A Tip for the Little Guys: Beef Up with Internet Supplements!
For the past few years, at least 3 or 4 times a week I've been hitting the gym and throwing up some weights. Now any one who knows me can tell you that I'm not exactly a beefcake, and WWE hasn't tried to recruit me for a pay-per-view throwdown...yet:-) But when I look at pictures of myself in high school and pictures now...there's no comparison, I fit better in my clothes, I'm more self confident, and I feel better physically (even when I'm sore!) But I didn't get bigger muscles over night and for the longest time it felt like no matter how much stronger I became, I was still really skinny (I mean...like bean pole thin...and for those who don't know what a bean pole really looks like, imagine a straightened out hanger standing on its end...yeah).
Anyway, sometimes it can really feel like that on the independant film scene, or the unpublished writer scene, or whatever other artistic endevour those of us out there are trying to break into as a career. It seems like no matter how much more talented we get, no matter how finely we tune our skills and hone our abilities we never seem to get further.
Well, let me take you back to my early attempts at weight training. Before I got really serious into weights, my best sports were boxing and wrestling, I also enjoyed running and callistenics, these sports, though requiring great amounts of time, effort, and skill, had no real emphasis on size or appearance (in fact, it was better to stay lighter in many cases). So even though I carried over a good work ethic and the self discipline to apply myself, I still didn't understand one of the basic conccepts of resistance training for size and shape: nutrition. Specifically that as a skinny kid with a high metabolism I had to eat alot, and not just a lot of anything, but a ton of protein. After finally learning this valuable lesson from some ginormous dudes curling my body weight in dumbells who claimed to have once been in my shoes I decided that in addition to working hard at the gym I would work hard away from the gym too, disciplining myself to eat more protein more often...and wouldn't you believe it...it worked! I started putting on pounds in a hurry and before long my entire physique changed...it was great!
I think the same is true for us "skinny guys" in the art industry...we work hard to make ourselves better at what we do: Dave and Russell have been great about researching the business of movies on the internet and through countless books, Russ is constantly reading books on directing and listenting to the greats in podcasts, commentaries, and featurettes, I keep writing and never stop finding books on technique and substance, and the technology we use improves by leaps and bounds each year. I've even picked up a new hobby, photography, because I think it will help me better understand form and visuals and make me a better and more knowledgable team member. So we keep getting better at what we do, and like us, you are probably just as disciplined and aggressive with whatever it is you are pursuing...but there's a poblem, we're busting our butts but we still aren't getting the attention and growth we're looking for, we need a supplement, a boost that will give us results: we need the internet!
I have to admit, I was about as ignorant on the internet when I signed on with Twenty One as I was with protein when I first started lifting, and while I'm still not an internet pro (and still haven't transformed my mortal body into the sculpted image of a greek god...yet) I've started to see the power of the internet for small companies that don't have huge budgets. In fact, if you're reading this right now, you're doing something that never would have happened without the internet...you're reading my words, and for a young writer, that makes me feel like a million bucks!
With minimal cost we've been able to create a place where we can let people see our creations, read our ideas, share in our successes and frustrations, buy our gear, and get to know who we are. Most recently, we've added two new internet features to our site: a podcast and a forum, so that you can actually meet us, and we can actually meet you! Who knows how we might be able to inspire and cheer each other on to doing bigger and better things? But the biggest thing to remember is this, when we all took our first step toward becoming filmmakers or writers or artists or whatever, we had to sit down and do it, and getting your work on the internet is no different. Even if you aren't the most tech savvy person of all time and for you using email seems as complicated as calculating the max air velocity of an African Swallow, I garauntee you've got some buddies or family that can give you a lesson or two, or maybe even help you get started.
This web site's been up for a few years now, mostly due to Russell's hard work, but also thanks to some of our friends like Justin Durban out in LA, and let me tell you from experience, if it weren't for the site, nobody would even know we existed! And maybe we aren't where we'd like to be yet, but I can't explain to you how cool it is to know that other people from other places see what we're doing...and like it! Its like an added boost of energy that keeps us striving to make better and better stuff. So don't waste any more time with me...get you're own web site up and running, get your own blog going, drop me a comment to let me know where you are on the web so I can check it out...don't wait for success to come and find you, you have to get out there and find it for yourself and the internet is my far and away the best way to start looking.
Anyway, sometimes it can really feel like that on the independant film scene, or the unpublished writer scene, or whatever other artistic endevour those of us out there are trying to break into as a career. It seems like no matter how much more talented we get, no matter how finely we tune our skills and hone our abilities we never seem to get further.
Well, let me take you back to my early attempts at weight training. Before I got really serious into weights, my best sports were boxing and wrestling, I also enjoyed running and callistenics, these sports, though requiring great amounts of time, effort, and skill, had no real emphasis on size or appearance (in fact, it was better to stay lighter in many cases). So even though I carried over a good work ethic and the self discipline to apply myself, I still didn't understand one of the basic conccepts of resistance training for size and shape: nutrition. Specifically that as a skinny kid with a high metabolism I had to eat alot, and not just a lot of anything, but a ton of protein. After finally learning this valuable lesson from some ginormous dudes curling my body weight in dumbells who claimed to have once been in my shoes I decided that in addition to working hard at the gym I would work hard away from the gym too, disciplining myself to eat more protein more often...and wouldn't you believe it...it worked! I started putting on pounds in a hurry and before long my entire physique changed...it was great!
I think the same is true for us "skinny guys" in the art industry...we work hard to make ourselves better at what we do: Dave and Russell have been great about researching the business of movies on the internet and through countless books, Russ is constantly reading books on directing and listenting to the greats in podcasts, commentaries, and featurettes, I keep writing and never stop finding books on technique and substance, and the technology we use improves by leaps and bounds each year. I've even picked up a new hobby, photography, because I think it will help me better understand form and visuals and make me a better and more knowledgable team member. So we keep getting better at what we do, and like us, you are probably just as disciplined and aggressive with whatever it is you are pursuing...but there's a poblem, we're busting our butts but we still aren't getting the attention and growth we're looking for, we need a supplement, a boost that will give us results: we need the internet!
I have to admit, I was about as ignorant on the internet when I signed on with Twenty One as I was with protein when I first started lifting, and while I'm still not an internet pro (and still haven't transformed my mortal body into the sculpted image of a greek god...yet) I've started to see the power of the internet for small companies that don't have huge budgets. In fact, if you're reading this right now, you're doing something that never would have happened without the internet...you're reading my words, and for a young writer, that makes me feel like a million bucks!
With minimal cost we've been able to create a place where we can let people see our creations, read our ideas, share in our successes and frustrations, buy our gear, and get to know who we are. Most recently, we've added two new internet features to our site: a podcast and a forum, so that you can actually meet us, and we can actually meet you! Who knows how we might be able to inspire and cheer each other on to doing bigger and better things? But the biggest thing to remember is this, when we all took our first step toward becoming filmmakers or writers or artists or whatever, we had to sit down and do it, and getting your work on the internet is no different. Even if you aren't the most tech savvy person of all time and for you using email seems as complicated as calculating the max air velocity of an African Swallow, I garauntee you've got some buddies or family that can give you a lesson or two, or maybe even help you get started.
This web site's been up for a few years now, mostly due to Russell's hard work, but also thanks to some of our friends like Justin Durban out in LA, and let me tell you from experience, if it weren't for the site, nobody would even know we existed! And maybe we aren't where we'd like to be yet, but I can't explain to you how cool it is to know that other people from other places see what we're doing...and like it! Its like an added boost of energy that keeps us striving to make better and better stuff. So don't waste any more time with me...get you're own web site up and running, get your own blog going, drop me a comment to let me know where you are on the web so I can check it out...don't wait for success to come and find you, you have to get out there and find it for yourself and the internet is my far and away the best way to start looking.
posted by Twenty One Productions at 11:21 PM
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