Creating 2015—Day 4: By Any Other Name

My documentary film, High School 911, is finished!  But not done.  It is smack dab in the middle of this paradox I find myself.  You see, at this point, the film is considered creatively complete.  The cut is locked, music scored, and post-production finished and we are submitting it to film festivals.  Why isn’t it done then, you might ask?  Well, I was discussing that very question with my director last night in a relaxing hot Epsom salts bath.  (Yes, I said it.  I’m sleeping with my director, AKA Uh-making Romantic Partner.)

“We have to get back to tying up the loose ends of the paperwork on the film,” he says with a groan.  I groan back.  We have been so focused on the creative work for the film—which is the fun stuff—we kicked the business side of the work to the curb.  It’s not a lot, but it’s not fun either.  Thus, we put it off.  Having our paperwork in order, legal signed off for Errors and Omissions insurance, and all “I’s” dotted and “T”s crossed is not an option, it is a necessary evil to actually distribute the film to an audience.  And the ultimate dream is for the film to reach as wide an audience as possible!

A rose by any other name…

A dreaded task by any other name would smell as shitty.  Or would it?

I’m not sure if it is the cleansing salts or the calming lavender wafting from the infuser or the hot water that gives me the idea but I have an epiphany in the tub.  “We need to rename it!”  “Rename what?”  Uh-mazing Romantic Partner asks.  I explain, “We have to rebrand the work!  Give it a new name so we shift our thinking about what we have to get done so we actually do it.”  Instead of the negative feeling, groan inducing language of, “we have no choice but to FINISH all this crappy, mind-numbing WORK, ugh this sucks,” deep sigh…we change it to the sexy and light and expansive and thrilling, “we are taking the final exciting steps to PREPARE our creative masterpiece to LAUNCH into the world!”  We smile.   “Prepare to launch” instead of “work to finish?”  We can do that.  In fact, we want to do that!  We agree to begin “taking the final exciting steps to prepare our creative masterpiece to be launched out into the world” this morning.  We meet in the editing bay at 9am.

A new name is a new beginning.  It shifts energy.  It shifts thinking.  It shifts feelings.  It’s refreshing and different and novel, and, well, motivating! And motivation is what it’s all about.  Without motivation, of one kind or another, nothing gets done.  And you know what, the new name worked!  I’m motivated and excited to prepare to launch.  What a difference a new name makes.

Until tomorrow, create from what you have…a new name.

Kelli Joan Bennett is a filmmaker, actress, writer, entrepreneur, advocate for creative thinking and Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Think Outside The Box Inside The Box Media.

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