to do...

I'm grateful to be living in an age of the world where we put our 'to do lists' online.

I'm currently reading 'Here Comes Everybody' and it deals pretty intensely with the changes coming to all aspects of the entertainment business (and I do believe that--in some sense--Church work is a form of 'entertainment') as a result of the internet, social media, and the ubiquity of cell phones.

It's blowing my mind.  I'm going to have to read it multiple times.

Anyway, here I am, part of the cohort choosing to put my 'to do list' together online and in public rather than in my notebook just for me.

This is first and foremost for me but I thought it might be useful for you as well.  It'll have lots of content for both church planters and producers.

Here we go...

1) Find a a 'launch location' for our Church.  The school I've been looking at is probably going to be too expensive and the 'gatekeeper' I'm dealing with is showing me 'we don't really want you here' signs.  Today I'll scout a community center, some local hotels and some mixed-use business malls.  The challenge is to find something that will work, will be affordable and will be stable ie: a spot where we'll be able to stay a while.

2) Get my editors back on track.  The main series we're producing this year is teetering on getting behind in terms of its post-production pathway.  I'll have to spend some time this week making sure my editors understand that our delivery deadline is contractual and must be met. The fact that they're even asking us to consider moving the delivery date illustrates one simple fact; unless you're the key stakeholder (ie: the one whose balls are on the line) you don't and won't understand the realities or pressure of contracts, fundraising, and delivery obligations. In other words, and this is no disrespect to 'employees', the only people who really 'care' are the stakeholders.  To some degree--varying depending on the quality of your employees, and in our case the quality is very high--everyone except you ('cause you're the 'owner') will treat this as just a job at the end of the day.

3) Write a pilot.  We've done a deal with a co-producer to develop a supernaturally-oriented dramatic TV series.  I have to write the pilot. They want to start pitching it around town (L.A and NYC) by the end of August.  Before I start writing I have some script breakdowns to do (gonna' re-watch 'The Incredibles' and the pilot episodes of 'Lost' and 'Heroes' by way of refresher) then I'ma have at it.

4) Cut a pilot.  As part of the main series we're doing this year we've designed a spin-off.  The spin off is shot at the same time as the main series so--in the ideal scenario--we'll be able to deliver 208 episodes of TV multiple times for the price of one.  These two series are the first time in my life as a producer that we've created something with anything like an 'evergreen' appeal.  My hope is that the work we're doing this year might pay off over the next five years. Anyway, to get this pilot done I'll probably end up flying out to Vancouver to spend four days locked in a edit suite with one of our editors and we'll just spit it out.  Really looking forward to it.

5) Start 'core building'.  The goal is a gathering at our house every week for the month of August.  This gathering will be to acquaint people with our new church plant.  We're hoping to launch as soon as September 13th.  I'm starting to feel the 'fear' that goes with this kind of impending deadline but I'm just walking my way through it.  There's nothing you can do to make the fear go away, so you just work.

6) Decide which book to write and write it.  I've been toying with writing either an adventure novel or one of those spiritually oriented 'self-help' (I hate the term) books.  The adventure novel is about a boy who gets sucked back in time to the very first Christmas eve where he's caught up in a plot to steal the gifts of the Magii before they can be given to the infant Christ. The self-help book might be called 'Forsaking Neverland' and would be a chronicle of my journey from Pastor to Producer and back to Pastor.  Maybe let me know which you'd like to read first.

7) Organize my taxes, finances, and re-mortgage my house so I can build an extension.  We live in a great neighborhood in a small house.  We have four kids.  We are getting to the point where we could really use a little more space--mostly for entertaining guests and family.  With launching a new church we're going to have people over constantly so our small house is set to become even smaller.  I tend to really hate this kind of 'practical work' 'cause I'm not very good at it and I feel like it takes time away from the really important 'creative' work I have piling up but I realize those could just be the justifications of a procrastinator.

8) Clean my backyard.  We've got our dear friends coming over tomorrow and wifey wants the yard looking good.  I still haven't broken down my work bench from renovating my backyard and I have to repair my lawn mower--another chore I hate and am not particularly gifted at.

9) Study.  I've got a sermon series to prep.  Rather, I've got four sermon series to prep.  The September, October, November, December series for 'THE WELL'.

September:  What is this thing called Church?  Out of Galatians.

October: Who is this man called Jesus?  Out of John.

November: Culture Wars.  Out of 1st Corinthians.

December: Christmastime.  Out of Luke.

10) I've got to raise $500,000.  We've got an opportunity to work with one of Hollywood's top graphic novel companies developing five new properties two of them 'ours' and the other three to be sourced in partnership with other L.A-based production companies.  The company in question has some really exciting strategic alliances happening so we could really jump into a new level with this one.  I've got to work with their VP of development to put together a prospectus that will be ready to go investors by the end of this month.  The idea is to develop five graphic novels with the goal of getting one or two of them set up as feature-film projects. I feel very much 'over my head' here as fundraising is about the hardest thing a producer does but I'm determined to see it through as fundraising is about the only thing you do that makes you deserving of the title 'producer'.

11) We've got a major Canadian producer asking us if we can beat the prices he's paying for his current production slate.  We have to totally breakdown his production management scenario then build one we'd propose for less money.  Spreadsheets upon spreadsheets.  Madness.

12) We've got a major TV special (on the debate between 'Intelligent Design' and 'Evolution') to produce for November delivery.  I have to write the pitch this week and get the first budget done.

So that's my 'to do list' for the next month.

Whadduyou think?

T