“We cannot change the cards we’re dealt, just how we play the hand.”
- Randy Pausch
In any kind of endeavor that we take on independently, be that making movies, parenting, being novelists, performing music, etc. we must figure out the best plays for the hand we’re dealt, in order to get ours projects off of the ground.
It’s not uncommon to get the feeling that the deck of opportunity and achievement isn’t stacked in your favor, when you’re operating on a small budget. I understand this all too well, having had to play my court cards, essentially becoming a Jack of all Trades between the time it took writing the screenplay for a buddy drama to the day it played in a theater, and then using this movie to benefit the American Red Cross.
Among the multiple hats I wore and several industries I ventured into while bringing the concept of an Army Sergeant’s marriage proposal gone awry, to fruition include:
- Graphic designer, to produce the key art and other promotional materials including the movie poster, World Premiere flyers, raffle tickets, website headers, DVD cover and DVD packaging.
- Web designer, to create the website and online newsletters for “Abyss: The Greatest Proposal Ever.”
- Visual merchandising, to design and create the retail displays during my Red Cross fundraiser.
- Street vending, to sell tangible products during my fundraising initiative in support of the Red Cross.
- Magazine publishing, for the zine I made to introduce military veterans, small businesses and corporations to my work, in request for collaboration on the Red Cross initiative.
J is for JacksWhile this is just a start, it’s all I’ve gathered during the time of writing this blog post. As you can understand, none of these positions have anything to do with what I wanted when the journey for this particular project began, which was basically to write and direct a movie.
Now I look at it as a venture that helped me build on some skills I already had while also allowing me to develop some new ones.
So it was time well spent when I consider that I now have a nice little portfolio that can garner me some gigs if I need some extra work. That’s not too shabby, especially since there’s no telling when any of these “trades” will come in handy sometime in the future.
How often do YOU find yourself in the position of a Jack of all Trades?
If the world ended and communities were rebuilt based on the skills of their inhabitants, what is the one random thing YOU do really well?