It's been over two weeks since I got back from Threadfest in Nashville. I can finally sit down and write about because it feels as if the whole experience is winding down.
Yesterday was a big day. After much delay I uploaded the video I made of my talk in Nashville, called "Nashville and Narrative." I got way more positive response from it than I possibly could have imagined. Many people, including several big influencers of our group, approached me and all but demanded that I put up a version of my talk online, so they could share it with others.
I was blown away. I was just hoping that I wouldn't bore the audience. My talk was early on the first day so I had the rest of the conference to bask in the appreciation I was getting. It was a challenge to keep my ego in check. There were people at the conference who already "knew me" from Patrick reading my writings on Reading Epic Threads. It was strange for me, to be "famous" even in the tiniest sense. It gave me insight into what it must be like to be recognized by strangers, who express spontaneous appreciation for what you've done. After my talk, I was even more "famous" and every I went there were attendees who wanted to chat with me. As part of the speakers group, it was my job to interact with them. I had thought this would be difficult, a tax on my energy, but instead I found it refreshing and joyful.
Still, when the second full day was finally over, I went out into the atrium of the hotel and sat on the staircase. I could hear attendees nearby busy in a conversation about the conference. As I listened to them I felt like my fictional alter ego, Julian Marsh, at the end of 42nd Street,(1933) sitting on the fire escape listening to the theater goers exit the premiere, unaware that he is listening to them. It had been my intention to supply all the "theater" needed to make the conference feel like a "show." Together with a couple other experienced people who had the same idea, we managed to pull it off. Patrick adapted very naturally to being on stage in person. It felt like a 100% success rate. By the end of it everyone was looking forward to the next one, which is already scheduled for November 11-14 in Southlake, Texas, which is a suburb of Fort Worth.
It was actually Jessica (Ginger) and I who told Patrick that we were lobbying for "the most overlooked city in Texas---Fort Worth." In part it because of the Cowboy Channel, a media outlet that is based there, and also because it has a nicer downtown than Dallas. I started a whisper campaign for Fort Worth, and by the end of it, Patrick asked us, "what do you guys think about Fort Worth for the next one?" I didn't mention that we had been the ones to suggest it. Jessica told me that you know you have influence when other people start taking credit for your idea.
The big thing that happened yesterday, that finally let me relax, was the uploading of my recorded slide show video of my talk from the conference. It took quite a bit of effort to bring the live talk to a recorded version. The way I made my animated slides made it difficult to manipulate them while recording at the same time. So it took several solid days of recording in our "studio" (which is Ginger's closet with a Yeti microphone on a stand) to get all the material. Editing it together wasn't as hard as I thought.
So this marks the official debut of me as a content creator. This is my new thing. I'm going to embrace it. I've got a lot of ideas. I feel free.
In a lot of ways I was inspired by Brian Cates at the conference, who started on Twitter and now writes for Epoch Times. He was urging everyone who was inclined to become "the new media." Cates is a hard core old style reporter--putting together facts to tell the straight truth. It turns out that I'm more in the "Entertainment Corps" of this fight. I'm crawling out of the rubble to help create the new "Entertainment Ecology". All these years I've been writing a movie blog, about "narrative", and marveling at the history of the studio system. Now, in my own little way, I am becoming the studio. I didn't dream my first production was a feature-length video (83 minutes).
I was quite nervous launching this. I contacted all the folks who said they'd "signal boost" my channel when I went online. They came through. Patrick is going to use my video as his show on Saturday night. That means I'll reach a huge audience. I'm already working on my next project, which is my own "Netflix-style" series.
PS If you want to hear my sing, there's also a three and half minute video on my Rumble Channel. It was a parody piece I worked up for Threadfest, and I practiced it on stage in front of a few people, and got a great response, but there wasn't a great place to put it in the show. The show comes first! So I recorded it at home and uploaded it. I wanted to do this because I wanted in part to prove to myself that I can humiliate myself on stage and not let my ego get in the way. Probably my one and only piece like that.
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