What I learned in 48 Hours....

This past weekend, April 1st -3rd, I put together a team of nine people who participated with me over the three days of chaos that is the 48 HR FF. Of 35 genres, I went to the launch party and Drew musical and period piece. Two of the hardest genres in the entire festival....so naturally we kinda did both. Before I dive in to the drama, EVERYONE I love you and am so happy we did this. And thank you KEITH for giving us such a beautiful location to work in, my second home =)

We started writing feverishly on Friday night. The same day that my director of photography dropped out as well as the camera and lenses I was going to use. BUT I challenged myself to go with the flow and not fight against the current as much as I normally do. Choose my battles only when I needed to exhaust my energy, but otherwise focus on getting the project done and not wasting energy. We did it and we turned it in on Sunday night at 7:40 PM. I am so thankful to have everyone in my life, Caleb and Damien and Caitlin and John and Mike and everyone there etc but Caleb really had my back and for that I was so thankful. Thank god for that man.

As the Director, Producer and Editor I naturally faced some challenges on set, and not just time restraints, lighting and the sound issues but also some major clashing of worlds with the tribe I gathered.

The best way to describe it is how I explained it to Caleb as we were driving back after day two of not sleeping. Directing and producing this was like building a beautiful house that you have worked your ass off on. You've negotiated labor, supplies and pieces that will produce the highest quality house, all at your expense of course. Then once the basic structure is done you have to find a talented tribe of artists that will finish building and bringing everything together.

You get everyone you want, everyone shows up, you are excited to get to work, you explain the plan and let them in to go inside and get to work. Suddenly, you have to run outside to put out a brush fire thats started right next to the house, when you get back the door is locked and you cant get in. You look through the windows and see all the people you have hired having a wonderful time yet also doing things you would never imagine. Things that they wouldn't do if they knew you were watching, and you are. You try to get their attention but they look past you. You run over to a window and decide to break it to get in and stop the madness-- when suddenly the neighbors come out and threaten to call the cops because of the noise. So you put out that fire, you go back to the window and they are still going at it. You break in through the back door and once you arrive you see all the alliances that have formed in the house, the energy has shifted, you are no longer in charge. You are simply the diffuser, the wrangler, the one people talk about not doing what they should be doing when you have to run outside to put out the fires. Little do they know that if you hadn't been putting all the little fires out around them all day then THEY ALL WOULD BE DEAD AND THERE WOULD BE NO HOUSE!!!

DISCLAIMER- I loved everyone I had on set, they were all incredible human beings and I am so lucky to know them all. And so impressed by how much they pulled together for me. I owe them a lot and can not tell you how accomplished I felt finishing something on Sunday. So thank you thank you thank you.

Now, I believe that we all live in different worlds. If you think of people as planets it helps. My atmosphere is not the same as your atmosphere, my language on my planet is different form the language of Calebs planet, ethics are different in my world vs Caitlin's world, etc. No one speaks any other language than that of their own world. So NO ONE. NO ONE will ever understand each other the way we wish we all could. SO its about learning how to care enough to communicate in the other ways of other worlds.

In other words-- I learned a lot. Mainly-

1. It doesn't matter how a set is "supposed" to run, it matters how you react to given circumstances and what you can bring to that set to make it run more effectively. If you know something needs to be done HELP dont just talk about how someone isn't doing it.

2. Don't explain and don't complain- I said this on set and got a disgusted look which upset me, but its true. Don't explain to me why you dont understand something that has already been explained to you, just do what you have to do to understand it. And don't complain about why you can't do what your supposed to be doing after given instruction , just do it! Explaining and complaining are a waste of time and energy.

3. Take your time, especially when you dont think you have any. Life is like acting, the more time you take to pay attention to detail and specificity, the more successful the product will be. ...that one makes sense to me....haha.

4. Clear communication. Delegate and trust the tribe you have around you to fulfill the tasks they are given. I Cant do it all even when I think I can. I will never play as many roles as I did this time. Lesson learned.

5. Treat people with respect- there is no reason to bring egos to set. There is no reason to say bitchy things to each other, give notes, yell or make someone feel bad. It's not about you. It's about having fun and making sure the project succeeds. It goes back to what I have on my site:

We all live in different worlds, the way you treat someone today can change their world tomorrow. I believe that life is about helping each other, guiding one another through our own undiscovered lands. And sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.

Thank you to everyone!!! You have helped me achieve another goal before I turn 30... I feel very very accomplished and proud to know everyone who pitched it. It was a success. But By far the most important thing is that we made a movie in 48 hrs. And I plan to do it again next year, Hopefully we will draw something a little less challenging. I am lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life, I definitely walked away from this experience feeling blessed and thankful. The frustration is just a byproduct of success :-)