We’re into the third month of this simple and small movement. A movement that I am seeing deeper value in every day I continue. For any and all of you who don’t know, #thisiscrazylove2016 is the idea of my friend Tyler Merritt. Looking at the anti-social behavior exhibited on social media he decided to challenge his friends to share love to a different person each day for an entire year in their status updates on Facebook.
Go to their site. Support them with joining up. It's free and you'll find all kinds of creative talent working on lotsa stuff.
I’m not one for long and drawn out status updates. Perhaps that’s the appeal to Twitter for me. That said, I wanted to join the other friends of Tyler and write positive words about the people I love.
Since he was in the news today I'm going to take the words of Mitt Romney, change them a little bit and let them serve my purpose for today’s post. A [company] is people.
This #thisiscrazylove2016 goes to the company Seed and Spark. Who in the world is that you ask? It’s a crowdsourcing/distribution company that helps film makers in all aspects to go from a “chasing your dream” mentality to a “make your dreams a reality.”
I found Seed and Spark last year through a Skype interview I was doing with someone in Australia of all places. The company I was working with at the time was looking to do a documentary on a global scale and I was interviewing people around the world who all suffered from the same illness. That documentary never found any traction for development but all was not lost because I found Seed and Spark.
Most of my friends know I have been working for the last year to complete a documentary about a dear friend and teacher of mine who, after getting grim news from his doctors, decided to move back to Thailand to live out his days. It’s a very personal story for me. Along with a production company in Nashville we took to the internet to crowd fund our production.
Based on everything I’ve learned the last year reading the blogs and posts of Seed and Spark, we did everything wrong. And yet, because this man meant so much to so many people around the world we were able to raise the funds to shoot the documentary.
Now, a year later, with a very rough edit done we’ve exhausted our funds. So, after a great deal of research and consideration we are going to submit our work to Seed and Spark for review to see if we can get the last leg of this journey funded and see our movie become a reality.
At this point it could be seen as pandering to a company by mentioning them in a blog post before I submit my request. And with the world being what it is, I can totally relate to that cynicism. However, it is absolutely not the case.
What I find in the people that run this organization is a group dedicated to helping the artist go after what they are trying to do. They have been, for several years now, working to make the whole experience of getting work done so that it can entertain, inform and challenge audiences easier and more efficient. The nebulous ins and outs of getting a movie made and seen is being thwarted by Seed and Spark and for that I applaud them.
The questions of a guy in Nashville, TN on how to break through the beast that is the entertainment industry have been answered. I’ve followed their conversations on Twitter, watched all their tutorials and read their site through and through.
So, today’s #thisiscrazylove2016 goes to Seed and Spark. If you do nothing else today, go to their site. I know, the world seems to be falling apart. There are news stories every five minutes running through your social feeds that cause you to gasp and think it is all over. I get it. So, instead of dwelling on the negative, take a second to celebrate the creativity of humanity. Go to Seed and Spark and follow a few of the amazing projects that are being made right now around the world. Whether our documentary gets accepted as part of their campaign or not they are doing great work and it should be applauded and noticed.
Have a great day but more importantly, have a creative day.
Stuart