Chasing Your Dream vs. Enjoying What You've Got

I've been thinking about cliched wisdom that is commonly referenced in our culture.  Sometimes I'll have an epiphany and realize that there's a common phrase that has been tossed around forever that describes exactly what I just discovered.  For example, you go out and try to impress someone, make an ass of yourself, and then on the car ride home say "just be yourself".  I've heard that since I was four!  It's strange when you finally discover the wisdom behind a common phrase you've heard all your life.

However, on the other hand, I think some bits of wisdom are tossed around as infallible, when in fact, they are.  The ones I've pondered about recently are those phrases that encourage all of us to keep trying to achieve our wildest dreams.  "Chase your dream", "go for it", "give 100%", and many more are commonly thrown around, encouraging us to "be all we can be".

My problem with that wisdom is that if you take it without thinking, you miss the trade-offs that you accept by giving maximum effort to chase a dream.  Sure, if you're using it to motivate yourself to get out of a semi-comatose haze on the couch, that's great.  However, if laziness isn't the problem, and you're choosing between working your ass off chasing a dream versus doing other rewarding activities, then the common wisdom can be misleading.

Enough of the general chatter, let me get specific.  Over the last decade or so, I've chosen to work a lot more than I have to in order to try and realize a dream of mine.  That dream is to create something (that something has changed many times), and in the process, become my own boss and have the freedom to pursue a lot of my crazier notions that are difficult to accomplish with a normal job.  These include living various places around the globe, visiting friends and family without limitation, having time to master hobbies, etc.

From a lifestyle perspective, my dream is to work on specific length projects rather than continuously.  I don't mind burning the candle at both ends to accomplish a goal, but I'd like some indefinite leave at the end of the rainbow.

When I was younger, my belief was that I could accomplish these dreams while also enjoying all of life's fruits along the way.  Unfortunately, that's just not possible.  Simply put, all those hours you're busting hump you could be enjoying yourself.  I felt I could become more efficient and squeeze more in.  At some point, you squeeze things out.  That became crystal clear after working on a previous film project and missing several oft-discussed camping trips with my friends.

Why do it?  Is it better to chase the dream or to bear life's necessary work and focus on enjoying your free time?

This is a central theme in "Standards of Ethical Conduct".  Heff is tirelessly working while watching his roommate Binger endlessly recreate and ignore conventional wisdom, causing Heff to question his own choices.

I don't have an answer, but I thought it would be interesting to see both points of view.  I'll give mine, which will tell the dream-chaser side.  I've recruited Rob, one of my closest friends, and the best person I know to talk about working only enough to pay for his various hobbies and travels.  He'll tell the other side of the story, the one of a person who maximizes his daily enjoyment at the expense of any wild dreams.

It's not a stretch to say that I've often looked over the fence at Rob's lifestyle and wondered if I'm making the right choices.  I'm anxious to find out how the view looks from his backyard.  Check back Thursday for Rob's post.


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I posted some production stills from "Standards of Ethical Conduct" on the Facebook Fan page.  Take a ride back to 2005 and see what I look like with hair.  Below is Jason Coviello showing off his vertical.  He goes on to dunk this.

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Indie Marketing at SXSW

SXSW is held in Austin, TX, and combines a film festival, interactive festival (technology, gaming, etc) and a huge music festival (1400+ bands).  This was my second time attending, and the show seems to grow exponentially.  The marketing tricks grow at the same rate, with bigger and more extravagant ploys to get the attention of the thirty thousand or so attendees. 

The gambits range from fleets of cars covered with logos (this year was "Kick Ass" the movie), to marching bands beating their drums, to graphics being projected on the side of buildings.  Add to that hundreds of folks giving out rides in their bike carts, energy bars, green tea and more. 

How can a little indie movie like "Standards of Ethical Conduct" stand out among all the noise? 

I've always liked more subtle marketing campaigns, ones that reward the curious among us.  So I left the following email among stray papers on lunch tables, food carts and crumpled in the corner of couches.

Here are some of my drops.

The question is, did anyone find these?  Leave a comment if you did.

For those pranksters, feel free to download the doc and modify it to your heart's content.  I know a couple folks who will probably push it much further than I did.  Please share your stories.

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Get your popcorn ready, it's movie time!

The wait is finally over. Click below to watch the full movie. If you're feeling randy, leave a comment and/or rating on YouTube.

The FCT Corporate Store is also open for business starting today.

That means you can have your very own copy of the movie, with the following special features: 

• Deleted scene - Ok, I deleted several scenes from the movie, so why is only one on the DVD?  Well, most of them weren't very good, so I didn't see the point in making you sit through the agony of watching them. However, one deleted scene was really good, but just didn't fit into the storyline after I made some script changes. You get to see Tab Chester and Franklin trying to solve an army captain's (played by the BLF) power issue on the ground in Iraq. Nothing is better than watching a couple of incompetent corporate dweebs stumble over each other when faced with a real problem. Plus any scene with a synergy line is always worthwhile.

• Goof video - This video gives you a behind the scenes look at the reality of a cash-strapped indie production.  Be prepared to see a lot of Chuck Roy. 

• Director interview - What you've been waiting for. You get to hear me blather on. Courtesy of The Signal on WYPR.

• Movie posters - All 6!

• Trailer

• And more!

If you're really getting into the moment, I'd suggest also picking up your own corporate dweeb t-shirt, in either pink or white.

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Meet Bill LeVasseur, aka Staff Sergeant Mothershead

You know Bill LeVasseur, you just don't know you know him. If you've seen "Standards of Ethical Conduct", you know Bill as Staff Sergeant Mothershead.



However, even if you haven't seen Standards of Ethical Conduct, you know Bill. I guarantee it. Remember these Coors ads?



If you somehow missed those, perhaps you've seen him sell Dish Network, or as a Dish customer, you've seen him help you with your remote.



Or, if you're a fan of Crash (the TV series), perhaps you saw Bill get his ass chewed by Dennis Hopper.



See, you recognize Bill now right?

I met Bill when I was a producer of "Spotless", where he played a cold-blooded hitman named Jackson Hash. When it came time to shoot Standards, he was one of the actors I had in mind, and he knocked out the role of Staff Sergeant Mothershead. And no, that's not some made-up character name, although it sounds like one. That's the real name of the guy that let us borrow his uniform for the movie. Since you can see the name written on the uniform, we changed the character name to match. So there is a real Staff Sergeant Mothershead, and if he is out there, thank you for the uniform!

It makes me wonder though, since our last names are mostly related to what our ancestors did. You know, a blacksmith become Smith or the guy who ran the grain mill became Miller. Let's hope that "Mothershead" wasn't earned in the same way. Anyway, I digress.

Since we had much of the same crew on Standards as we did on Spotless, Bill was familiar to all, which gave us some entertaining moments on set. Boom operators are often the target of on-set hijinks, as they wear headphones attached to their boom mic with the volume turned way up so that they can pick up any sound that might ruin a take. So you might abruptly talk real loud or make a fake hissing sound to mess with them. Or, some folks just like to tap on their mic to piss them off. In this clip, the foul mouthed boom operator is played by Patrick Hackett.




You can read more about Bill at his website, billlevasseur.com, check out his profile at IMDB, and see him as host of the Vail Film Festival.

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“Standards of Ethical Conduct” to Premiere Online, Worker Productivity Predicted to Fall

Arlington, VA – (March 5, 2010) – The highly acclaimed office comedy, “Standards of Ethical Conduct”, will make its online debut on March 11th, 2010.

Office managers around the country are embracing for the predicted fall in worker productivity as cube-toilers watch the film in full resolution, for free, while pretending to do work.

“Standards of Ethical Conduct” made its theatrical debut in 2009, in Baltimore and Denver, to rave reviews:

“disarmingly sweet and funny” and “a refreshingly piss take on office culture”
- Bret McCabe, Arts Editor, City Paper

"It's a tightly scripted and well acted exploration of the absurdities of the corporate world..."
- Lisa Morgan, Co-Host of "The Signal" on National Public Radio

“this comical and tightly woven office film has universal appeal”
- 5280 Magazine

In “Standards of Ethical Conduct”, a 45-minute office comedy, filmmaker Roman Hardgrave presents the story of Heff, a cubicle-dweller who finds himself in conflict with his company's nightmarish Standards of Ethical Conduct after an unfortunate incident at the annual company Halloween party. “Last Comic Standing” semi-finalist Chuck Roy co-stars as Heff's stoner roommate, a man pursuing a very different sort of American Dream.

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