After the screening and throughout 2012, having put my work out there for everyone to see, judge and have expectations of me, people would always ask how writing was going and what was happening with Therapy. The same tiresome answer would be something along the lines of:
'Yeah writing's good, same old, just writing away. Yeah we've entered Therapy into some festivals, so just hoping to hear some good news now.'
The thing with this path that I've taken is that you can't really dwell on what you've already done, especially when you're continuously aware of what you're trying to achieve and where you're trying to get to. Applause from your peers lasts for a moment and you appreciate it while you're there but reality returns and one must continue to work towards the ultimate goal. Which is what I've done...
In the final quarter of 2012 I attended an event held by Virgin Media Shorts with some in-the-know industry folk doing talks. One of the talks was on entering festivals and the speaker advised that a short films shelf-life is circa 3 years and until you've hit that point, you shouldn't give up on it potentially getting into a festival. 3 YEARS?!
Well I took his word for it and here I find myself, fourteen months after the director called "It's a wrap!" on the shoot receiving an email that it has been selected for the BFI Future Film Festival.
I can look back at 2012 as a great year for me with many ups and downs but, ultimately, good. Especially in self-building on many frontiers. I wrote more than I'd written the previous year and hopefully 2013 will follow suit. Correlating with that, I've met amazing people, established some great connections and made some great leaps towards my dreams coming true. All of this served as encouragement for me on a personal note and continues to push me.
The thing about all of these things though is that nobody seldom ever sees it. I mean sure, my closest people know I'm working hard daily and I keep them abreast with the little progresses. But that's where it ends. I'm absolutely fine with that, I've learned to live with it and, actually, it's how I prefer to operate. Quietly work away in hope that my work and my achievements will speak for me.
(Disclaimer: my closest friends see an incredibly unbelievable level of ego and self-belief, though lol.)
Last but not least, in all of this, my faith in God's plan for my life has definitely encouraged me. I don't speak about this much but, honestly, it's continuously understanding that my time will come when I'm well and truly ready for it and keeping my head down until then. Also, a lot of studying successful people and their humble beginnings has been of great encouragement. Especially when I read about all the difficult times they went through and made it through. This isn't limited to people in the film industry, I seek inspiration from all walks of life (check out an old blog post of mine Idols, Heroes & Their Teachings for an idea of some of the people who inspire me).
I'll wrap this up. As I said when I started this blog, I don't really endeavour to be too personal on it and by that I meant posts like this which are all about me, how I feel blah blah blah... Too much info that nobody needs to know lol. In this case, though, it was either this or a very long twitter essay. Hope you enjoyed the insight into what goes on behind the words and in the depths of my mind...
Sidenote: For anybody who would like to catch the screening of my short film at the BFI Future Film Festival, click here to purchase a ticket and you need to select 'Future Film Fiction Short Film Selection'.
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