We can't coddle our way to greatness

My Dad was the ultimate dream killer. My childhood was “interesting.”

“Wayne” he used to say. “Don’t waste your time on that if you are not fully committed.” Only he wasn’t that nice about it.

I’ve always been a creative, but it really was all I was good at. Everything else I tried could just fake it enough to get by. I played every sport he wanted me to, but at any given time I was only pushing halfway. It wasn’t what I wanted deep down I wanted to be a part of movies and television. My imagination ran wild with stories of comic characters and magic skateboards.

Although my father’s expectations would help me later in life, early on it only served to force my true potential underground.

By the time I made it to high school I was used to pretending to like everything everyone else did. Then on a whim, my Grandma Daisy convinced me Drama would be good for me to take. (Grandma’s see things us that others, including ourselves, don’t or can’t see in ourselves.)

In Drama and creative writing, it was ok for me to say the things that were really on my mind.

Wait!!! Thad, you’re getting off topic. My bad. Where was I?

Oh, yeah I can’t do anything else.

When did it become ok to not be honest about other’s skill level as a creative?

When I watch a movie I can clearly state this movie sucks, or I don’t get it. However, it’s that much better if I could reach out to M. Night and say… M…(cause we are comfortable with each other) what the hell was up with those killer trees?

I mean that is exactly what we have the opportunity to do when we know our independent filmmakers locally.

We have the opportunity; no we have the obligation as fellow filmmakers not to jerk each other off - for instant gratification but to prolong the experience for a tantric nirvana experience that will have us looking for the next chance to Netflix and chill.

Is that the correct thing the kids say, “…Netflix and chill?”

Whatever we want to call it we need to foster those who create quality.

We need to get rid of the participation trophy culture that has become our status quo. We can’t fear that our friends’ feelings will be hurt by our true and honest assessment of their work.

No, everyone’s baby is not cute. And if as a film community we want to get better, then we have to start pushing each other to do and be better. And part of that process is being able to give and accept constructive criticism.

Iron sharpens iron, people.  Iron sharpens iron.

Making America Great Again: Public Schools

Last week I wrote the first of a series of articles on how to make America great again. This week we continue in that series by taking a look at the public school system. Are we putting our children in the best possible environment to want to learn?  In a world where our country is falling further and further behind in technology innovations how do we stimulate our youth to become the next wave of great thinkers to address the worlds growing issues?

  I come from a broken family. My parents split up when I was eight years old, and we moved from an Air Force Base and what I would later find was a far more advanced education. It was not necessarily advanced in the things they were teaching, but in the programs they had in place to stimulate how we learned.  Upon starting at my new school I found that I was slightly ahead in some of the concepts we were learning, and since I was I felt I didn’t have to work as hard. This feeling would continue through out the rest of my public school career. It wasn’t until I left high school that I found I was not remotely prepared. In the wake of my public school experience I felt lost. This was further compounded by the death of someone close to me. It took me ten years and a ton of mistakes to come full circle and return to college, this time with the end goal in mind.  This brings me to the present. Now I am currently a Ph.D candidate and doing pretty much what I love, maybe not on the level I wish I was on yet but I have to remind myself I took ten years to get back on track I cannot expect to bridge that gap in less. This also got me thinking about my children and their education.

For this article we are not really looking at the drop out rate, what we are looking at is students that can think for critically on their own. Somewhere along the way we stopped teaching our children how to think for themselves and started treating the public school system as a factory to mass-produce a product. Providing the same education as if we are all cookie cut. Why, maybe, because it is easier than the alternative. Having to pay teachers more money and create a modern system that educates our children for the new world we live in. So I offer to you a story from NPR that may get you thinking enough to spark a change for the future. 

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=432582341&m=432910352

We can not expect our children to grow up and become adults that can solve problems and think outside of the box if we have not equipped them with the proper tools. What we have done to our school system is allowed it to become stagnate like a pond cut off from the streams and rivers that once fed it and made it vibrant. We used to allow the world into the classroom to allow students to learn and not just memorize. If we are to ever get back to a level where we are competitive and productive we need to stand up demand changes and educate our children so that they may learn to truly think for themselves. I know this is a dangerous idea for the current way of life, but if we continue to travel down this road what kind of future can we really expect for our children. More and more people with a sense of entitlement, dodging their own responsibility for their lives. Let's choose the road less traveled. The harder of the two and do what is necessary to change our goals and expectations of the public school system.

Here is a funny but true sketch from Key and Peele Enjoy and think about it.

https://youtu.be/dkHqPFbxmOU

Building the Dream

I want to thank everyone who has hung with us through the difficult times. We have been working very hard to shape our brand into something we can be proud of. This has been a task in and of itself as we needed to take a few steps back in order to serve people and clients better.

During our absence we have secured our own studio location, shot several short films, been to a few festivals and written our first feature scheduled to begin shooting late next year. There a couple of other irons in the fire but we will keep that in our back pockets until the time is right.

It is important for people not to just talk about their dream. I mean if all you want to do is dream, then talking about it is just fine. However if you want to make it a reality there is a lot of hard work that must come before you can begin to live it. So here is the hard truth, everyone will not be able to live their dream. It's not because they are not special, or because they don't deserve it. It is simply because they are not really willing to work for it. Many people believe that other successful people stumble on to it out of luck or having the right connections. The facts actually are that many successful people have worked many hours sacrificed time with family and doing the fun things in life that others may do on a daily basis to be able to reach that point. Just because they are not out sharing those hours with others does not mean they did not earn the it or that it was handed to them over night.

So the very first step in building your dream is to be willing to work for whatever it is.  So with that being said I want to share a song with you from an Artist named P-Dash it's called Work.


Photo courtesy of iampdash.com

Leadership value: success and failure is perception

Leadership Value: The difference between success and failure is perception

It’s hard for people to believe that their success is not their own. It’s even harder for them to believe that their failures are not someone else’s. Some people think that if they are ever going to be successful it will be at someone else cost, that there is not enough room for them to be successful and someone else. This is a problem with perception. There are two main factors that will determine how successful you are. The first is not viewing the work as a whole but as each individual task. When small tasks are done with a simple discipline of doing each task the best we can we learn to see success for what it really is. The second thing to know is no matter what you are doing; no matter if it is art, or engineering you are not alone. The road to success is not a journey that is taken alone, although everyone will not make it with you to the end of the journey you must give in order to receive. The opportunity to help someone else is an opportunity to elevate you as well. I do not mean for wealth or taking advantage of another person, but by aiding someone else you have not only changed your perspective but theirs as well.  With the right perspective things become less daunting, because when we succeed it is because we are together, and when we fail it is only because we feel we are alone.

There is always a time to party

Many times in the pursuit of our larger goals we forget to celebrate the smaller goals that pave the way to that ultimate level of success we are striving for. None of us is promised anything as far as success goes. There is a lot of hard work and dedication that must be done long before we ever see and hold the fruit of our labors. As leaders we must not forget to celebrate the moments with those that believe in us and work towards the goals with us. In those moments we all taste a small measure of the future success that we will share if we continue to work together as a team and learn from each other. As leaders we must encourage the celebration of these moments, it is not only validation for all that we have worked for until that moment, but it is also fuel to keep the fire burning even brighter than we could have imagined. As leaders we must foster the celebration of our milestones rather it is a party or just a night out with pizza and a firm hand shake we must take the time out to enjoy the fruits of our endeavors before we press on. Let us not get so caught up in the race to the finish that we forget to enjoy each and every moment, every relationship, and every obstacle overcome that inches us closer together as a group, and to the end of a journey; where we will start anew. Life is often seen as a series of obstacles it is only when we take time to celebrate and reflect that we can see the journey for what it really is and apply that perspective to our future.