“I couldn’t even meet Friday’s payroll, and the terrible thing about it is that I wasn’t even worried. I knew I’d make something happen. And I did. That comes from cojones. That comes from being in a bullring and seeing the horns come at you. I shit in my pants, but I stayed there.”
– legendary producer Robert Evans, on making movies.
While I have, on occasion, doubted the importance of what I learned in college, over the last 36 hours, at least one lesson has truly been applied: the art of the all-nighter. Having woke yesterday at seven in the morning, I found myself working nonstop until seven this morning.
Three blissful hours of sleep, and I’m ready to start the 24-hour cycle again.
“All the conditions necessary for murder are met if you shut two men in a cabin and leave them together for two months.”
— Russian cosmonaut Valery Ryumin
Or if you shut three men in a cramped two bedroom apartment, force them to share one car, and have them work long hours together in high stress situations seven days a week.
It is truly a remarkable thing that neither I nor either of my two Cyan colleagues have tried to stab each other’s eyes out with a pencil. I believe it bodes well for the long-term success of the company.
As I was relaying the ongoing melodramas of shooting I Love Your Work to my parents via phone yesterday, my father observed that success at producing films, like in so many other endeavors, seems to very much hinge on knowing lots and lots of people. With which I whole-heartedly agree. I’m the first to admit that whatever small successes I’ve achieved in my life have almost invariably been the result of being able to pull the assistance of others at key moments.
As a result, I take my contact list fairly seriously. Which is why I’m particularly thrilled to say that I’m about to cross the two thousand contact mark. That’s right, two thousand contacts. Two thousand people I know well enough to trade emails with at least once every six months (my minimum requirement before pruning people from the database).
Which, I think, is pretty good. But it’s all relative – I’ve been told that Bill Clinton, while Governor of Arkansas, had a contact base of some twenty thousand people that he drew upon regularly. I’d better get moving on shaking hands and kissing babies if I ever intend to catch up.
On Monday, I head to California. I return the following Saturday. Then, the very next day, I move to my new apartment.
Which means I have exactly the next two days to pack for my trip West and box up the entire contents of my apartment, all the while continuing the mad fundraising push needed to get Cyan’s first feature off the ground.
Sleep is for pansies.
Yesterday, I headed to NYU’s Stern School of Business to talk to students about entrepreneurship, an odd experience considering that, the tone of this site aside, I don’t actually consider myself experienced or wise enough to have much insight to pass along. I was therefore thrilled to find this comment posted on Cyan Pictures web site by Columbia student Isabel Rosa:
I went to your talk. It was truly inspiring and at the same time realistic, a rare combination. It made me believe for the first time that my business idea is possible. Thank you!
Which pretty much made my day. Her comment won’t be launching me on a nation-wide motivational speaking tour any time soon, but it certainly did remind me how powerful the impact of a simple compliment can be, something I’d apparently forgotten. Must be time to reread the Dale Carnegie.
Yes, it’s audience feedback time! Before I officially lock in the name of my nascent movie production company, Cyan Pictures, I wanted to solicit a second opinion.
Personally, I like the name. It’s explicitly filmographic (cyan, along with yellow and magenta, is one of photography’s primary colors), and unusual enough to be memorable.
But I’d like to know what you think. Click the comments link and let me know.
My switch to the world of film is nearly official. This morning, I spoke with most of the people I work with about putting tech research on hold – while the details are still sketchy, it appears I’ll be doing Cyan full time by the start of next month. I’ve also brought on a first confederate, Colin Spoelman, Cyan’s new VP of Development.
Note to self: Kick fundraising into high gear. It looks like this is really going to happen.
Actually, I won’t be dropping high tech completely – I’ll still be actively involved with the non-profit Paradigm Blue Foundation, which funds social entrepreneurship initiatives and the innovative use of new technologies. I just won’t be doing high tech as a job. But I’ll still be posting rambling tech entries here. And I’ll still be reading Wired, the closest thing we dorks have to the New Yorker.
So busy. So very busy.
Somewhere in the past week, I made the major decision to put my high tech work on hold, to focus full time on making motion pictures. I’ve spent the last few days banging out the details of that switch, the near- and long-term strategy for winding down my immediate involvement in tech and ramping up my film production company, Cyan Pictures, towards a film in 2004 and a second in 2005.
So much to do. So very much.