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....

Connecting the dots....

by Rebecca

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path; and that will make all the difference.”

- Steve Jobs

This journey began as a vision in my head and has grown to encapsulate nearly every past facet of my life.  And for that, I am truly grateful. 

This first took shape with my fellow actor, and now business partner, Cornelius, who took a chance on this “RINGER$” idea and said “let’s do it!”.  The dots continued with screenwriting connections, from my next-door neighbor, to guide us after the pilot was written. 

While moving to that next step, we added another member to our RINGER$ production team, Kris, an old friend from my Bowling Green State University days, who supported the idea so much that he agreed to be our Composer as well as Sound Engineer and Associate Producer. 

From there, the dots began to snowball from the use of video equipment, to legal advice, illustrations, smoke machines, production company networking, church locations, priests portrayals, wardrobe support, not to mention the social media support as well as the tremendous financial offerings we have received so far.

The connection of these dots has been overwhelming and so oddly succinct that I cannot help but know that we are on the right track.  And I am beyond excited to share with all of you how the dots will come together in the future.

When The Going Gets Rough, The Rough Write TV Shows

Hey, everyone, skinnyk here!  The production team is running on all cylinders these days, doing our best to put together one excellent show for all of you.  If you haven’t noticed yet, we have been all over Facebook giving updates on the production, promoting the Indigogo campaign, and giving thanks to those of you who have been generous enough to pledge your support.  While spending a significant amount of time on the old “book-Face,” I happened across a great post written by Dan Waldschmidt titled, You Have to do the Hard Things.  In the post, Waldschmidt writes about things you need to be willing to do to find success in the pursuit of living your dreams. 

Here are a couple points that got me thinking:

·      You have to feel unsure and insecure when playing it safe seems smarter.

·      You have to try and fail and try again.

·      You have to keep moving towards where you want to be no matter what’s in front of you.

The whole list is really great, and I highly suggest you look it up.  In the meantime, let me take this opportunity to share with you why the three points above felt relevant, especially as we have been working on RINGER$. 

First of all, I’m kind of done with the whole playing it safe thing.  Truth be told, I’ve invested a lot of time, effort, and money in moving my career forward the last few years.  Heck, I don’t even have a bed; I sleep on my couch or a blow-up mattress in my two-bedroom apartment because I need one room for my lovely daughters and another for my music studio.  The safe route would have been to be happy with my paying gig and buy nice furnishings for my apartment and forget all those dreams of making it in the entertainment industry.  FORGET THAT!  While in many ways, living that life would be “easier,” it would also be a lie.  I am an artist, it’s who I am, and to deny that would be wrong.  Am I always confident that pursuing my dreams is the correct course of action?  No, but I gotta try!

Failures have been, and continue to be the best learning opportunities in my life.  I’m not one to dwell on mistakes; instead, I like to reflect on them and squeeze as much information out of them as possible.  This strategy has served me well and has helped prepare me for the projects I take on.  I’m sure there are a few mistakes to be made while working on RINGER$, but bring ‘em on! 

OK, the last point might be a little unhealthy for me in particular.  I always feel like I need to be moving forward in pursuit of my dreams.  So much so, that when I get even the slightest sense that life is stagnating, I kind of freak out.  But, you know what, you gotta keep at it.  We have to keep up with pursuing the dream.  No matter how tough it may seem or how improbable our success may be, we gotta do it because it’s who we are and it’s our dreams we’re talkin’ about here!

RINGER$ followers, this is the climate and the passion that runs through the production team.  We all love entertaining and our dream is to share our passion with you to make your life just a little bit brighter, or to make you think, or to help you deal with hardships in life.  RINGER$ is a humorous look at what it’s like to live a life where your dream is out there and you would do anything to reach it.  It’s also about the people you meet along the way and how they make the journey memorable.  We, Rebecca, Cornelius, and I are living this life and we want to share it with you.  Stay tuned, there’s much more to come!

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!!