This is my *very first* interview as a writer-director, and ๐ฎโ๐จ๐ฎโ๐จ๐ฎโ๐จโฆ.
I really like the writer whose podcast this is, so when she asked me for an interview I jumped to do it. But then, I thought โWait a minuteโฆ do I know how to do an interview?โ
Well, itโs done now. In the end it was like just talking with a young friend.
Still, maybe I shoulda been more formal.
When my mother was on her earthly journey, sheโd watch cooking shows back to back.
I was always a bit annoyed when I visited, wanting to change the channel from these toxically chipper people having nothing but fun cooking, not a hint of real life foibles in sight.
Well through out life, Iโve been taxed with taking care of myself. And being a bit of a foodie myself, the making of a dish would capture my attention from time to time.
These days I liken myself a very tasty cook, and itโs the chore I spend the most amount of time on.
So now, I willingly give cooking instruction videos in my feed a chance.
Which is how I found โKay.โ
Kayโฆ. prepares the most exquisite mealsโฆ and characteristically does so through a darker lens than the vast majority of chefs you may encounter on social media. She is the Edgar Allen of bunch.
And most times seems genuinely taken with her process, not you.
Important because I want to think my own thoughts, and have my own experiences with what Iโm watching. I donโt want to feel pressured to feel like the chef is a chum.
Her process is enough.
Itโs already the best and highest bar for what it is.
On the war path to raise money for a film (not my favourite part) right now, so I need all the inspiration I can get.
I heard this at a film festival a few days ago and it was weaponized inspiration (ha). In surround sound, this is soooooooooooooo GOOD!
Exactly what you want your soundtrack to do – stick with the audience long after credits even roll.
They’re called “April Snow” and are my secret north star. Shhhh.
This is a great time for writing, for escaping it all. And I have escapes from my escapes.
Right now, I’m penning an anime series alongside a last rewrite of a live-action feature film. But it took foreeeeeeever to get started writing it, because I didn’t really know how to structure one. I wasn’t too sure what the needed elements might be… but… funny thing… I forgot I started as an animator. I went the flip book, animation focus in high school, major in college route, before falling in love with live action filmmaking and betraying animation (my first love lol).
So I do have some idea how to create dynamic scenes. And I’ve been working on storytelling for so long now – I hope I know how to tell a good one by now.
But you know what the most surprising thing is so far? It’s fun!
It’s not the primary genre I work in, so I feel like I have alot of room to play and mess up. Do whatever.
Let it be great, or not.
Be free…
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Animation via Wattpad.com (๐๐ธ๐ฎ ๐ฏร๐ฉร๐ต๐ ๐ธ๐ฎ)
God is so unexpected and incredible, I’m left speechless when touched by how much. Life is very sweet and bitter, at the present moment. I’m having profound upsets concerning my day job, ongoing upsets with my extended family, depressions that hit me like emotional tsunamis common place.
But when the holy spirit ushers in blessing, it is delivered like performance art. It’s surprising and will reach places that need a special kind of operation. And receiving these regularly these days, and soooooooooo grateful. I feel found in the dark, and get that tingly feeling you get when someone leans in and whispers, while being so close it’s like a caress.
Anyway, lately I had been grappling with the never ending storytelling training I’ve been exposing myself to. Grappling because what I value in storytelling is – a little danger. But thorough training probably wills that out, to some extent huh? I mean, I think about this alot, because I watch alot of content that seems so to the formula and predictable. You can guess at all of it, if you give it any thought. Which is fun, it feels familiar, like hanging out with an old friend…
But with everyone and their grand brother, cousin, best friend and his best friend, being a filmmaker these days, why would your content be chosen from the oceanic amount that exists? And you think, if it is, will it have any true effect? I personally want to tell stories that get underneath the viewer’s skin, climbs into the heart, finds a cozy spot there, remaining over time. Still, I want to be up to standard in my writing and directing, so I’ve been working on it.
But I’ve had these concerns, egging at me.
And to be honest what I like (REALLY LIKE)… in any art form, is a bit of chaos. Unpredictability. Smashing of the “standards.” Not leaving people in tact. I also… wanna attempt that…
Yesterday I went to a short play festival with some friends. Cool short skits as to be expected.
But there was ONE…. in a universe of its own. One that was… organized chaos. This playwright was in no way trying at definable goal posts in storytelling. His work had its own standard and had everything happening on stage all at once, was BOLDLY doing alot of the “wrong things.” BUT…it stood aside from the predictable “right things.”
The joy of that.
You felt released from the confines of a “play” and introduced into an EXPERIENCE instead. He had characters that were a little trope-y, dialogue that wasn’t always terribly exciting, and characters that were a little kitsch. A manner of displaying all of it that was uneven and messy. Sloppily done in fact.
From there… totally unique.
And such a lesson for the artist of any medium, to commit and do your own thing. Fully. FULLY.
Cuz he did, and his work was like a streak of light appearing out of nowhere, while standing aside from the rest of it.
Pure. Chaos. And I LOVED IT.
I love storytelling and storytellers who tie you to a train, using every tool available to them.
And I feel like their trailer should absolutely do that too, by telling you the story in a dynamic way while leaving space for you to wonder.
I also think why not use this opportunity to entangle me in the lives of your character? Get me worried, I should WANT TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS.
Have at it!
Kinda geeky, but once a filmmaker does this she or he can take me anywhere. And I think majority of film fans feel the SAME WAY.
So Iโm down right excited for this movie which has a release date of March.
I just love how the trailer is cinematic, scored beautifully, with set pieces (explosions/car chases), witty and even worrying dialogue. Itโs all working together to get a butt in seat.
And by the end of it, itโs a no brainer.
Reason number 5000: https://youtu.be/DLVf3bj3OCo
Find someone to love and let them love you.
Allow the silent war on your trouble.
Friday was my mother’s birthday. She would have been 82.
I’m still gutted and can’t breath properly when I think about her death.
But some days, I’m present to loving her more now than ever. Because I see her efforts as a mom, how she tried to raise these people who would be prepared for the world in certain ways, and always value, even protect one another as a tribe-band-siblings. And more and more, to her heart as a woman, her reach and passion for the world around her, in the absence of that trait, anywhere.
Then I’m gutted again, for the void of that. Seeing in the most profound way, how indispensable people truly are.
(A lesson I don’t think anyone truly gets, till a loved one who they are engaged with dies.)
But, I’ve been moving forward.
I moved out of New York. Went back to school. Been trying my hand at online dating off and on (the pits still).
Made my first short in years, in a directing class.
A simple assignment, 3 shots edited to sounds not from the shoot.
I felt like I had just gotten out of bed, pulled the cover back on my life.
Found the fire in the embers.
Archaic Sugar 
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