Time To Change Things Up

My 1-year sabbatical from making movies is almost over, so I decided it was time to change things up here on the blog. I originally started this blog to document the process of making Sex Machine. I anticipated that I would then use it to document the making of many more movies. Despite my best intentions, I still haven’t completed another feature. I am pretty uncomfortable writing about personal stuff, so the blog doesn’t get updated very often even though my personal life is often pretty exciting. But there is new stuff coming up and I want to write about it.

For the past several years I feel like I’ve been struggling against some kind of current trying to get movies made. When I changed career directions, things started suddenly going very smoothly – like I was finally swimming with the current. I’m not sure if this is a good or a bad thing, but it is definitely less stressful. But even though I’ve been on a film making break, I definitely haven’t stopped making things. Here’s what I’ve been up to and what I’ll be writing about in the days to come.

Internet Stuff. Over the past year, I’ve really focused my energy on what I call internet stuff. I really need an elevator pitch so I have a better way of explaining what it is exactly that I do. Basically, I help companies figure out how to use their web presence to strengthen their brand and sell more stuff. I’ve inadvertently found that I’m really good at this. The funny thing is that the skills and techniques I’m using for this are things that I’d originally developed to promote my movies. Ironic. I love doing this work in the business world, but I also love helping artists, filmmakers, musicians and other creative types figure out ways to do this for themselves.

Web Series. I’ve also been putting a lot of time, energy and thought into developing web series. Hilah Cooking is the first example of this. I am totally in love with this medium and it’s another example of things just clicking. In just a few months we have built up a sizable and very engaged audience for the show. With web series, there are no gatekeepers. There is nobody to tell you what you can and can’t do. You make it and release it to the world. You also have direct communication with your audience. I’m not sure we fully realize how revolutionary this is. I get a lot of questions about how we make the show, so I will writing about this a lot.

Movies. I will never stop making movies, but I am going to completely change how I go about it. I have given a lot of thought to this over the past year. The industry has completely changed over the past 2-3 years but many film makers are still wandering around like it’s still the late 1990′s. Even though the industry is a wreck as far as independents are concerned, I’ve never felt more optimistic about making movies and the potential of the medium as an art form.

So… new design… new direction… new start. Let’s go!

Photo: The photo above is of the Los Feliz 3 Movie Theater. I just got back from another trip to California where I spent a lot of time on Vermont Avenue. I recommend the Juicy Lucy Cheeseburger from Fred 62