I was recently lamenting with a very good film friend of mine about how I was concerned that I didn’t have much to show for the past 1.5 years. Like, I haven’t premiered a movie or won any film festival awards.
Chill out, I’m just joking. That’s obviously unrealistic. However, don’t we all do this on some level?
I’m tracking my film journey like I would track years of school. So, I’m about to complete year 3 of “Film School.” Here’s my accomplishments:
- 2016, Video Production Course- Arlington Independent Media
- 2016, Short Documentary- “Artists and Makers”
- 2016, Move to NYC- “Film School”
- 2016, Sketch Writing and Video Production classes at The PIT
- 2016, PA and Slated Shots on a Time Square shoot
- 2016, BTS Photography on a short narrative called, ‘Grandpa Gene’ in Riverside Park, NYC
- 2016, Fire Watch on an ESPN shoot in NYC
- 2016, 30 second submission to Project Greenlight’s ‘Ode To Coffee First’ competition, “Coffee Anytime”
- 2016, short narrative, ‘Chase’ shot in NYC parks.
- 2017, wrote short screenplay, ‘Aafa.’
- 2018, wrote and directed, ‘The Lake.’
- 2018, DP on ‘You, Me, and the Sock.’
- 2018, started writing first feature length script, ‘Small Town, U.S.A.’
- 2019, submitted ‘Aafa’ to three film festivals.
- 2019, wrote a pitch for a webseries called, ‘The District.’
- 2019, in pre-production: ‘Overpass,’ and ‘Yoga Mats Chats.’
So, I feel much better now looking at the above list. I think sometimes we can’t see the trees for the forest, as they say. I know that working in the film business is a long-game. It’s going to take years to accomplish some of the goals that I’ve set, but we all have to start somewhere.
I was listening to the Indie Film Hustle podcast episode #306 and Alex Ferrari talked about how filmmakers are programmed to fail. I realized listening to the podcast that I let fear get in the way of actually taking action. So, I’m taking action. I’m moving forward with 2 screenplays and plan to start pre-production. No more excuses. I have the equipment and the ability, so I’m going to stop getting in my own way and JUST DO IT!
Coming Soon! ‘Yoga Mat Chats,’ and ‘Overpass.’
“Dream it. Write it. Shoot it. Share it.” – Christy Fleetwood, Educator and Filmmaker
Christy Fleetwood 