“Find your center, ” is a term used in Figure Skating. When we spin, if we are not centered, we travel all over the place and the spin is awful. It’s kind of like that in life. If we are not centered; solid in our core; or goal oriented, we will also spin out of control and the results could be disastrous.
I was starting to feel too old; too late; and too much of an unknown to actually be able to pull this film off. Thankfully, that lasted only for about 8 hours. God led me to the http://www.indiefilmhustle.com podcasts and it literally sent shockwaves through my soul. I was electrified with inspiration by the time I was finished listening. I took a ton of notes and I plan to dive into them immediately. This is what I learned.
*I am not too old.
*It is not too late.
* I have a responsibilty to the world to present my “craft/art or film,” because people out there need it. I can change someone else’s life for the good. What kind of person would I be, if I just gave up and quit and did not answer the call?
Every week when I go to the ice rink, I am challenged. I have to learn new skills, while mastering the old ones. I have to defy the laws of my age for one, and I have to have the courage to jump, when my coach tells me to. If he did not think I could do what he asked, he wouldn’t ask me. I trust him enough to know that. So, because he is confident that I can challenge myself to go to the next level, we work on doing just that.
In regard to this first film, I have to stop making excuses. I have to see this as an opportunity to meet some of what the world needs. I have to challenge myself or provoke myself to go to the next level. I have to “figure it out,” if I really want this film to get made and distributed. If there is a will, there certainly is a way. I just have to be smart about it. I have to “have a plan,” a good plan; a plan that I will maintain. My coach has plans that we follow, step by step in order for me to pass the skating tests. But, just because I am good enough to pass the skating tests, it doesn’t mean I am good enough to win competitions. If anything on planet earth has ever hit home to me, that last statement is the one. Let me repeat it. Just because I am good enough, or become good enough to pass skating tests, it doesn’t mean I am good enough to win competitions. If I want to win, I have to take my skating to the next level. I have to work twice as hard; take ballet classes; strength train and so much more.
With this film, just because I have a great script, it doesn’t mean it is good enough to become the next box office hit. I have to work it. I have to take that script and work it to the best of my ability. I have to get educated and learn all I can learn to make this script and every component that goes with it absolutely amazing. Just like my skating cannot grow without the help of my coach, my film cannot materialize without the help of the related experts in this field as well as funding. But, where there is a will, there is a way. I have to figure it out. The script is not going to get made on its own, nor is it going to do the work of finding the funding for me.
It isn’t that I haven’t tried. Because God knows I have. I have tried for many years to get funded via crowdfunding. But failed miserably. Do those failures mean I don’t try again, or do I throw my net out one more time like Jesus told the disciples? Peter told Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and have caught nothing. But nevertheless at your Word, we will let down our nets.” They ended up catching so many fish that their nets began to break and they have to get other boats to help them. Not only that, Peter fell at Jesus’s feet and told him to depart for he was a sinful man. But, Jesus replied, “Fear not. From now on you will catch men.” Is that not the point, the foundation and the core (or the center) of the Summer Ray Series? Is it not to be “fishers of men?” This is why I can never give up. I have to find once again the center of the story and branch out from there.
There are billions of people on planet earth. If there is a will, there is a way. This film series will be made, but we have to start at film one.
Making it happen,
Juliana
THE MEMOIRS OF SUMMER RAY 