Stop, Collaborate and Listen

I am going to admit something that may seem fairly obvious:  Sometimes I blog in order to motivate myself.  Sometimes I know the right advice, and I'm hesitant to follow it - so I blog about it, and then I HAVE TO do it.  That's the case with this one.

As I've said, 2012 is the year of content, and I am dedicating myself to creating new projects.  I'm sick of waiting for the perfect role to appear - I'm going to create it.  I have three major projects in the works.  Maybe you have projects too.

So, you sit down and you plan.  If it's a writing project, you write.  If it's a producing project you schedule and budget.  Whatever it is, you prepare... then what?

You have to ask people to help.  (Or let's call it: "collaborate.")

I recently reached out to a writer I know and asked him to mentor me. And, wow, was it hard!  It called up all of my insecurities:
-Maybe people don't take me seriously.
-Maybe my idea is dumb.
-Maybe my writing is terrible.
-Maybe people just plain don't like me.

I emailed him, and he said, "Of course."

For another project, I needed a few actors to "collaborate" with, and all of my insecurities popped up again.  Again, I got all yeses.

It's easy to forget that actors are great at collaborating, so are (most) writers and directors.  And even if you find someone who isn't interested, there are a ton of us out there.

If you believe in the project, you'll have no trouble finding people to work on it with you.

(Maybe this is obvious for some of you, but for most, I bet, it's a big hurdle.)

Now that I have collaborators: I have accountability partners; I have artistic voices; I have support.
I can't wait to see what we're going to create.