Calling All Weirdos

Yesterday afternoon while I was embarrassing Cara in a coffee shop by pulling Lucinda out of a bag and waving her around, Ramona texted to shame me for not having posted a blog entry this week. Naturally I was completely furious, because bugging people about not posting blogs is MY GAME, DAMMIT, and now we're not speaking. I also threw my fancy coffee out of the window because drastic times call for drastic measures.

Seriously, it was this level of fancy. I took this picture. It's not stolen. And now it's ALL GONE.

......okay, so none of that last part is true (except that the picture is mine). But Ramona really did message me to remind me that I'd not posted, and I really was in the middle of waving a giant foam puppet around in a public space. Thankfully, though, Cara isn't phased by much of anything that I do. She's used to me showing up for our coffee hangouts with "so I had this weird idea," and is always kind enough to let me ramble on about various things. In fact, she's even letting me include her in a few projects, which is incredibly exciting and super awesome of her. Thanks, Cara!

This is a segue, by the way. It's coming in 3....2.....

Here's the thing - If you (yes, you) ever find yourself looking at the weird crap I do and think that, just maybe, you might want to get involved in some way - LET ME KNOW.

While I obviously have no problem dragging people kicking and screaming into my weird schemes (hi, Tina!), the fact is that the people I actively coerce are those with whom I've had the benefit of conversations and experiences that allow me to gauge whether or not they'd genuinely be interested in participating. I really have yet to go out on a limb no matter how it may seem.

Take Maggie as an example. A few years ago, she and I decided to take an improv class together. It was a lot of fun, and not only did I learn that Maggie and I collaborate well, but I also learned that she's a really good performer (a lot better than me). When I started making my movies, then, I knew from that specific experience - and other conversations we'd had - that Maggie would be interested and willing to try this stuff out.

Then, we have Dave. I had no idea if Dave would be into the idea of acting at all, but I did know that if I asked him and he didn't want to do it, he would have no problem just telling me "no thanks." Dave isn't worried about offending anyone, and we've been friends for so long that he knows I'm not bothered if my friends don't want to participate in my weird ideas. Caitlin is a great example of this. I asked her if she wanted to participate in one of the movies, and she said that she'd prefer if I found someone else. So, I did, and I appreciated that a lot. It makes life so much easier when people are just honest.

That's the main issue that's made me cautious about reaching out and asking other people to participate in this stuff that I do. There have been several situations where people expressed apparent interest in participation when asked, only to then sort of fade out of contact until after the project was made. That's difficult to work with. It's so much more of an inconvenience to be strung along by someone who is worried about saying no than by someone who simply says "no thanks." It's not an insult to say no - it just means that what I'm working on just isn't someone else's bag, and that's completely fine. Considering the stuff I make, it's practically expected!

But all of this is to say that now, if I can't tell right off the bat whether or not someone might be interested in participating in one of my projects, I'm far more likely just not to ask. So seriously - if you ever think "huh, that might be kind of cool to try," let me know! That includes behind the scenes stuff, too. Liz came on board to make the special effect makeup for "That's a Wrap" because she and I had been talking about how she was interested in special effects makeup. I figured I'd ask if she'd be willing to help out with the Christmas short based on those conversations, and she was! She was awesome, and if she is interested in future projects, that's groovy. If she decides she's not really all that interested, that's groovy too. We're going to continue consuming milkshakes together regardless - I'm really hard to shake (haha), people. 

So if you think it would be fun to try doing some of this stuff, let me know! And don't think you're being snubbed if I don't add you into anything right away. I may seem scattered, but I tend to plan stuff pretty far out - right now I've got about six film projects in mind, and I'm fairly set on how I want to make them (and with whom). But if you shoot me a message saying "Hey, if you ever need an extra actor/costume finder/ writer/ whatever, let me know", I'll absolutely keep that in mind. And who knows - maybe one of those six projects will morph and change, and there will be some new spaces. That happens!

Also, look - you're not going to get any money off making this stuff. I make these films for, like, 20 bucks. What do you think I am, legit? Christ.