Aaron Denius's Blog, page 6

Sony and "The Interview"

Well, today Sony decided to pull the plug on releasing “The Interview”. The controversial film about assassinating the leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un. 

Many people are saying that the terrorists won and that Sony should not have pulled the film. However, if the threat to attack American movie theaters were real, how could they willingly put people in danger? Regardless of where you stand on the removal of the movie from theaters, the truth is, it should have never come to this.

Now, I am a huge believer in the freedom of speech, but I also feel that people need to use their better judgement. My freedom allows me to walk into a kindergarten and tell all the kids that Santa isn’t real and they could go fuck themselves, but I don’t because I use my better judgement. Sony and the creators of the film “The Interview” should have done the same. 

Why make the film about the assassination of a real ruler, specifically one that is known to despise America. Would the movie have been less funny if they had used a fictional ruler and country? 

Imagine the outrage if an american studio had done a film about assassinating our current president. Now imagine if that film was made by a foreign country. You really think that Americans would just laugh it off?

By no means am I condoning or justifying the hack and the threats that have occurred because of this. I just think that someone somewhere along the road of producing this movie should have said, “You know what, maybe we shouldn’t stoke the flame with this. These cliche jokes will work with a fictitious dictator.” 

Finding Inspiration

One of the hardest things we artists tend to struggle with is finding inspiration. It’s what motivates us to create the art we love. It’s what engages out hearts into the work we do, turning our work into our passion. 

There are definitely times where I feel like I have been wandering a void with no inspiration to be found and my productivity falters. One way that I have always been able to find inspiration is by watching those who have succeeded and perfected their craft. This also includes immersing yourself in their work. Go to an Art Museum and look at the masterful and passionate perfection that the artist poured into his work. Find a new book and let yourself get lost in the story that the author stressed and cried over because of the personal aspects of his life that are woven into the story.

Or do what I do. Go to a concert! Last night I went to the second night of KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas.

This is an annual two day festival that features multiple bands each day. This year was the 25th year that the concert has happened, so they brought out an epic line up.

Vance Joy

Alt-J

Interpol

Modest Mouse

Imagine Dragons

Tears For Fears

Weezer

Smashing Pumpkins

No Doubt

This amazing line up took me through a journey of my life, dating back to middle school. Most importantly, it took me through a journey of my writing career, as I have written much of my work while listening to these amazing bands. 

Listening to each one last night and watching them all do what they love, got my creative blood boiling. I feel re-energized and most importantly, INSPIRED. 

So I encourage you artists who struggle with inspiration. Find that thing that you can always go back to. Watch people do and enjoy what they love. See, read and listen to the achievements of these artists. But also appreciate the struggle that each one of them had to go through to get there, because that is the same struggle we are going through to accomplish what we want and love. 

How do you know when you're an artist?

This is actually a tough question with an answer simpler than you think. It  was a topic requested of me, so I will do my best to do the question justice. 

So how do you know you are an artist? The answer: When you say you are. 

I know that seems like a lame answer, but it’s the truth. Living in Hollywood, I come across many people daily who say that they are “trying” to be an actor, or “wanting” to be a writer, or “hoping” to be a musician. These are not terms you find in any other field other than the arts. You might find people that say they are studying to become a doctor or a lawyer, but there is no hoping, wanting or trying. They know what they are going to be. 

With art it seems like people need some form of external validation to finally be able to say with confidence that “I am an artist”. Just because you don’t have a song on the radio, doesn’t mean you’re not a musician. Just because you have only done student and short films, doesn’t mean you’re not an actor.

You become these things when you say to yourself with 100% confidence, “I am an artist!” “I am a writer!” “I am a musician!” “I am an actor!” You get the point. Own up to it, because when you believe it of yourself, others will follow suit. Then that external validation you have been so desperately craving will come. 

We Don't Matter, That's Why We Matter

One of my biggest motivators in life has been realizing how insignificant we really are. 

If you look at life from the perspective of time: if we are lucky enough to live to be 100, we will have lived 0.000000007% of the time that has ever existed. Let alone the infinite amount of time that will exist after we die. 

If you look at life from the perspective of space: our little planet earth, well just watch this gif - 

And that just compares the sizes of celestial bodies. It doesn’t include the vastness of space. 

So in the grand scheme of things, we are not important. Which is why we are so important. Regardless of what your religious beliefs are, you have one conscious chance on this earth to be the best person you can be. That is why it is so important that you not waste your time on things that don’t make you happy. 

They say that the memory of a person will not live beyond their grandchildren. For the most part that is true. How much do you know about your great grandparents? Now however with the internet, everyone is leaving their footprint. so with due diligence, we could find a little about most every person alive today. But as more and more people leave their footprints, ours get lost in the mix.

Take walking on the beach for example, after a couple of hours, can you find the footprints you left? or have they all been covered by hundreds of other footprints?

This is why what you choose to do with your life is so important. Think back at the people throughout history that you know. They are the innovators, the artists, the inventors and thinkers. Sure there are a few sour apples that have transcended history, but the good outnumber the bad by an exponential amount. 

So if you have a dream, follow it. By that innovator, inventor or artist. Create good in the world so that you may extend your live an additional fraction of a percent. Be the next Buddha or Mother Teresa, The next Einstein or Marie Curie. The next Shakespeare or Picasso. After all, if the universe and time don’t care what you do; Do what you want!

You're Still An Artist

Recently I had an exchange with one of my Twitter followers about what make a person a writer. She did not believe herself a writer because she didn’t feel she was as good as the writers she looks up to. 

I told her that writing, just like any other art is subjective. You will never be as good as your idol because they are the ones you look up to. It is their measuring stick you constantly stand next to. However, if you stand alone, and measure your success and talent to your own stick, you can be as great if not better than your idol. 

With writing, music, painting, acting or any of the other art disciplines, the similarity between you and anyone else stops at the job description. Stephen King and I are both authors, but I will never be able to write how he does. That is because he is Stephen King, and I am who I am. He would likewise never be able to write like me.

Just because Van Gogh could not paint the way Salvador Dali did doesn’t make him any less of an artist. 

As far as I’m concerned, if you create work, you have the right to call yourself a writer, a musician, a painter, an actor, or whatever your heart desires. 

Adjustment Period

So these last couple of months have been pretty rough on the writing front. My production has dipped to a low that I haven seen in years. As frustrating as that is, I need to be patient.

I had just spent the previous 8 months immersed deeply in the world I created for my novel “Gene. Sys.” Every waking hour I spent thinking about this world and in my dreams I lived in the world. When the book was finally done, I felt like I was unceremoniously exiled from the world that I created. 

The following month after I had finished, I spent marketing and promoting my book. Something that I still continue to do and struggle to find that key element that will get my book over the top and into the hands of thousands. Either way, I told myself that the next project I was going to write was going to be another TV Pilot. I wanted a break from writing a book and I am, after all, still a TV writer. 

After some brainstorming sessions, I came up with a pilot idea that I love and feel is my most marketable to date. The only problem is that as I have been breaking the story and attempting to write the script, I find myself yearning for the world of “Gene. Sys.” Motivation has been hard to come by. I will sit down with the intention of writing for 3 or 4 hours and I’m lucky if I get a solid 20 minutes. So I know I need to be patient as my brain adjusts to a new world. The goal is to not let myself fall down the rabbit hole of procrastination. So I am doing my best to do productive things when I’m not writing.

This adjustment period better end soon though. I gave myself a deadline of January 31st to finish this pilot. 

Rebranding

Today marks the beginning. There are times in our lives where we have to take a step back and look at ourselves. Who are we? What do people see when you sell yourself to them? Regardless of what industry your career is in, you are a product that you are trying to sell to people. This is equally true for dating. 

So it is at these times of self reflection that you must look at how you are promoting yourself. Is it the best representation of who you are? a good example is when years ago I stopped telling people that I was “trying to be a writer” and started telling them that “I am a writer”. I took ownership of who I was. The measuring stick I started using was my own. I stopped comparing what I had or hadn’t accomplished to the accomplishments of others. After all, their goals are different than mine, so why would I want to walk the same path?

Sometimes though, rebranding is not something you can put words to. It’s a change in attitude. You can start making your own breaks, you can stop letting the word “No” hold you back. This is where my rebranding falls today. I have always been horrible at networking. I feel I am going to upset someone if I approach them to talk about what I do. In the entertainment industry though, it is a necessary evil. So my attitude change starts with accepting that I have something they want. I am a talented writer with plenty of experience. By my talking to them, I am giving them an opportunity to collaborate on something they would not have known otherwise.

So tonight, as I head out to two industry holiday parties, I am making it my goal to talk to and connect with as many people as I can. After all, I have something they want.

How will you rebrand? 

$0.99 Promotion

I wrote "Gene. Sys." to tell a young adult dystopian story from a different perspective - the time leading up to the apocalypse. We often read stories after the world has changed, but I wanted to tell the story as the world was changing.

So for the next week I am offering the kindle version of my book "Gene. Sys." for only $0.99!

Get it here: http://bit.ly/GeneSys

The most difficult part - Marketing

My book has been out two weeks and sales have been ok. A little lower than I expected. I realized though that I shouldn’t have been expecting anything. I’m a new author with a new book that few people knew I was writing. I did my best to spread the word while I was scratching the pen to the paper, but my focus was almost entirely on my book. Now that it’s done, my focus has been pulled towards marketing and I feel like an ant that’s been given the task to walk the Great Wall. Fuck.

Still, I have done everything I can think of to promote my book. I built my twitter following to nearly 50,000, I have sent nearly 200 emails to book bloggers, joined many sites, held giveaways, among other things. I have turned into a salesman and I’m not very good at it. I just need to get over that feeling that I am inconveniencing people by asking them to spend $4-$12 on my book. 

Fear. Fear is why I hesitate. It’s why I don’t put myself out there. The truth is that FEAR is just False Evidence Appearing Real. I create scenarios in my head that have no merit. So what if someone says no, if I don’t put myself out there, I will never reach the people that will say yes. So this ridiculous fear of inconveniencing people will have to go away, because I know that the product I am selling, my book, is great! They will enjoy it. 

As will you!

So get your copy here: http://bit.ly/GeneSys

It has been released!

After nearly a yearlong process, my book “Gene. Sys.” is now officially available for people to get and read! 

This still feels utterly surreal. I remember as a kid wanting to be an author, but I always thought of it as a ludicrous dream. One that even as I wrote for a TV show, I didn’t believe was possible. Sure, I started many books over the years, but none seemed to get passed the second chapter. That is until now. I decided that with the uncertainty of the Film and TV business, I should create something with which I would have most of the control. 

This book and series had been gestating in my head for nearly a decade. Finally, in February, I believed that I was a mature enough writer to embark on this crazy journey. It scared the hell out of me and I took a lot of risks pursuing it. I risked financial stability and relationship stability. Things that I am now refocusing on, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Holding that paperback in my hand with my name on it was pure elation. 

The hope now is that people will buy it and like it. As an independent publisher I don’t have the marketing assets that traditional publishers bring. So my success is almost entirely based on word of mouth. People telling friends and family to read it. Those who have read it, posting reviews. Sending queries to bloggers, hoping they will add it to their extensive reading lists.  I will run promotions, contests and raffles in the hope of building an audience. This will not be an easy road, but I’m in it for the long haul. 

So please check out the book, read it, share it and review it! 

http://bit.ly/GeneSys