My life is starting to fill up with choices. Tough choices. For the first time ever in my career I have been forced to turn down work, and to add to the amazement, really good work too. In the last few weeks I have been offered a really great little film for Ford, and also a HUGE two part period documentary with a major British actor in the lead. I didn’t turn down these projects lightly…
The work load with Gone Fishing and my own projects is so huge, that I have to be very careful. When I train new film makers I talk about the windows of opportunities that open up, and how important it is to recognise them, and to step through them. Right now I have a window in front of me, those who have done the Gone Fishing Seminar will know exactly which window I am talking about, and I MUST make that a priority. That involves getting outside of my comfort zone - perhaps you could also characterise it as moving from the Ordinary World to Special World in Chris Voglers / Joseph Campbells ‘Hero’s Journey’ model. (I am planning to run the Gone Fishing Seminar one last time here in the UK before it is released on DVD - if you want to attend, drop me an email at [email protected]).
No matter how exciting the future may look, it is also filled with uncertainty, and it’s that lack of rigid routine and mystery that on a very deep level can cause anxiety and fear. I have seen it in others, I sense it in my own choices now, but I embrace it as a part of the journey that I am on. If these fears were not present, on a very fundamental level, the journey I am undertaking would not be worthy or my time. An adventure is no adventure without risk…
So I am choosing, I hope, wisely, from a place of passion, and from a tactical perspective.
I am perhaps being a little introspective too, as I am just completing a feature article for Moviescope magazine on the whole Gone Fishing experience. I am writing about how, in the making of Gone Fishing, I applied my own teachings and processes that I have written about in the Guerilla books. I will let you know when this magazine hits the streets.
Onwards and upwards…
Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author
www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]
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