New Years Resolutions...

Well, it’s a new year and that means making new years resolutions. I am usually against making resolutions because they tend to be somewhat meaningless and you tend to forget about them by the end of January. So I am instead setting some goals for myself that I am determined to actually do something about this year.

To start, yes, I am going to set the goal that 95% of Americans probably did on January 1st, I would like to eat healthier and lose some weight. There is more that goes along with this because my knee is still screwed up so I am also setting a goal to do more physical therapy on my knee to make it better so that I can work out more.

My next goal is to try to read more. I used to love reading and would do it all the time. Over the last couple years my reading has really dropped off and I want to get back into it. I have a huge stack of books that I am determined to get through by the end of the year, and if I read more than that stack, great.

My last goal is a big one and will take some explanation: I want to more actively pursue my dreams. I know, that sounds vague, ambitious and pretty much everybody says this. I do have steps that I am going to take this year to try to accomplish this.

To start, what is my dream? Many of you know this, some may have figured it out, but my goal is to make movies. All of my life I have had a passion for movies and it has only grown. It has gone from watching movies, to discussing them to writing about them and finally in 2010 I realized that I want desperately to actually be apart of them. I have zero interest in acting so I’m talking behind the scenes type stuff. I don’t know what specifically yet but I figure that will come with time.

I am going to apply and hopefully go to film school this year. I am currently looking at the Vancouver Film School in Canada as the number one place I want to go. I love Colorado and I never thought I’d leave but the more I have thought about finally doing this, the more I realized that I can’t stay in Colorado if I want to make movies. I don’t have a story to tell now but if inspiration hits, I have a strong feeling I’ll be making my movie in Colorado.

I have a couple of people that have inspired me to finally actively pursue this goal. One of the main influences would have to be my brother, Adam. A couple years ago, Adam realized that there was a career path that he wanted to take and he quickly started to seek out opportunities in that career. A little while back he even moved out to California and started making a name for himself out there. Now he is playing Superman, a role he has always admired and I couldn’t be more proud of him for all that he has accomplished and for the fact that he sought out his dream and is now living it. He gets to fly all over the world and meet interesting people and do great things. I also greatly appreciate my brother because he has encouraged me to pursue my dream of making movies more than anyone else, so much so that he got me a camcorder for Christmas saying “If you’re going to make movies, you’ve got to start somewhere.” Thank you, Adam.

The other major influence in this decision is writer/director Kevin Smith. The first time I saw Dogma over ten years ago, I knew that this man wrote great movies and I quickly sought out the rest of his movies and would go see any of his movies as soon as they came out. Then a couple years ago, I started to listen to the audio commentaries on the DVDs and that is when in inspiration hit. I started looking up everything this man has ever done, the books that he wrote, his blog, his weekly podcast called SModcast, everything. What fascinated me the most was his story about how he made Clerks. Through a series of events, Kevin Smith one day decided that he wanted to make movies. So he enrolled in film school in Vancouver, where he met his best friend and producer on most of his films, Scott Mosier. He dropped out after only a couple months and decided to write Clerks. Then he took a huge gamble and racked up $27,000 of debt, got his friends together and made his movie. Thankfully, that movie got picked up, went to Sundance and was distributed by Miramax.

Kevin Smith had a dream and then decided to live boldly and take chances in order to make that dream come true. Now he gets to do what he loves for a living, has the extensive Smodcast Podcast Network, he opened the world’s first podcasting theater SModcastle and is changing the way movies are made, advertised and released with his latest movie Red State. On twitter he inspires me in a new way almost everyday with his “SMonologues” where he encourages people to pursue their dream, lose weight or better their life in anyway. One of his latest posts about Buellerism is a discussion I have had with my friends in the past and is how I want to live my life in 2011.

Kevin Smith’s Red State of the Union Q&A’s podcast really solidified the fact that I want to make movies for a living, especially #5 when he talked to the Assistant Director of Red State, Adam Druxman. If you like movies, I strongly recommend listening to these podcasts. They are available for FREE at SModcast.com and on iTunes.

I want to make it perfectly clear, I am in no way comparing myself to Kevin Smith and I am in no way claiming that I could be the next Kevin Smith. If I could be half the filmmaker that he is, I would be extremely pleased with myself. I feel as though I am getting a somewhat late start on this as I am 24, but I feel that it’s better late than never. This is officially the beginning of phase two of my life and I really hope it works out.

Update:
More inspiration from Kevin Smith hit last night, January 23, 2011, when he and Jon Gordon screened his new movie Red State at Sundance. After, Kevin Smith got on stage and gave a speech about how Hollywood has changed and how the current way to release movies is ridiculous. His solution, self distribution. Kevin Smith and Jon Gordon, calling themselves The Harvey Boys, have decided to start their own distribution where, using new media, they won't spend any money on advertising. It is incredible, these two are reviving and reinventing independent film, right as I'm getting ready to enter it. I couldn't be more excited about what is to come.

To quote Kevin Smith “If you chose to work doing something you love, you will never work a day in your life.”

I would just like to say thank you one more time to my wife, my family, my friends and everyone who is supporting me in this decision.