor to Ragnar.

As for the movies I wish I could watch again for the first time? A few circled around in my head. I don’t necessarily want to see the entire movie again, but the Darth Vader hallway scene from Rogue One is something I wish I could see again for the first time. I remember seeing that for the first time and being both excited and terrified at the same time. It was such an amazing feeling.

But the only movie I wish I could see again for the first time is Avengers: Endgame. It had so much buildup and years of waiting behind it. Endgame also had so many special and memorable moments that I’d love to witness again for the first time. It wasn’t a perfect movie, but I really did enjoy watching it. I’ll never forget the giddy feeling I got when I realized that Cap could actually lift the hammer. Nothing but pure joy.

What the F!@# Am I Doing?!: The Beginning

For those that don’t know, somewhere around two or three years ago, I wrote a comedy sketch called What the !@#$ Am I Doing?! It was based off of Arrested Development. It was funny, it had the narrator, and it was just my own version of it. While I like what I did with it, (it can be watched here), I’ve decided that I want to do it again, but better. Over the last three years, I’ve learned a lot about writing and film-making in general and I want to remake it with that knowledge.

I’ve turned that one video into an entire series that will be uploaded to YouTube. As it stands, it will run for three seasons and then be over. Why three seasons? Three seasons seems like a reasonable length for a mini series. So far, I have all of season one written and I plan on filming it this summer. That means I’ll release it some time this fall or winter.

Each episode will probably be five minutes or less. After all, this is a very low budget series. I’ve also written it in a way that allows for it to be low budget. I don’t know if that’s being smart or not, but it’ll work for what I’m doing. One day, I’d love to work on a big time production. I just can’t at this point in time, especially since there’s no guarantee that I’ll even make any money off of this series. But even if I don’t, it doesn’t matter. I’m doing it because I want to.

In terms of how it’s being planned out, season one focuses mostly on comedy. There’s dumb jokes and awkward moments that’ll probably make you cringe. But that’s what it’s supposed to do. I wrote it that way on purpose.

Season two is much different. I started writing it, but it isn’t anywhere near being done. Season two will be much more drama driven with a few jokes here and there. Unless I change my mind while writing it. I wouldn’t be surprised if I did. I let the story go where it wants to.

As for season three? Well, I’m not sure yet. I know how I want the series to end, the trick is getting there and making it feel natural and not forced. And if I have to change the end, then I’ll change the end. I’m not against that at all.

I’ve been working on this series for the last few months and I think it’s a solid idea and I’m really excited about it. I’m sure I’ll run into issues as they arise, but I just want to have some fun and create something that I can watch and share with others. I don’t care if it makes money or not. I just want to see my creations come to life.

I will also post occasional updates on the series as it moves along. I think it’s important to document the process not just for myself, but for others to see how I work. I think doing that would be both fun and helpful later on down the road.

Writing Comedy

There are always TV shows and movies that we find funny and even sometimes hilarious. I always enjoyed comedy and I still do. I’ve always wanted to write comedy too. The only problem is, I could never figure out how to write comedy. How do you write jokes down and then make sure others find them funny? Well, I think I finally figured it out.

I’ve always loved shows like Arrested Development and The Office. Movies like Deadpool or Game Night. I feel like the comedic writing in those examples is fantastic. Then you have people like Ryan Reynolds who are seemingly funny without even trying to be. That’s a talent in itself.

The thing is, I think I’m funny. I tell stupid jokes. I act goofy. I generally don’t care what people think of me. But still, I struggled with trying to write that on paper. I finally realized that it’s a combination of things. I need to write the jokes, and then, when I go to film it, make sure that it’s delivered in a way that’s funny. Comedy is just as much performance as it is writing.

So that leads me to the point of this post. For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on my own comedy series that I will film and then post to YouTube. It’s an idea I had a long time ago that I sort of forgot about. I had filmed one episode for it before the pandemic and it can be found here. I have rewritten that episode and I’ve written another episode to follow it. My goal is to film at least three episodes over the summer that I can release over the rest of 2022.

I just want to write and film something that’ll make people laugh. Comedy can be used as a healer. I’ve always liked making people laugh and I always will, even when they didn’t really want to. I think it’s a gift being able to make people laugh and I’d hate to waste it.