Happy Sunday y’all!

This Sunday is my last day off before starting a ) Full time employment (yay) b ) selling my work at the Farmer’s Markets on the weekends and c ) the start of dramatic money saving mode (montage not included).

As such, I’ve decided to work on … you guessed it! My project! Any spare moment I’ve got I’m going to try to dedicate to working on this.  I’m in the process of hammering out a sponsorship letter today in fact, adding to my growing list of sponsor ideas, as well as an outline of what the show is going to be about.

Some things I did on MoT I can reuse for sure — but there are others that I need to completely reinvent.  That task is kind of beyond daunting right now, but inspiring at the same time.  I can look at all the things that went wrong last time and have all my back up plans in place.  I can redesign the name. the concept. the logo. the theme song. the intro. the look. everything.  Lucky for me, branding was always my favorite part.  

While I work on these documents and concepts, I always set time aside to focus on the meat of the project : the places I’m going to visit.  Logistically this is the most important part, but it’s not going to be the most relevant when I’m pitching this to anyone.  Who is gonna watch this? Why are they going to watch this? How do I intend to make revenue? Where do I plan on showing the show? What platforms will I use? How will I market it? My head is already spinning and this is just the tip of the ice berg — but that’s what producing is all about.

So what locations have I nailed down exactly? Other than London. Well that’s going to be up in the air until the day I can safely book all those plane tickets.  I’m happy to report however, that of the three friends from VFS who’ve moved back to their corners of the globe that I’ve pitched my idea to, that two have already replied and are very interested in showing me around and doing interviews.  I’m going to expand shortly to other friends, some of whom just have family members overseas but who’ve offered to help in any way they can.  From there I should have a decent list of places to go, couches to crash on, and then I can fill the rest of my journey with couchsurfing.org, hostels, hotels (sponsors hopefully!) and pay as little as possible — to see as much as possible.

Plus in my family, you get used to sleeping on couches covered in dogs…

The one year mark since my grad is approaching at an alarming rate.  I used to feel like I hadn’t done a lot in my time since school ended, like maybe I should have stuck to applying for more jobs instead of coming back home.  Or maybe I should have searched for more scripts and produced more short films or webseries or whatever.  Well that’s just me being ridiculous and never happy with what I’ve got — again.  What I did do in my time at and after VFS was network (and bake things) and as my last trip home proved I’m pretty damn good at that.

I had lunch or supper dates every day I was there.  Sold custom art pieces to friends.  Had to decline multiple offers to crash on couches — at least 5.  Even though I saw over 30+ of my friends, I did miss out on a whole lot more of them!  If I can do the same thing when I set off on my grand adventure — catch up with all of my old friends, see what they’re doing now, and getting to explore the beauty of their homes and experiencing their culture first hand — WHY WOULDN’T I GO FOR IT?!!??! (sorry that was for dramatic effect. Did it work? yes? no?)

So now comes the time for me to expand my circle of friends yet again and to reach out to those I haven’t seen since they’ve gone home.  It’s nerve wracking. It’s intimidating. It’s exhilarating. I can’t freaken wait.

For today’s comments : Anyone from VFS who’s moved back home interested in sharing your story and/or city and/or home with me? I can offer you baked goods, laundry folding, child care, dish drying (not washing, I fail at that.), sparkling conversation and an adventure in your home town. Please don’t be a serial killer, and we have got a deal!

Well I think that about does it for me for today, I’m off to do projecty stuff, followed by arty stuff and then probably watching the Hangover II. I know it’s going to be terrible, but it’s shot in Thailand and that’s reason enough to watch it. (I sat through all of Couples Retreat just to see Bora Bora, I can watch Bradley Cooper run around Thailand for an hour and a half. )

Have a happy Sunday!!

Peace&Love.

P.♥