Is this the Winter of our discontent?

With the weather changing here in the Northeast one wonders and ponders future events. I've been on Facebook a bit more then I'd like, but yet the site appeals to me because of its interaction with others. Social networking is something of a new thing. I mean it is to the vast majority of us. Of course back in the day there were bulletin boards and forums that one looked at for info and social networking of sorts. But now it's more mobile, and people are tweeting, and texting each other like it was going out of style.

So what has this got to do with film making? Well everything of course, because these tools now put the power in YOUR hands to start a sort of grass roots distribution effort for your film. Don't get me wrong it's difficult to do. Nothing worth while is easy and why should marketing your film through social networks be easy. It's time consuming and tedious at best. I'll say it right now. I'm not that good at it, but I do like connecting to like minded people. Creativity doesn't exist in a vacuum and using such tools as twitter and Facebook, and even Myspace you may be able to connect to an audience and or peers.

So why the title "the winter of our discontent"? Well it seems around this time there is more chatter out there and less content to be seen. C.C Chapman who lives in the Boston area said it in his blog today. There are more talkers out there then doers, and I so agree on that fact. But maybe that's just in general too. I've always been flustered by people who give no solutions to problems. These people expect someone else to FIX it. What usually does happen is that the problem is fixed but not before some stress and agita is given out to other people. In today's economy we're all working more with less, and this has become the norm.

I've REALLY been thinking about what I want to do. I have this production company and I so want to do another film, but I need to reach out to the creative community here and in the surrounding areas of where I live. Is it possible to come together and work on each others projects realizing that there are other priorities we may have in our life that may come up. I've always been a proponent of paying for someones service, but in today's economy who has the extra scratch to put up. I do like the idea of investing one self's skills into a project. In essence you become an investor in that project and all who work on that project give their time up for the project. I remember Rick Schmidt had that idea in his book "Feature Film making at Used Car Prices". I remember sitting with him and our group signing a contract together. It was a collaborative contract that stated that we all gave each other permission to work with the material we had shot, and that we would ALL profit from its success if that project became a success. It was a small video project way before the advent of DV, and it was to say the least very inspiring to work on.

I have been writing because after all ideas needs to be fleshed out, and written down. The screenplay is a blueprint of sorts. Only when your into production does that blueprint gets revised due to the realities of life. So I sit here pondering the possibilities. Which direction should I take?, what type of project should I commit to? What ever it is it needs to be something that I can live with for awhile because this isn't a short term project. I'm in for the long haul. So some serious thinking to do, and then a BIG leap needs to be made. Hopefully with a few other crazy creative types also, but none the less a leap needs to be made. Is this the winter of our discontent, or is it the beginning of something extra ordinary? We'll see what bubbles up!