"The Isolation Diaries" 🎬 Cinema Screening

Documentary Preview, Q&A & Drinks Next Weekend!

Dear friends,

I went crazy.

I booked a cinema to do a test screening of “The Isolation Diaries.”

Before I had finished the film.

Saturday 16th of December at 8.20 pm

Il Kino in Berlin

Now, the stress of promoting it and completing it begins!

On a serious note, I am nearly there.

The third edit is done.

Tonight, I start the grade.

Why, though, did I book the cinema before completion?

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6 DRIVERS OF CREATIVE MOMENTUM

i. PUT YOURSELF ON THE LINE

Sometimes, you have to put yourself on the line to get stuff made. As an independent artist, you will always have something getting in the way. Life, clients, pressures. Where do you draw the line? For me, a tactic I’ve used for ten years is to put a date in the diary. Irrespective of the fates or the fears. You have a strength in you way beyond what you experience every day. Making yourself accountable to your dreams is how you capture them and turn them into reality.

ii. DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT

Tina Fey said about Saturday Night Live, “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s 11:30 pm.” With my film, I realised I was encountering so many obstacles. The project had become too massive. I felt the weight of doing it on my own. For that matter, why the hell was I making a documentary in a Snapchat world? Then, one day, I realised it was time. Let’s complete this. Done is better than perfect.

iii. WHAT IS FAILURE?

It is the easiest thing in life not to act because of the fear of failure. I booked the film for the busiest weekend of the year with a 10-day warning. Maybe no one turns up. I nearly didn’t book it at all. I didn’t need to end my year feeling that I’d failed somehow. But then I asked myself, what’s the worst? The worst is that I get the film made and watch it alone with a glass of wine in a beautiful cinema. I will learn if it is finished. Often, when we think about failure, we only think about appearance. How will the world think of us? It’s the wrong metric. It is the courage to fail which moves our lives forward. Success evolves through iteration. Get in the game. Let it teach you. Rise through the act of being in life. Fail more.

iv. THE POWER OF ITERATION

A great lesson learned from guests on my podcast is to stop thinking of a “product” as a static entity. Instead, make a deadline and stick to it. You learn what is missing by putting it on the playing field. Coming from the arts, where it's easy to obsess over perfection, this is a liberating perspective. I’m adopting it. Having booked a cinema, I’m even considering an early online release. What if the purpose of this film isn’t to be perfect but to inspire people for their lives in 2024? Sometimes, we must reframe our attachment to perfection for a deeper potential. Stop hoarding what someone might need. Give your gift.

v. OVERCOMING EXCUSES

Parkinson’s Law states, “Work expands to fill the time available for completion.” There will never be enough time. For me, the decision to screen is to wage a war with a) my own resistance and b) my own excuses.

vi. COMPLETE IT AND LET GO

The path to moving forward is not through hoarding. It ties us to the past. Ultimately, we have to consider our work as a gift. It wants to go somewhere. Its dream is to arrive with the audience who most needs it. It’s time for me to stop standing in my way. It is time to let go.

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I’m wishing you all a wonderful weekend, am looking forward to catching up with whoever can make it next Saturday!

Jim

Thank you to my great friend Lucas Dietrich for the artwork - and for always being there!

p.s right, back to it!