Little steps...

THE WELL this past Sunday.

I was pretty happy with this shot (nice work Miki) when I saw it. Why? Well, it really 'captures' how I like 'church' to look. The 'big deal' about that is, in this case, something we're working on actually looks like what I hoped it might look like when we started.

A dream, turned real.

Granted, there's an awfully LONG way to go, we're nowhere near 'set', but I just thought it'd be key to note that all the little steps do eventually lead somewhere.

On another front, tomorrow I'll be in a network pitch meeting. On the one hand this is no big deal, who knows where this will go, the actual chance that one of the shows I pitch will get picked up and make it all the way to the screen is very small indeed.

Nevertheless, going to a network pitch meeting with five shows to sell (three of them already completed) is a dream, turned real. I wanted to be doing this ten years ago, would have given almost anything to get that kind of access. Today, this is not shocking for me. I call that progress.

All the little steps do eventually lead somewhere.

And since I'm a producer, let's think positive.

Imagine one of the pitches got picked up, heck, imagine three of 'em did. What would that be like? Well, I can tell you, it'd be awesome.

And, at the same time...

It'd be just another little step along the road called "What I'm trying to *do* with my life..."

One at a time.

T

Robbie...

Ah God.

Idealized...

I mean, if you didn't look TOO close, you'd think it was Santa Monica.

In fact, it's Burlington, a kilometer or so from my house, just past the heart of our small downtown. The body of water isn't the Pacific, it's Lake Ontario. The tree's not a Palm, heck, it's not even really 'alive' just yet, seeing as we're in the dead of winter up in here.

But it 'aint bad.

I took the shot Saturday morning on my way home from an early breakfast with the wife. Our kids were with her mom, so we had some time to ourselves. Up early, as is becoming our habit, we actually got to our favorite 'greasy spoon' breakfast place before it opened.

Now that's hard core.

We ended up somewhere a little more mass produced, and less-ideal, but still, we had breakfast together, chatted about our life, then drove home past an almost Santa-Monica-like vista.

An ideal morning.

Sort of.

Ideal.

What's your ideal? Like, if you had no limits on your life, where would you be having breakfast this Saturday morning, and with whom? Better yet, what would the 'job' be that you would have worked all week leading up to that Saturday morning breakfast date? What's your ideal city? What is your ideal car? Ideally-speaking, what kind of income would you like to earn, what kind of impact would you hope to be having on the World? In an ideal-scenario what would your life be about, what would it (and you) stand for?

Ideally...

Then, once you've thought long and hard about all of the above, the trick is to start working towards the ideal, even while living in something very much less than.

That's why you take pictures of your waterfront vista, so that you can pause to appreciate it. Two things happen in that moment, 1) you're thankful for what you have (which is the key to a peaceful/godly life) and 2) you're reminded of what you'd like to work towards.

Then, ideally, you go and get busy.

T

Working together...

Day 1 of shooting this week.

We had our DP back in to tweak the lighting. What was interesting about this was that we had originally lit the set, got it approved, and moved ahead with no worries shooting 100 (that's right *ONE HUNDRED*) episodes before the client called to say he'd like us to tweak.

You'd think, that after 100 episodes, he'd be cool with what we were doing.

Right?

Wrong.

And it's a VERY GOOD THING.

See, we re-lit, and not only that, we re-structured the show, creating three new rundowns from scratch, again, to match tweaks that the client wanted us to execute.

Now, let's be clear, it'd be VERY easy (for me) to bristle when a client asks for changes after such a long time doing things the same way. However, we didn't bristle, we just executed his notes and, wouldn't you know it, the show is turning out MUCH better as a result.

Not only is the show looking better, its got a better story-design now, AND (wonder of wonders--I NEVER would have expected this...) it's shooting quicker.

Wild.

So, lemme' just say, this fairly independent-minded guy got a real poignant lesson in the value of collaboration this week.

Working together.

Good stuff.

T

Familiar activity...

Sunday.

THE WELL.

My friend Chris Jones on the left getting ready to rehearse, yours truly on the far right, waiting to get behind the drums.

First time he and I did this was more than ten years ago. Funny thing about time, on the one hand it feels like no time has passed, so the 'familiar activity' you're doing comes real natural. I was able to 'feel' where he was going during the service and follow along like no time had passed at all. At the same time, with time, the simple truth is *a lot* of time has passed between then and now, there's no denying it.

We're older, more experienced. Prone to fatigue.

I think (more and more I'm realizing) that the trick is to keep doing those familiar activities ('cause they're the *stuff* your life is made of) while holding onto as much passion and positivity as possible in the doing.

I find it very easy (these days) to become disillusioned and tired. I find my 'edge' can be quickly blunted.

So the task at hand is to push through and find some kind of inspiration that will help me sharpen up, despite the fact that the thing(s) I'm doing are *very* familiar, and could easily become something I'm bored with or contemptuous of. I wonder if that pushing is the difference between those who keep 'producing' good work over the long term and those who just, peter out.

Yes, it turned out well. Worship was strong. People were moved.

'Familiar activity' (aka: work) got done.

We produced something.

T