Restless creative energy: the eye of the brainstorm

I have always been terrible at sitting still. My parents used to make me sit on my hands as even when I was in "time out," I would pester my siblings and drum on the wall or counter. So decades ago after my umpteenth hand sit, I realized this time was a gift to develop new adventures in my hyperactive mind.

At the moment, my creative motor is standing idle. For years I've juggled several interests and outputs including: 

1. Working a video production job, 
2. Writing a weekly tech column, 
3. Semi-regularly writing-directing-producing short films, 
4. Composing music for video bed music and video projects, 
5. Producing family videos
6. and Podcasting. 

As I type this, all of that has been culled to just my day job. This is of course temporary as our household becomes proficient in parenting two young children, but still... I'm restless.

So since my 2nd daughter's birth in November I've returned to my handsitting brainstorming to figure out how I can fill the void left by missing projects. Here's what I've decided.

1. Write, Produce, Act, and Direct a short film all by myself.

One of my favorite parts of filmmaking is the collaborative nature of it. But in the middle of a pandemic it's hard to responsibly get together, and with two kids needing most of my available time I came up with an interesting film project. 

Over the next month I plan to shoot a short film revolving around a character's daily exercise routine with a sci-fi twist thrown in for fun. Working title: "No Shortcuts."

This project will borrow a minimal amount of my free time and make creative use of some ideas I've been kicking around for a year while running around my moonlit neighborhood. I'm pretty excited about it, alas it likely won't be shared with an audience for 4-12 months. That being said I do have one project that I am currently releasing on a regular basis.

2. Fire-Wired Life ramp up on Youtube Channel.

On and off I've used YouTube as a professional outlet, specifically the Fire-Wired Life channel. When I was writing regularly for CityView I toyed with making a video to coincide with every column, but alas Grad School and laziness got the best of me. I made three videos over the years based on the column, saw some excellent response from virtually non-existent marketing efforts, and foolishly let it fizzle out. Man, if I only knew then what I know now...

Flash to 2021, I had the opportunity to produce a YouTube video on basic shots of smartphone filmmaking and it gave me the itch to rekindle my YouTube ambitions. I am not aiming for anything other than sharing my experiences and production knowledge. My goal is one video a month and I've already got a years worth of ideas outlined, so I'm feeling good about making it happen. Plus I have a fun but informative series starting in April.

3. Return to podcasting

For 8 years my good friend Jacob Rosdail and I jawed into microphones about our movie watching and making adventures. Right before the pandemic we retooled to focus the podcast on streaming films, rebranding as "Shared Passwords." Then wouldn't you know it, all films became streaming films.

Toss on top my wife and I welcomed a new kiddo to the family and our regular podcasting routine unraveled. Jacob and I started the podcast for no other reason that we both  loved movies and since he moved out of state we missed talking movies together. Well that is still the goal and I'm excited to get back behind the mix with the HBO Max release of #TheSnyderCut. It will likely be trash but that's why it is perfect.

So, I have a creative map. The next few months will be touch and go fitting it all in, but some scratches must be itched. If you're looking to follow along, here's the three clicks that will get you going.