I am burning myself out. I am working on the feature length script for ACCIDENTAL ART. I’m promoting FRAMELINES, the 30 minute TV series I just finished yesterday. I’m working on the LOOK AT MY SHORTS TV and getting that pilot episode ready. I’m about to shoot a couple small shorts. I’m hustling to get some more paid work in the door. I still get some freelance work, usually all at the same time or it is a drought. All together, this makes for a singed and strangely happier Rossman.
I guess I want to describe some of my motives behind the TV shows. FRAMELINES is yet another one of my philanthropic ideas. I want to help legitimize the filmmaking movement that myself and my peers are involved in. Getting a widely viewed and accessible magazine style TV show on PBS all over our state felt like a good way to do that. Making a TV show that features human interest stories and Mickey Mouse explanations about the basics is one way to get our work known to people who otherwise not ever take what we do seriously. Somehow, being on TV makes it “real”. This show is not about me, but about all the great stories and ways in which people make movies. So far, I’m really happy with the show as its progressing. I love when you can exceed your own expectations.
Then there’s the educational aspect. The filmmaking tips and basic instructional elements are something that has been important to me for years. Gaining a public forum to put these out there on broadcast television in an easily digested format seems like a perfect fit.
Overcoming personal differences to interview someone objectively because they are doing good work, even though they might have acted like a 3rd grader and called me names behind my back, or to ask for a short film from a moronic ass because it’s still a good movie, these are all obstacles. I guess I’ll have to be the bigger man and just try to do good work and not worry about the rest. I’m far more interested in the big picture. I believe in success without competition, as in a win for everyone, not just me.
A backlog of used books in my queue
There is no outlet or wide audience for a lot of the short films, so a short film compilation TV series makes sense to me. Even with Public Access 8 years ago, it was a way of reaching thousands of people with your work. Doing yet another variation of that idea today, I’m going to try to reach as many viewers as possible with a multi-state show that really gets people to see the short form movies. The crux here resides in trying a more radical idea in a more conservative format. I predict I’ll have to actually edit two completely different forms of the show, one more conservative, and another more hip and aimed at the key demographic of 18-34 year olds.
Like I said before, sometimes the Muse comes in and I can straddle her and make her my bitch. When she comes, I make the most of it. None of the petty politics or idiotic things people say or do matter when you can create something that lasts forever. All the nonsense, and even the irrelevant people will be forgotten, but the work will be there until the end of time.
