Imagine what you can do...

Finally! After many months of hard work, Emerson has posted our commercial "Imagine what you can do..." on their newly launched website! Check out the link to view the video on Emerson's site below!

THE EMERSON EXPERIENCE

Emerson College Promo from MMM on Vimeo.

Thank you all for your support during this long process! And be ready for some more loving as Emerson has just hired MMM to do another spot for the School of Communications. Boston, here we come (again)!

Appreciation Post "Beating of a Lifetime"

Today, MMM Productions' music video "Beating of a Lifetime" for the Appreciation Post is featured on PureVolume.com. Director Chris Cullari and MMM resident DP Elie Smolkin shot the project while in Boston on another MMM venture for Emerson College.

This year is shaping up to be a busy one with a number of projects coming up in the next few months. I'll have more updates shortly - just wanted to quickly post this and put it out into the blog-sphere!

Enjoy!

I <3 NY, but get me home.

I haven’t been writing much lately, but I guess that’s a good thing. Over the last few months, my time hasn’t been consumed with trepidations about jobs, income and other matters that have been actively racing around in my head for the better part of the year. Work has been steady – knock on wood – and I’ve been doing my best to push through each week giving 100% to every new challenge.

Right now, I’m sitting on a bus waiting to leave Port Authority in New York City. After my last job in LA, I had planned on returning to Philadelphia early to be with my family. My sister is now two days shy of her dues date and I want more than anything to experience the change our family dynamic is about to undergo.

Instead of getting off the plane and driving home to a warm dinner – I rushed to a bus and taxied to New York. Before leaving LA, I was offered a job on a commercial in New York for a few days. Never having worked production in New York – and lucky to have the chance to make some money right before the holidays – I took the job as a learning experience, as a chance to network and to make some extra money.

The differences between New York and Los Angeles production are fairly overt, but more on that later. I spent the second part of my workweek hustling around the Big Apple. I feel worn out and spread thin by the last few days. As a blizzard approaches the East Coast, I am silently screaming inside my head for the bus driver to get the lead out. I want to be home with my family. I want to go to Valley Forge Park and go sledding with my friends. I want to go a few days without thinking about work.

As Jeff so aptly put it: “Mark’s bloodlust for networking and money” has been satisfied. Frankly, after the last two months, I’m exhausted. With another two weeks still left in principle photography for the Emerson Promo come January, I plan on indulging in the next two weeks. I plan on recharging my battery. I plan on eating a lot of food, having a lot to drink and reveling in the holiday.

Come New Years, I’ll gladly lift a thankful head to the sky for a healthy family and the current state of my life.

Total Recall

I'm not really sure how to start this post. It's been nearly a month since being in LA and this time has been some of the most stressful, rewarding, liberating and enlightening weeks of my life.

I've spent the better part of this month producing a commercial for my Alma Mater, Emerson College in Boston with my company Movie Magic. While here, I was able to visit some of my best friends, make some new ones and really get a trial-by-fire education in my profession and business.

I spent the month being in charge of an extremely talented team. We rejoiced with our successes, mourned our losses and laughed at our exhaustion. I don't think I've been this tired in a very long time. Despite the blood, sweat and tears, I feel more capable. I feel empowered. I'm excited about my company and moving it forward. I miss my office, my bed, my friends, my life; but I think leaving LA was one of the best things I could have done this month.

Aside from the business oriented lessons, I've learned a great deal about people and the relationships I keep. Again, I found myself at the mercy of the power of human interaction - that for 10 successes, one downturn or negative thought can poison you. I saw the wear of time on friendships; observed how some mold and deteriorate and others ferment and improve with time and space.

I also met my family for the first time in nearly a year. I saw my sister and her very pregnant stomach. I felt my nephew kick. I met my parents at yet another level of understanding and I sit now in my childhood room and feel comforted still. My mind and body are looking into the future, into places even further than they are now, but I still feel a connection here.

I barely had any time to think or sit or be alone, but I managed, somehow, to make new connections and reflect on my recent history. I feel blessed for this last month; this opportunity to grow as an entrepreneur, as a friend, a brother, a son, a person.

The next few weeks will be filled with challenges: staying on task, not feeding the urge to ignore my growing laundry list of "to-do's" and to stay proactive. I will indulge in deep breaths now and focus on the next few steps. I feel like they are going to continue to grow larger. I feel myself growing and my stride widening and I don't want to lose momentum.

Thank you for the support! Homeward bound... the incredible journey begins continues.

Worth the Wait

I can say unabashedly, that August has been the most difficult month for me since moving to Los Angeles for work. Production in the mainstream has been slow and job after job has fallen through. True to form, I've been in and out of a quiet panic deep inside my head. Even truer to form, things ended up being OK. I booked a producing job that will uproot me from Los Angeles and temporarily plant me back in Boston and New York.

Being able to travel for work is a huge blessing and while many jobs fell through, it seems I had to wait for the better opportunity. This wasteland of work has allowed me to really focus on Movie Magic Media and build our credit list (we were just awarded our first professional music video, The Summer Set with Razor and Tie in NY, that shoots this weekend.), organize our space and nurse this company to life. Not only will I be producing this commercial, but MMM has been awarded the job. This is the first large-scale job awarded to the company by a third party.

The icing on the cake is that I will also have a chance to travel home to Philly and see my family for a few days. I hoping to piggy back the trips, but this means I'll be out of LA for nearly a month. I'm excited to get away on a great job, see my family and come back to LA with a fresh perspective. (There's that word again.)

So, it's time to gear up for a hard, but rewarding couple of weeks. It's time to recharge my West Coast battery with a little East Coast love. I'm out on a redeye on Tuesday.

Day In and Day Out

This week has been one full of thought. A lot of pondering and evaluating and reevaluating and contemplating and deconstructing and .... it's only Tuesday. I've become a person who's opinions change daily. It's funny how a job ties your world together. It provides a steady schedule, a regulated income, a commitment, a reason to stay, a place to go, a sense of purpose - the list goes on.

While shopping in Trader Joe's today, as I scoured the pasta sauces for my selection, I overheard an older woman speaking to one of the store clerks. "You know why I'm upset? Because today is my first day not at my job after 30 years of working...." Why does our work define everything of who we are? This social disposition is not only inherited, but proudly passed down the generations like a precious family heirloom - that ugly figurine that no one, after 200 years of being in the family has the guts to throw against a wall. It sits there, antiquated, idle, useless in our homes.

Like our heirlooms, this vestige of human working culture continues to grow with each passing generation. With my generation, our twenties are no longer considered a time for "finding oneself," it's now expected to be the peak of your career. I wish someone would declare this ideology irrelevant. I wish someone would throw this tacky figurine against the damn wall. As the weeks pass and no commitment in a full-time job presents itself, I'm beginning to feel like I'm not supposed to have this constant in my life.

I run lists in my head all day - endless equations that lead to countless summations of my life. I don't think there has been, or ever will be, an easy answer in this area of my life (or any area really). I think I'm always going to be searching for the next big thing, the next experience that will define those preceding years of my life.

I get stuck in that endless train of thought we all hit now and again: What path should I take? Where should I be? Am I making the right decision? And then I think... why bother worrying about it. If there's one thing I've learned this year it's that worrying gets you nowhere. So what are my options?

Option 1: Full-Time Sell Out

Cash in my dreams temporarily and work a full-time job, not necessarily in the entertainment field. Full-time work means full-time pay means little financial worries now. I can pursue my dreams later.

Option 2: Freelance Twitch-fest

Continue to hustle and whore myself out to different production teams. Trust that if I continue to pay it forward then I'll find myself provided for at the end of the every month. This option allows me to also act and pursue this career, but the reality is that faith in this system still leaves me nervous.

Option 3: FML I'm a Waiter.... I mean "actor"

Settle into this stereotypical lifestyle that I, for some reason, cannot seem to wrap my head around. Work long hours at a job that offers little to the imagination so that I could pursue the dream of acting full-time.

Day to day, my mind evaluates and reevaluates these options. I think I'm further along then most people my age though as I know all the necessary ingredients for my life - I simply haven't quite figured out the recipe. I'll keep trying different combinations until I get this thing right. In the meanwhile, I can always preheat the oven. That should buy me some time. If not, there's always "Option 4" ...

Movie Magic

I'm going to Palm Spring this weekend to scout and brainstorm for Movie Magic Media's next film. It's a horror film, feature-length, based in improvisation. That's about all I'll say of it now.

I'm excited to get going. Going with a few good friends to scout locations - a few houses, Joshua Tree, The Saltan Sea - see what speaks to our inner-horror aficionados. Let's be serious though, a little vacation is always nice. Palm Springs is always a good time. Even if we're working, we'll be by the pool or hiking or exploring these locations.

In addition to starting a new production, on March 17th, we'll be screening Door to Door at The Wilshire Screening Room. We've begun the festival submission process and have been accepted into one small one so far. All of these small victories keep adding up!

I'm proud of Movie Magic Media. There's so many ideas pumping through our budding company and we're pursing them. We're working creatively and making stuff happen. This has been hugely important for me the past year. To have a solid creative outlet and to be working for yourself is a great feeling.

I'm always thankful for these opportunities to work with my friends on something new and exciting. I guess that's all I really wanted to say!

New Pussycat Dolls Vid

I got the chance to go on set last night with my company for the New Pussycat Dolls music. What started as a visit turned into work. I was on set until 3 am. It was a really great experience to observe and help all these people I talk to on the phone day-in and day-out. The new track is titled "Whatcha Think About That" and it features Missy Elliot. There were lots of teenie tiny costumes. And booty shaking... lots of booty shaking. Typical.

Here's a shot of the girls getting thier last look before a take. The choreography for this section was actually pretty great.

View from director's gallery.


Another shot of the girls dancing. Long night. A good night nonetheless.