I’m collapsed on my friend’s sofa watching Moana with Autumn, his two-year-old daughter. Not a big deal, but Matt is outside in the field shooting a new web series with my daughter, Laurel. Matt and I joined the same Writer’s Cooperative a couple of years ago. Last fall, during an abysmal book-selling event, he let slip that much as he enjoyed writing books, he’d really love to film a web series some day.
Aha! The wheels practically clanked as they turned in my head.
“You need to meet my daughter!” I told him. Laurel has several original scripts that are ready to go and she’d been looking for a creative, tech savvy person to partner up with.
“Sure, why not,” he agreed.
I felt that rush of adrenalin – the one I get when this one connects to that one and together they move towards that really cool idea.
After an introduction at a farmer’s market followed by frozen yogurt, they got started – a tentative game plan, crazy stress, paperwork and fundraising…and eight months later they are filming. A couple of dreams on the road to reality.
The devil is always in the details, and the two of them slogged through a swamp of them. The first huge hurdle was to raise money for equipment and actors. Through a kickstarter campaign they texted, emailed, tweeted and facebooked their excitement. Their community gave them the start up financial boost – family, friends, co-workers, old roommates, high school friends – a web of connections and alliances literally winding back through their entire lives. Another writer friend of ours, Toni, helped me man the auditions table. Days and days of cooking together. Laughing hysterically when we looked for monster masks for the production. Her granddaughter who had been casting around for an interest after high school was added to the production staff and she loves it.
The point, (other than we are having a blast)? The big events of our lives (or at least my life) are the result of connections. Remember the old joke of, I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy…? That’s the real deal. I even had a friend suggest a shooting location because her friend’s niece was dating the son of the owner. No matter how big the city, we build a lot of villages.
Lives intertwine, spread out in webs and lines and trails, all connecting each to each. Six degrees from Kevin Bacon.
The world out there may be thrashing about in aggression and disunity, but beneath the waves of discord lie the unbreakable strings that people forge between each other. Large histories ravage civilizations. Small histories weave lives together.
So, come hang out and watch Moana with me and Autumn; get to know the friends of our friends. You have an idea? We know people.
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