do what you do

Ray and Charles Eames.  They weren't indie, but I still heart them.

I just wanted to take a minute to send a figurative smack-on-the-rear (the sports kind) to all the creatives out there.  I’m thankful for all the talented people who are out there plugging away, making art.  I’m most thankful for, and encouraged by, the people who are giving us things to look at and watch and listen to who aren’t getting paid a dime for it.  Those people are exploring and pushing boundaries because they love what they do.  They love to create.  And I can identify with that.

I just wanted to say, “Keep it up.”  I think we’d all like to make money doing what we love to do.  But only a few are doing it to get rich.  Most of us just want the cash and the time to make the art more often.  The sad truth is that the majority may never find it.  But, does that mean it was all a waste?  Are you kidding me?  There is amazing work sitting all over the internet landscape right now and it gets discovered everyday.  Adults discovering musicians and authors, children discovering artists that inspire them to pick up a brush, and on and on and on.  These efforts are absolutely not wasted.  First of all, there is always hope.  People reach their professional dreams all the time.  But, even if that never happens, there are still people you're going to touch.  Somebody out there is going to appreciate what you made.  Somebody out there is going to LOVE what you made and they are going to be moved by it.  Ultimately it might cause them to make something of their own.  So let me say this…

Keep making.  Make as much as you can.  Create.

The more you produce, the more eyes that see it, the more chances that something sticks or goes viral and moves you closer to where you want to be or sets you on an even better course you never expected.  Never believe what you’re doing is for nothing.  Your friends will see it and they’ll make sure more people see it.  Strangers in Russia will see it and send it to their friends.  Trust me, I know.  Walk Softly is big in Russia right now.

But… what if?  What if the best thing that ever comes of your art is when your 8 year old climbs into your lap and belly-laughs while she watches your video? Or the person you devoted your life to stares at your painting or photo or listens to your song and smiles ear-to-ear with a sparkle in their eye?  If you ask me…  I say you’ve made it.

Now let me share some love.  Check out a couple of my favorite indie creators:  Michael Startzman and David Arnold.

secret shoot saturday

Probably the best look you're going to get until May 18th

Secret Shoot Saturday was another ironman production marathon, certainly not for the faint of heart.  Sixteen hours: from 9am Saturday to 1am on Sunday.  To put it simply, it was nuts.  It was also our first attempt to make one of our productions a real-time social media extravaganza; probably to mixed results.  For those of you who followed on Twitter, how did you feel about it?  I think Allen did a great job of juggling heavy acting and creative duties while sending out some status updates about where we were in the process as well as a mix of photos.  And then, on the other hand, there was me.  Most of you have never seen me on the day of a shoot, but those that have can attest that I am not what you would ever describe as a "multi-tasker."  To dress it up in the most positive light possible, you could say I'm "in the zone" on those days.  But, basically it boils down to no one being able to get much out of me other than what the next shot is.  So, my tweets were much more sparse.  Plus, this shoot was just massive: lots of actors, lots of set-ups, lots of props, lots of costumes.  It's low-level insanity to try to pull off what we did in one day.

All that would have been impossible without the amount of incredible people that were involved.  We had our best crew of actors yet; better than we deserve.  They were all incredible and knocked it out of the park.  We had family members that stuck around all day and kept everything from grinding to a hault.  My parents, the Sheenes, and the Martins; without every single one of them it could never happen.  Not to mention friends who ran audio and carried lights around and anything else that needed doing.

Another tweeting roadblock was the secrecy level.  We will never have to hide as much of a project as we've attempted to hide on this one.  There is one simple reason for that:  this project was always specifically designed for a Danville, Kentucky audience and the Danville Lawn Chair Film Festival.  We had a concept that we thought would umm.... exhilarate... and we don't want to ruin it for anyone until the moment it debuts on May 18th in the center of the town that birthed it.  If we did this right, things could get out of hand and that's exactly what we wanted.  We want to cause a scene, point blank.  This flick seriously couldn't be more Danville.  Literally impossible.

So, in the future, expect more behind-the-scenes.  But for now, be glad you have no idea what's coming.  (And if somehow you've heard too much, don't tell a soul!)

help us out - phase 1

SHARING IS CARING

 If you've ever sat down at your computer or with your fancy tablet doo-dad, watched a Walk Softly video and thought, "You know what... I am entertained at this moment and I appreciate those boys for that," I want you to just hold onto that sentiment and take it one step further.  You can directly ensure that more videos and films get made.

There are two easy ways to help.  In fact, the first method is super easy:  Share our stuff with your friends.  And for that matter, if you hate our videos, share them all with your enemies as a form of punishment.  Seriously though, if you click "like" or "share" or "+1" on the stuff we do, it helps.  Basically anything that looks like a thumbs-up or a heart is good.  If that heart is on top of, underneath, or in the general proximity of our videos...click that.  And/or copy the link of your favorite videos and blog posts and email them or facebook them or tweet them out there.  Go ahead, blast them worldwide.  But, by all means, maintain your credibility.  You know, if we make the indie film equivalent of Waterworld, just ignore that one and avoid losing all your critic cred with your hipster buddies.  Nobody likes a sellout, right?

There's no better time to start than now.  If you haven't followed our Twitter accounts (@wsf_allen and @wsf_scott) you're going to miss live updates and pics from our big shoot this Saturday.  You can read all about it in our last post.  Get to it!  Then what?  Share!  And stay tuned for Phase 2 right here.  You'll love it.

squeak gay's big news wednesday

Squeak Gay has absolutely nothing to do with this, but I saw his/her/it's truck on the road and I felt the need to share.  The weirdest part is that there are no Google results for Squeak Gay Construction.  Zero.  How is that possible?  Not even a phone number?  The one thing I do know is, if that was Squeak behind the wheel, he looked like he meant business.  The mystery deepens.  Anyway.  ...Onto the news!

As promised in our last post, production is afoot!  The Danville Lawnchair Film Festival is just around the corner and that means the WSF Gang must be doing some completely alarming and slapdash production work.  (Timeout.  Slapdash!  Use it.  Today.)  A shoot of major proportions is going down in Danville proper on Saturday (April 14th) and let me say, we've done some ridiculous things before but this is...a game-changer.  And I just hope people will be able to discern the immense love and admiration this project was born from, despite its assured high-level insanity.

Now, here's the cool part:  amidst shooting on Saturday, Allen and I will be tweeting our progress as we go.  We'll try to bring you some of the goofiness that we get to experience on these shoots and even send out some pictures from the set.  Some very carefully framed pictures.  Possibly a peek at the people starring in this thing and maybe the most clever of you will be able to guess what we're up to.  (Be assured, if any of you guess correctly, we will vehemently deny it.)

Now, you might be wondering, "Hey, how do I follow the fun on Saturday and receive these tweets you speak of?"  My friend, I'm glad you asked.  I am glad you asked!  It is easy enough; just head to the Twitter machine and when you see @wsf_allen and @wsf_scott, click Follow.  Hey look, I made our names into links.  How convenient is that?  (Also, pay no attention to the last month of tweets.  We were both understandably and appropriately obsessed with Kentucky basketball.  We will now return to the observational humor and witticisms you pay us for.)

Also, come back in the next day or two and I'll make that completely shameless plea for assistance I mentioned last week.