Project: Overnight Success – Webisode 1 – “The Vision” from Dane Christensen on Vimeo.

I’m getting really excited about the release of Webisode 1! We are wrapping up the editing now and should be releasing on Wednesday, 1/17. We’re a half week behind our release schedule, but I think we can make that up.

Meanwhile, we’ve been working away at the multimedia pieces for Webisode 2 and I think it is going to be really great! I think people will start to get what the project is about after they see these two webisodes.

Stay Tuned!

Well, looks like the release of Project: Overnight Success – Webisode 1 will be delayed a few more days. We discovered a problem in the shots in the final editing phase, and we just can’t edit around it. So now we’re looking at early next week. Oh, well. I’m not that upset. It’s not like people are out there anticipating the launch or anything. It’s kinda nice not to have the pressure.

So we’ll launch Webisode 1 early next week and Webisode 2 next weekend. It’ll be great!

We made great progress in the last week. The Kickoff Party on 11/16/11 was very productive and we now have pretty close to the crew we need on board. We’ve decided on doing a series of webisodes starting in December, and I’ve already written the script for the first one. We’ll be fleshing out the stories for subsequent webisodes in the days ahead as well as doing pre-production for webisode 1.

It’s Official! Project: Overnight Success is on! On 11/11/11 at 11:11am I announced the project to a resounding ‘thud’! Of all my Facebook ‘friends’ and LinkedIn contacts, I got a total of one comment and one Like. Ouch!

But it’s all good. That is appropriate because it underscores the fact that I am starting out from ground zero. It’s onward and upward from here on out!

Stay tuned!

It’s On!

After posting an announcement Monday to the Emerging Artists San Jose Digital Filmmaking Meetup Group it’s been a flurry of email activity and suddenly I’m totally booked!

11/9 – Meeting with Tamara Gurbis and Adelaida Chumpitaz
11/10 – Meeting with Cheri Thomas to discuss social media strategy, attending Scary Cow pitch seminar.
11/11/11 – Official announcement. Multiple postings to Facebook, LinkedIn etc.
11/12 – My Girls. Yay!
11/13 – Pitching Project: Overnight Success at Scary Cow
11/14 – Meeting with Bari Boswell
11/16 – Kick-off Party in Cupertino

That’s just a few days away! And I just thought of the idea! This is insane!!

But hey, that’s the plan. But I’m obviously free forming this thing, so that could be subject to change.

Anyway, I still find it ironic that until I make my big announcement on 11/11/11 absolutely nobody is going to read this post. And I see it as a fait accompli.

Things are starting to happen. I attended a presentation for a group called Scary Cow in San Francisco last night. It seems I potentially have a built in crew through that organization for the price of $50/month—that is if I can convince people to join the project through a two-minute pitch. The group has people with all kinds of skills, directors, camera operators, editors, music, actors, etc. And people sign up to work for free on projects they like. So I’m going to sign up and work on my two-minute pitch (as well as rewriting the script) this weekend.

I also met with Sinohui Hinojosa of Emerging Artists Productions today which was really great. He’s got a wealth of knowledge and I hope I’ll be able to tap into that more as we move forward.

So far the reaction I’m getting from people is that they do think it’s an intriguing concept with real potential to work. I don’t think anyone is fully grasping the project as I see it yet, but what they are grasping is resonating.

One key concept that I’ve been thinking I need to communicate is this sense that I am like an iceberg with a vast, hidden world of ideas that no one knows about. On the surface I am really this unassuming character or doesn’t make waves and just kind of cruises along the edges of where the action is. But underneath, I am sitting atop this mountain of really significant ideas.

Or another analogy might be an oil field that has taken millions of years to form but that is about to be transformed into a gusher. These ideas have been developing and fermenting under pressure for decades. And we’re just about to tap them all at once.

The key change that has to take place is for me to determine to no longer be that humble and reserved guy who assumes everyone else thinks my ideas are boring and worthless. I have to own them and believe for myself that they are awesome! And then I have to sell them. I have to step into the limelight and say, “Hey Everybody! Look at Me! I have something to say and you should listen!”

Well, I’m taking those steps now. And I’m not turning back now. So here we go!