And The Hits Just Keep On Comin

From my experience I've come to learn that the following is so very true.

When you become clear about what you want to accomplish, when you decide for sure what goal you want to reach. As you begin your journey towards that goal, everything that is the exact opposite of that goal will come into your existence.

I had a moment of clarity about Monster Cops. What was going to be accomplished and what needed to be done. Not only that, but I understood exactly what needed to follow after those certain goals for Monster Cops were reached. It was time for me to make another feature film, but only after I was able to put out Monster Cops Series 1 DVD this Fall.

And of course there is the fundraising, which is going slow, but it is going. See the widget and if you can please click on it and make a pledge.



Right now as far as income, I take what ever commercial work, ad work, video editing work I can. So it's already a roller coaster, not really sure where the next check will come from, but it's something.

I picked up a job today. Editing a reel for an actor. It looks to pay pretty good, and the material I would work with seems fun. It's always good to get a job that pays and you can get excited about.

Of course, after the meeting, I get home to turn on my desktop, and it will not boot up. Nothing, it sits there and hums. It was working perfectly fine just a few hours before, but here there was no functionality, no process beeps, just the quiet hum of the fans cooling a processor that wasn't doing anything.

So a dilemma. Not just because I can't do my job, but also I can't work on Monster Cops, the project I'm trying to turn into my job. I do have my wife's laptop and I have all my files backed up to a hard drive. The down side, my normal software is all on the desktop, and none of it will install properly on my wife's laptop.

It's disconcerting, yes, but on some level I saw it coming. After my moment of clarity, I knew something was bound to happen. That something that tries to deter you. That tests you. That makes things fall apart. The opposite of your goal has to happen so you can better experience what it the goal itself. Up cannot exist without down, nor right without left, nor having without the feeling of not having.

Very Zen, I know. And it does put me in somewhat of a positive mood. But it still sucks ass.

But it's ok. I'll figure it all out like I always do. I'll get the job done, I'll get my desktop fixed, and hopefully we can get some support for our little indie web series. So if you please, and if you can, make a pledge, tell a friend about monstercops.com. And please watch the episodes. I think they are quite good and I am very proud of them.

Other things have transpired today. Other things that are the opposite of my goal. Other things that are better left unblogged about, except to say, this is getting harder. And all indications say that things aren't going well, that things will fail, that things are not going in a positive direction.

But I don't care. Because I've been here before. Because if you can hold out past all that is the opposite of your goal, eventually you will reach your goal. You just have to believe, you have to hold on, you have to not give up.

Is this me giving myself a pep talk? You bet your ass.

It's opposite day, and I'm holding out til its over.

Gotta go solve some software problems, log some footage, and figure out how I can Macgyver my way through one editing job, two commercials, and eventually get back to working on Monster Cops. We only have a few pledgers, but we have pledgers nonetheless, which means we owe them a decent product in this Monster Cops DVD, which I fully intend to deliver and then some.

You want a Monster Cops DVD, then please, click the widget above, and make a pledge.

I have no computer. Blogging by phone. I am forced to writing out lists and plans on notebook paper.

In an ocean of amazing. Dead in the water. Waiting for my ship to come in, as I continue to search for dry land.

Clarity

“The two things that matter the most to me: emotional resonance and rocket launchers. Party of Five, a brilliant show, and often made me cry uncontrollably, suffered ultimately from a lack of rocket launchers.”

 - Joss Whedon

It's becoming very clear. I'm going to have to do a major overhaul with Monster Cops. Ok well maybe not a "major" overhaul, but reorganization is necessary in order to reach a specific clarification on what the exact goals are and how they can be achieved.

Vlogs will proceed, as will the fundraising (duh), but retooling what the minisodes are and what episodes can and will be produced, is a must, in order to understand what direction we are going in. What content will be available online, what will be available on DVD, what is going to screen in theaters, and how we can apply our marketing strategy to that.

Yes, jumbled words in cryptic tone, I know, but this is how I roll when I'm sorting it all out.

I need to be very clear about how to proceed here, as well as to exactly where I am proceeding to.

The current Minisodes don't really convey the right tone for what I think Monster Cops truly is, and what it maybe becoming.  I'm trying to stick to my own advice here and understand what I call the Franchise Discipline.  I know what I'm writing, but I have to be aware of how the audience is perceiving it, and how to improve upon that perception in order to truly tell the essence of this story as well as provide an optimal entertainment experience for the audience.

It's my fault of course. I went in with an idea, and could only really execute comedy with The Midnight Special. With these next few episodes, I was able to convey a little more of the action, horror, and drama. But now I need to clarify that although there is comedy here, this is not all we have to offer. There is horror here. There are Monsters here, and there is Gravitas and Depth for you to experience, even if on more subtle levels.

Yes, Patrick, but could you get any deeper about this?

Hey, I can't help it. I'm trying to make something real here. Well, as real as the illusions will allow.

So yes, I'm about to do a bit of filmmaking Feng Shui in this Moviemaking House.

"I feel like in telling stories, there are the things the audience thinks are important, and then there are the things that are actually important."

- JJ Abrams

"Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up."
- A. A. Milne

WIlford Brimley is staring at me

My wife randomly cut out a picture of him from a diabetes ad and stuck to my bulletin board next to my desk. I didn't realize it was there for a while. When I finally noticed it it kinda scared me. I jumped a little bit. Nothing like Wilford Brimley staring you down to start your day.

Happy Father's Day to all you Father's out there. And to those that have lost your Dad's too soon, I'm so very sorry and hope today passes with a bit of ease. I know how Mother's Day is for my wife since she lost her mom, and it makes me feel for anyone who has to go through such pain. I'm very thankful my parents are still alive, although I haven't seen them in years. One of these days I'll be able to make the trek to go see them and the rest of my family.

It's been an adventurous few days. There was the PeeWee Herman incident. If you haven't seen the last few posts, I will break it down. I tweeted I was going to make a ball of foil (this is for an ad for Poptent.net). Molly Bendall (twitter friend and fellow blogger) re-tweeted it to PeeWee. PeeWee re-tweeted it and posted it on his Facebook. Then my inbox, Twitter, and Facebook exploded with messages about the coolness of making a giant foil ball. Then I made the foil ball with pictures and Blogged and Vlogged about it, after which PeeWee retweeted and reposted on Facebook. My site immediately got over 700 hits (which is way more than the normal 30) and it's still going today.

So thank you Molly and PeeWee for the attention. Please see the previous Blog post, and take a gander at that Vlog Here.

And by all means, check out Molly's Blog as well.

And of course the site of the great supercool PeeWee Herman.

Rest assured I will be adding to the foil ball to make it super gigantic. And YES I will use recycled foil as well as recycle it once I have no use for it.

Speaking of Vlogs (was I?)

Here's the latest one for Monster Cops. Yes it is indeed more of me begging for money for our kick ass Horror Comedy Web Series.




Currently I am editing a new Minisode, prepping for the next Episode, and trying to get more pledges into our FUNDRAISER, so we can cover some costs including the fees and what not to get our submission into the New York TV Fest. I am submitting the episode Monsters Vs. Cops as a pilot to display that our series would indeed be great on TV. You can watch that episode HERE.

Thank you so much to our recent backers it is a huge help, but of course we still need more. So please if you can CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR INDIEGOGO FUNDRAISING PAGE. You make a pledge, you get great rewards, including the Monster Cops DVD coming this Fall.

Other than that, I am working on doing some guest blogging for the International Trailer Festival. I blog about moviemaking all the time, but of course now that I need to, I'm running dry. It's cool, I've got a few things I hope they'll like. I mean, if I'm going to be a geek about moviemaking might as well share it with everyone right.

Other than that, I've been doing camera research. For the longest time I've been pulling for the Canon HV40, but now I'm thinking about DSLR's. The HV40 price has gone up, so I might as well go DSLR and get a Rebel. The Rebel has really been impressing me. If I want more affordable then I could get the Olympus Pen E-PL1, but the video I'm seeing is only impressive in diorama mode. The jelloing effect is bad even in slow pans. Still pictures look great, but I'm looking for HD Video. So right now, I'm all about the Canon Rebel T2i.

Of course, this is me day dreaming. I have a decent camera to work on my web series. First things first, get Monster Cops going and as much content produced as possible, get that DVD out, then we can worry about cinematic cameras and my next feature film.

Again, it comes back to pledges. We need the funding to supplement production costs, setup screenings, screen at fests, and market the heck out of this series. So please check out MONSTER COPS, and if you like what you see, help us out, pledge and or spread the word.

Ok, I swear, Wilford Brimley just winked at me.