This blog will go further into the topic of how I do it all and I hope my friends in the industry can take something away from this blog to help them with their work.
Founder of Top Guy Productions
Founder of Wicked Carnival Productions
My office day starts at 9:00 am when I respond to all the office stuff, mailing DVD's, autographed items, answering the social media, e-mails, phone calls the two web sites etc. I focus on spend time interacting with fans via social media as much as I can.
After my second blood sugar check around 10:30 AM this is when my busy work kicks in and I go into what I call "Think Tank Mode" where I look at projects that are in pre production outline, development ect. and I work on as many projects as I can handle at a time, I don't ever want to run out of ideas so I work to keep my mind working as much as possible.
I turn on my music and focus on whatever I'm working on if it's a script or an outline or a fresh idea that is in the early planning stages of character creation. I "break" for lunch around Noon. 9 times out of 10 I have a working lunch because I have a hard time shutting my brain off during the work day.
After lunch I do a quick check of e-mails and social media and then right back to writing. If I need a recharge I puck up the Escrima Sticks and do a routine or I'll grab my training knives and work with those for awhile or I'll box a few rounds. I know that sounds weird to workout to recharge but it works. It's a great way to keep thinking about projects while getting in a good solid workout at the same time.
At 3:00 PM I get my kids off the bus from school and then it's time to do the Dad thing which I love. I help my wife with dinner and dishes all while keeping my mind on the projects I'm working on. I will write myself notes while standing at the stove cooking.
My "Office Day" usually ends around 5:00 pm and I have family time until my kids go into their bed rooms for the night and then I spend time with my wife. If I don't have any projects into production I usually don't work after 5:00 but I currently have The Vengeful One going into production soon so I'm working to make sure things are ready to go on that.
When a project is going into production I have to write, write, direct, set up the locations (for the most part) do the makeup, Makeup FX etc. I'm a Jack of all trades on set. so my life doesn't get any easier once a project goes into production.
NOTE : This blog isn't about me complaining about having to be a one man production company, I LOVE my job, I get up every morning and do a job that allows me to do whatever I want when ever I want to do it.
Wicked Carnival Productions / Top Guy Productions is my baby and Every project we release is another step in the right direction. Have we had some issues with our first two projects, yes doesa that make any of us want to quit? Hell no and I'll tell you why. We are the little indie film company that could and there isn't any quit in any of us. We all push each other to succeed and this is because of one simple reason. Do you want to know the secret to success?
I'll tell you how we went from a man with a dream of making a slasher movie to having a successful movie on our hands, here is my secret to success as an indie film maker. I live by one simple idea and that idea is I can't do this alone and each and every member of my team is the reason we have been able to make these movies happen. It's never about me and my movie it's about us and our movie.
I'm very blessed to have the amazing support team from Sins of Man : Rise of Mortis and Sins of Man II : Vengeance. We all work so hard to make sure we all succeed and no on gets an attitude on set because we are all in the same boat. I tell people and I've said it in interviews " As a writer / director I can't make my movie without a cast and crew and actors and actresses can't act without a writer / director giving them the tools to apply their craft. Right?
I keep a loose set when we are shooting and I'm open to other's ideas if something isn't working the way I wrote it. I'll give you an example I got an e-mail last week from a cast member on The Vengeful One and he said "I changed a line in the script from this, to this and here is why. once I thought about it I said "Well that sounds alot better and fits the emotion of the scene alot better." so I let him keep the change. I know alot of my writer friends read that and cringed at the thought of an actor having the nerve to change their work but I honestly have no issue with it IF it works better then what I wrote.
I'm not the type of writer / director that is so closed minded that it's read the lines the way I wrote them and that's it, I think the set (to a point) should be a place where ideas are heard and changes can be made to make the movie as good as it possibly can be, I mean isn't that the point to release the best movie you can make with the resources you have available to you?
I hope you have found something of use in this blog, I want to close this out by saying I LOVE my job, it's my dream to continue to create movies, short and feature length as well as web series and hopefully restart The Maine Morgue Podcast soon as a means to keep fans up to date on the progress of The Vengeful One and all the other craziness of Top Guy Productions / Wicked Carnival Productions .
STAY HUMBLE, STAY HUNGRY MY FRIENDS :)