Getting Started

A lot of people wake up and go to jobs they don’t like knowing in order to get paid they have to go put in the time. The alarm goes off, they groan, and then they get up and start getting ready. Day after day. It's not a matter of motivation. At this point, it's sheer willpower. If they didn’t at least put one foot on the floor, they would stay in bed.  It’s easy for artists who are “waiting for their big break” to think they would bound out of bed every day if only they were heading to a job they love.

I thought the same thing but it’s not true!

I have found that motivation is an effect, not a cause. What we as artists love is when we get into a “flow” state. We are in rehearsal and the scene is flowing. We are in front of the camera and we lose ourselves. We sit to write a blog post and it feels as if the blog post writes itself. That’s what we artists are in love with and that's what we are talking about when we refer to our passion. People throw around the word passion easily.

“Oh it’s my passion!”

“Do what you love. Find your passion.”

“When you find your passion, it doesn’t feel like work.”

It’s easy to forget about the logistics that usually come with said passion. Before you can have a seamless rehearsal, you have to sit and learn lines. You have to fumble through awkward moments. Before having an amazing film shoot, actor’s have to be scheduled, equipment has to be bought or rented, lights have to be set.

All that said, some less passionate moments have to happen before getting to the good stuff. I have found that there are two ways to get through the less thrilling moments.

1. Get started! Just like the employee puts both feet on the floor and pushes themselves to the office, sometimes you just have to start. Momentum will catch up.

   1. Even with writing this blog post, I knew kind of what I wanted to say but had no idea where to start, so I just started writing. After ten minutes, I was in flow and the post just came out!  

2. Find team members whose passion lies in the things you find laborious.

   1. I love sculpting a great scene and watching magic happen on camera. It gets me excited about editing, which I find fascinating. Luckily, for most shoots, I have two great friends, Odin Redd and Brian Gustaveson who are a filmmaker and photographer respectively, who operate the cameras and help with lighting. I am then able to watch and create scenes without being hindered by apertures and light balances.

Getting started is the first step in any venture so if you have an idea, get started. RINGER$ began with Rebecca opening a bottle of Chardonnay and pitching me an idea. The next 15 months turned out to be a cycle of starts. Everything from social media updates to editing hours of footage begins with one step. Creators, step up!

ON YOUR MARK. GET SET.... GO!!!

Corner Office

As an actor, temping in countless offices in NYC, I've often wondered what it would be like to have the corner office.  What would it be like to be calling the shots?

Well, thanks to being totally smitten by the idea of RINGER$ when Rebecca pitched it to me, I am actually living this life.  I still remember the day that Rebecca and I decided to go into production and produce the pilot episode.

In the 6 or so weeks since then, this team of two actors has become:

• 2 Executive Producers
• Associate Producer/Composer/Sound Engineer
• Associate Producer/Cast Member
• Casting Director
• Line Producer
• PR Adviser
• A cast of about 15 actors
• Several additional crew members in the works

The greatest thing I've learned in the last week especially is that the great thing about having a team is that you are a PART of a team.  I naturally take 100 percent responsibility for anything I do.   This sounds noble, but the result is, I act like I have to do everything and that's the opposite!  My mentor and coach told me yesterday, "they're not there for you."  

I imagine that's what good CEOs do.  They see themselves as a part of the team.  That means trust in the efforts that each department is putting in. After teaming up with my friend in helping bring her idea to life, and subsequently forming Survival Job Media as the safe haven for her idea, I ended up seeing my real life survival job in a whole new light.  

Art imitating life imitating art....

Kris Morron - Composer / Associate Producer

Take a look below at Kris Morron's commentary on being Composer & Associate Producer of RINGER$ from his blog over at www.skinnykmusic.com

Pursuing the Dream

blog posts about making art and living the dream

12

Jan

RINGER$ and My New Title: Associate Producer

Happy New Year everyone!  The start of 2014 has been and continues to be filled with new opportunities; including a new blog page on skinnymusic.com.  I purposefully waited to start this blog after the Nightmare Before Christmas production so that I would have some interesting insights to share with you.  Little did I know that in addition to my wonderful experiences producing that show that I would have another exciting venture to share with you.

At some point I will sit down and really write about my experiences producing the 20thAnniversary Nightmare Before Christmas show.  Until then, let me take a moment to say that if you have an idea that you think others would really enjoy or that would be worthwhile to pursue, you absolutely need to go through with making that idea a reality. I will write more about this later, but I can tell you that working through the NBC project was an incredible experience that has made me more confident and has opened many new doors.  To that point, let me tell you a little about RINGER$.

My dear friend Rebecca Barko was in Lakewood visiting this summer and during our yearly catch-up conversation, I was talking about my Nightmare project and she told me about an idea she had for a television show.  As she was describing the concept and telling me about how she was frustrated by not getting the acting work she wanted, all I could think was, “She has to do this!”  At the time I was knee deep in production on NBC and preparing to do the Kickstarter and I was filled with an anything is possible attitude that I was very anxious to share with others. 

Jump ahead to November and I get a message from Becky that the screenplay forRINGER$ was written and she would like me to write some music for the pilot.  I was very excited to hear this news!  Becky and her producing partner, Cornelius were doing it!  I was anxious to get to work on a theme song for the show, so I asked for a copy of the screenplay, read it and got to work. 

Let me step aside from this story for a moment and tell you that one of the main purposes of the NBC project was to see how people and businesses in Cleveland could collaborate to make something special and entertaining.  I believe artists must have a clear vision of what they hope to accomplish with their projects, but I also believe they can benefit from being open to advice and input from others.  I have read many books and done a lot of research into the entertainment industry and into the creative process of artists and one of the most interesting and beneficial lessons I have learned is that many (maybe even most) pieces of art are the result of great collaborations.  Whether it’s a painter who shows an almost completed piece to another artist to get some feedback, or two or more song writers working together to produce a hit song, or a film director who puts together a team to help make the vision in his or her head a reality, collaboration often seems to be the key to great art. 

Back to RINGER$, after reading the screenplay I had some ideas I wanted to share with Becky and Cornelius.  Now, artists are very protective of their work and often are offended when others make suggestions about it; after all, how could our work not be perfect?  It’s our vision and it’s brilliant!  Time and time again I have found the insight of others to be very beneficial.  Sometimes I take their suggestion and sometimes I don’t, but undoubtedly their perception and perspective of my work spurs more creative thinking (once I calm down my bruised ego).  It is with this in mind that I approached Becky and Cornelius with a few suggestions.  I basically said, “Here is what I love about your screenplay and here are a few things I think you could do to make it more effective.  I will not be offended if you think my ideas are crap, but maybe you will find them helpful.  Either way, here they are.  Do with them as you please.”  It is at this point that I began to realize that this was a project I wanted to be a part of, beyond just writing the music (did I mention I am super stoked to be writing music for a television show? It’s only my dream job to write music for television and movies!). 

Ends up, both Becky and Cornelius liked a few of my suggestions and they started asking more questions about the show and the upcoming crowd funding campaign they were working on.  As I spoke with them more (Becky and her husband, Jeff came to Cleveland at the end of December and we had a delightful business meeting over margaritas at El Carnicero, one of my favorite restaurants in Cleveland) I was sold on their vision and I wanted to use my experiences producing the Nightmare Before Christmas event to help make their project a success.  After a particularly productive brainstorming session in the shower (what is it about showers that help me come up with ideas?), I reached out to Becky and Cornelius and asked if they would consider having me as a part of the production team.  They enthusiastically accepted and now I am an Associate Producer! I could not be more excited to help bring this show to life!

So, here we are!  The Indigogo campaign is underway (during the month of January), I am going to New York City in February to be a part of the filming, and I will be writing music for the show once it’s edited.  The online debut of the show will be March 4th.  I will be writing more about my experiences working on the show in this blog in hopes that the experiences I have and the insight I gain will be helpful and maybe even inspiring to you as you pursue your own dreams.  In the meantime, if you would like to supportRINGER$, please visit the Indigogo page and consider making a pledge.  Also check out the RINGER$ webpage for information about the production team and the show. 

Here’s to living life and grabbing ahold of opportunities when they come your way.  As Gary Ciepluch, one of my mentors, said to me recently, “Life is too short.  You don’t pass up opportunities like [this].  You have to do it.”  All in and all aboard!  Here we go!!

CASTING

Well things are chugging along at RINGER$ headquarters.  The past four days have brought a lot of development.

Friday afternoon, I had a meeting with our PR consultant and discussed some ideas regarding the social media aspect of production.  Social media is definitely a more powerful tool than I realized.

Friday night we launched our Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaign.  Over the last few months, there have been several highlights to this project.  Receiving our copyright approval WGA registration was one.  This was another.  Nothing is more real than sharing something and giving people the chance to have a stake in it's success.  In our first two days, we were already a third of our way to our goal!  Nothing is more motivating than knowing there are people out there on your side who have taken action towards your pursuit becoming a reality.

Tomorrow will mark another pinnacle moment for this new executive producer.  We finalized our casting notice and it will go live on actorsaccess.com tomorrow.  Now these characters who have lived on a page will start to come alive as we see the possibilities come flowing in! 

As an actor, I've had a love/hate relationship with auditioning.  You have to find the love in it, because it's how you get work.  I also hate it because even if you have been sent the entire script and you have read the sides front and back, you still don't know what the folks "behind the table" want.  I have directed and choreographed a few shows over the years, so I've experienced the other side of the game. Releasing this casting notice and the upcoming auditions in two weeks are especially exciting for me.  This will be the first time I get to hear people read and embrace my words and bring them to life.  This show is mostly actors in their 40s and up, so I'm also excited to see what they bring to it.  Comedy over 60?....yes please!