Hello beautiful people!
Let’s become producers! Hooray!
It’s addictive when you think about it.
Everything from expressing yourself through a fun little vlog that never hits double-digit views all the way up to upending the structure of the entertainment industry as a whole starts with one thing: Deciding you’re going to move forward with that creative little idea of yours.
So, let’s check out two of the most inspiring self-produced shorts to come from the before-being-your-own-showrunner-was-a-thing era of the ninjaverse: The List and Girl’s Night Out.
Inspiring, right?
Your goals at this point should include things like making a list of on-brand roles at your very next tier (revisit Day 24 for foundational work on this task), ranking them in order of logistically easiest to shoot on up to super ambitious, ranking them again in order of cheapest to most expensive to execute, and ranking them yet again in order of most detached on up to the story you’re most invested in telling. Hey! That’s reminiscent of our Day 17 list-making, isn’t it?
Smartest move would be to start off with easiest, cheapest, and least-attached-to-the-story to do, right? You’d get to build a muscle with everything going for you. That may mean firing up your webcam and shooting at your desk! Just imagine how you could start. Let your mind play, here. Let Julie Nolke’s quarantine vids inspire you!
Seeing as you’d like to create footage that shows buyers you are low-risk for your next castable tier, consider this work to be the thing that creates the shortest distance between you and your very next on-brand booking. You’re investing in future you (Remember, that person you said at the beginning of this course you were committed to meeting?) by getting serious about this.
Basically, as we near the halfway point in this course, this is where it gets real. No, I’m not saying everything before this has been fluff! OF COURSE NOT! I’m saying pushing through when you’re scared, staring overwhelm in the face and saying “I’ve got this,” and really letting your creative mind explore the exciting places that await you in this empowering work will serve you incredibly well.
Lest you get exhausted before you even begin, a couple of important notes: Storytelling is a community effort. Always has been. Even a one-person show requires a crew. Don’t attempt to pursue a creative career alone. It’s not possible. (Tweet that badboy.)
To be sure you’re clear on what positions need to be filled on any shoot, grab the SMFA Hot Sheet on that topic over here (you can get the full list of self-produced inspiration I mentioned in today’s vid while you’re there; head to chapter 22 items). And for fun “curses for crew,” check out this humorous list.
Today’s work: Make a list of collaborators you want to create content with within a year. You can start with folks in your inner circle (revisit Day 11 and your top five), add in a few of your colleagues from right here in the dojo (I see you connecting and building relationships), you can expand from there to those you’d love to spend more time with and possibly already have access to (maybe even more access than you know), and then from there to your inspired leader list (from Day 2). Putting the names down on paper has a strange way of bringing people into your orbit faster than just thinking about them, m’dear.
Don’t believe me on that? Didja notice that I shared — in talking about my show bible earlier in this course — that someday I’d work with Bernie Su, who’s been in my life since 2010? And in 2019, when we celebrated winning Twitch’s first Emmy in a show I got to help cast, I thought, “Because I planted the seeds for this to happen.”
So write it all down. I mean it! Feel it happening. Then put in the (aligned) work to make sure that it does. (Day 31)
Now, as you’re creating these lists, think about who’s already doing brave things in content creation. Think about those who are just a lot of fun to collaborate with. Think about the people who rock on stage and consider whether translating that to the screen could be really exciting for all of you! Don’t start throwing up all the blocks that exist in your mind about this whole content creation thing while you’re making these lists. (NO SUITS IN THE WRITERS ROOM!) Treat it as though I’ve waved my magic wand and you get a YES everywhere you turn. With whom do you want to jam?
Next, start brainstorming a list of on-brand character essences (yes, this again ties back to our Day 24 work) you’d like to weave into your existing footage. What would your “OMG I love this reel so much I want to kiss it” compilation of material look like? Go nuts with this fantasizing; it will lead you well!
Now, in the vid, you know I gave you a year from now to get something really wonderful done, right? The ladies in the footage I shared above each got it done in a weekend. Sure, the prepro and post stages may have extended each ninja’s timing by a few weeks, but let’s say on the outside each of these pieces took less than two months. Great! In two months’ time, you’ll have reached the 100-day mark in this course and you’ll be exploring The SMFA Vault. Yes, you can restart these 100 days. Yes, you can revisit the days you’ve bookmarked and check out new tracks. Yes, you can absolutely take your time because you’ve already been doing some really deep, important work in this course! But, if it’s really calling to you to make it happen, you can also be sitting pretty two months from now with footage that makes you swoon. I’m giving you a year to make it happen.
Whatever timeline you choose, in order to get this done, you have to start. Are you ready? Put time on your calendar for getting into production mode, even if it’s 20 minutes each day. Yes, that will be enough to get this done. No question. It’s do-able. So… let’s DO this!
’til tomorrow… stay ninja!
