In the wake of change....

So, as you can see, this weekend's shoot for DOOR TO DOOR went amazingly well. I am still high from the amount of professionalism, creativity and sheer talent that our crew exhibited. It's often been the case in my independent film-making experience that production elements of similar projects are rarely on the same level. A script may be amazing, but you sacrifice production design. The acting is great, but the sound is awful. You get the point. For the first time, all elements meshed together and rose to the same level. One that, frankly, I'm amazed at.

Besides the technical aspects - the RED Camera (4x the resolution quality of HD), JL Fisher Dolly, etc - our team shone bright. Everything from the cast (Chelsey Bryson, our amazing kids, Mark Rydell, Laura Black), to the script, to the score, to the sound (Keith Wasserman) to the production design (Brent Mason) - everyone stepped up and I couldn't be more excited to have been apart of the this project.

Micah (Director/EP of Movie Magic) and I were talking about what DOOR TO DOOR represented. Since starting MMM, our passion has been creative collaboration. We've learned the price and balance of free flow and structure and this project affirms the proper balance inherent to this company.

We were blessed to have such a strong production team. I learned so much from everyone and will be continue to grow professionally as a result of it.

Having had this project monopolize my mind for the past week, I've put off addressing other worries, concerns and fears. Most specifically that change has, again, infiltrated my life. Daily air raids and attacks on my day-to-day life have become an inevitability. I lost my job at HSI Productions. After interning here over the summer, I was ecstatic to be brought on full time. It was still the slow season in production and while others were struggling to find work, I was lucky enough to land and stay here.

Over the last six months here, I have learned an invaluable amount of information about an industry previously unknown to me. I've also learned about myself and reconfirmed the passion I have for acting. The reason I went to college, the art that helped me survive high school - this is the reason I came here in the first place. I got comfortable at HSI. Steady pay, security, etc. I lost sight of my goals. Having figured all of this out - I told myself that I would leave by the end of the year. The more time passed, the less likely this was an option (especically in the wake of America's economic downfall).

I was called into the office early last week. Tuesday afternoon I was told that our company had not bounced back from the slow period like they had originally expected when I was brought in house. Being a 2nd Assistant, having worked here for a short period of time - these factors played into my being let go. I have to keep telling myself to not make this personal. She was very clear that this was in no way a reflection of the quality of my work, but a sign of the economic times.

I can be at peace with that. In many ways, this is a blessing. I'm trying to pray and keep cool from the beginning of this change - instead of my typical pattern of freaking out, "figuring it out myself" and then at the last moment looking to someone else in desperation. Let's just cut to the helping hand part. I now have the opportunity to start over and look at my life again from a fresh perspective. I'm not weighed down the 1000 more uncertainties of my residency like in August. Now I can focus on my career goals and a lifestyle that benefits my energy, passions and relationships.

So, in the wake of change, I find myself on the brink of something great. Something frighteningly new and fresh - yet, all too familiar. From this point; from on outset, I need to have faith, pray and trust a design bigger than my own. I will ride the wave of change into the new year - one already branded as the dawn of a new era for me, my country and the world.