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Inspiration comes from many quarters all around us. Sometimes it’s something we see, sometimes something we here. A lot of times for me it’s things I read.

I’ve written previously about Seth Godin and his new book ‘Poke the Box’. After reading the free eBook SXSW Pokes, I immediately downloaded the Kindle version of the full book and read it quicker than I’ve read most things before.

Poke The Box is all about starting, initiating, changing the status quo without fear of failure. Reading it struck a chord with me. Not only had I decided to give up fear for lent, but I was also living a more fearless life, committing myself to things and driving myself forward in several areas of my life, albeit slowly.

While going through my RSS feed one day, I wondered if it wouldn’t be nicer to have a single place on the ‘net that collects all of the best content, particularly for filmmakers. There’s Hollywood Wiretap – a great site for news on big studio movies – but nothing really similar for blog posts and articles that are aimed at, written by and for the benefit of independent filmmakers.

TheIndieFilmHub.com was born in mere moments and, no sooner had the idea come to me than I had set about making it happen. This project, which launched yesterday, is my poke at the box, my attempt to get something shipped when other projects and ideas have been stagnating or not progressing as quickly as I’d have liked.

The Indie Film Hub is a place indie filmmakers can go to find the best, most useful, most relevant and entertaining content on the web, all personally curated. Every post on the site is hand-picked by a real, genuine human being – no bots, no aggregators, no automation whatsoever.

I hope, in time, it will become a great resource for filmmakers and be the first stop on their hunt for content. But if not, at least I started something. At least I poked the box.

When it comes to living your life creatively, you – the artist, the filmmaker, the writer – are the single most important person in your world.

By setting out to impress other people, we are doomed to following the path of what we *think* people want to see, only ever re-creating things that have gone down well before or that we are pretty sure will be swallowed without too much sugar on the spoon  ((apologies to Mary Poppins fans)).

The only person we as artists need to satisfy, impress or please is ourselves. By creating honest work, true to our core sensibilities and interests, we create personal work that carries a stamp of authenticity that will carry it onto a higher plane.

That’s not to say what works for us will sell like wildfire, will be the next break-out success or even make an impact. But all of those things are far more likely to happen if we start with the most important person in mind.

*Special thanks to Lucas McNelly on Twitter for inspiring this post.

In the pub bathrooms where I lunched with my Godson today, I was struck by the “novelty” condoms machine, which offered prophylactics in an epic range of colours and shapes, with character’s faces drawn on them and designs that were supposedly “ticklers” and, therefore, more pleasurable. Not my thing, but I do see that there may be a market for them.

Until I saw the qualifying statement:

Not suitable for barrier use.

That’s right: novelty condoms at £1 a pop (roughly $1.60) that don’t actually work as condoms.

In business (or filmmaking, for that matter), there’s nothing wrong with novelty for novelty’s sake. After all, how many sea-side resorts keep their economy rolling on frankly useless novelty tat that tourists of all ilks like to pick up?

But if you’re offering a novelty item that serves a purpose, it’s vital that the novelty shouldn’t get in the way of that given purpose.  The proverbial chocolate teapot excepted1, anything you ship, sell or offer needs to do what they say on the tin (in this case, be a condom) over and above the comedy, novelty value that they offer.

1. it’s not really a teapot, it’s just a foodstuff, and you’d never consider using it as a teapot [↩]

In today’s world, it’s harder and harder to find anywhere that doesn’t have Wi-Fi access. Much to my surprise1, one of those places is the campus coffee shop of City University2, which has a connection so slow as to be pretty much useless.

Unfortunately for the new website I’m planning and prepping, it just wasn’t as viable a work option as I’d hoped. Instead, with no real ‘net access to speak of, I managed to write a rough draft of the first two thirds of my new eBook3.

I’ve been planning and meaning to write the book for the last couple of months, but something always gets in the way, whether it’s my own procrastination, a feeling of too little time or a simple perception of “writer’s block”.

Today, by getting away from my usual distractions and by having almost literally nothing else to do, I settled down, I focused and I ploughed through way more, way faster than I ever thought I would.

The next time you have something you really want to do but can’t seem to find the time, see what happens when you move yourself away from your usual workspace and take yourself to a place where you can’t be distracted by the usual things. Be it a park, a library or anywhere that doesn’t offer fast-as-lighting internet access, find the place that fits and see just how much you plough through.

I see many more days of internet-off writing ahead of me. Let me know what you think if you’ve tried it, or if you have your own tricks for getting super-productive.

1. and, it turns out, my luck [↩]
2. where I accompanied my fiancée to calm her nerves before her exam today [↩]
3. which I have also now announced to the world, giving myself accountability and therefore less ability to avoid it, but more on that in a future post [↩]

It’s a very badly hidden secret that I’m a loyal supporter and devotee of Seth Godin, the man I can most single-handedly credit with re-energising me in my low moments and helping me believe that anything is possible.

Never more so than with the latest free eBook from his Domino Project publishing company. Not only is it a great example of using something you give away for free (the ‘SXSW Pokes‘ eBook) to promote something you’re selling (the full-length ‘Poke the Box‘ book and eBook), it’s also full of stories that help you realise that anything really is possible.

The single most important element of SXSW Pokes is that it’s not just a few people telling stories that make you think, “Well, I could have done that if I’d thought of it first,” but instead contains 50 stories from people who make you think, “If they can do that with their lives, just think what I could do with mine.”

I cannot stress just how important I think this book is for anyone to read. Go get it.

If you are the only one getting in your own way of going after your dreams, stop and realize that you are the last person who should be doing that!

C. C. Chapman, SXSW Pokes

What’s your lifelong dream? As you step out to make it real, reach out to someone you’d like to know and emulate. That one phone call may change your life forever!

Sandy Harper, SXSW Pokes

The initiative I took for myself will always remind me that I’m teh one driving this train, and that I’m accountable to ther person in the mirror most of all.

Amber Naslund, SXSW Pokes

You’re right, you can’t actually make ‘The Hobbit’ as your next film, but you can learn a huge amount about creating and nurturing your audience from the get-go from Peter Jackson‘s latest adventure in Middle Earth.

Yesterday, production began on the two-film adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkein book and no sooner had the press release hit the wires than Peter Jackson himself had launched his new Facebook Page. Yes, it’s a personal one, but you can be sure that it’s going to be used almost solely to promote his current flick up until its release in 2012.

This early-bird establishing of connection and communication with the audience (which is something PJ excelled at with both ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and his 2005 ‘King Kong’ remake) is crucial for filmmakers across the budget range.

While Jackson and the Hobbit team may be walking into an audience of millions of eager fans across the world and you may be staring at an audience of less-than-eager family members at the start of your journey, focusing on and starting your social media and marketing efforts from Day 1 is a key principle in audience building for independent filmmakers.

Just ask your friendly local PMD, a post title created by Jon Reiss and being exemplified by the sterling work of Adam Daniel Mezei over at pmdforhire.com – creating your film with your audience in mind is crucial to your success and the more (and earlier) you can connect with them, the more successful you will be.

I don’t want to pour more scorn on the much-derided Spider-man: The Musical, enough of that has been done by commentators and citizen reviewers across New York, the US and, increasingly, the world. I make no comment on its artistic merit; I’ve not seen it and therefore am in no position to judge.

I did, however, see a lesson for all artists and creatives in the development and re-development of the show following this piece in the New York Post this week. The key phrase for me:

[Phil] McKinley’s going to turn the show into a shorter, special-effects-driven family spectacle more suited to the world of Steve Wynn than Steve Sondheim.

Michael Riedel, nypost.com

For me, if you’re creating a musical from a comic book, the tone and the feel of the show needs to reflect that of the book itself. The same holds true for making movies and TV shows of comic books, too.  What I don’t understand about Spidey is why have a short, special-effects-driven family show is a change of direction – that’s exactly the sort of show it should have been in the first place.

As any social media and marketing expert will tell you, knowing your audience is key. And the audience for Spider-man: The Musical surely wants to see something breath-takingly spectacular with a simple, familiar storyline that they don’t have to concentrate on too much.  From the reports abounding on the ‘net, that’s not what they’ve got.

Knowing your audience and knowing exactly what it is you’re making is crucial to the artistic and commercial success of any artistic project. Even for little indies who don’t want to think about “commerce” and “business”1, it’s vital to understand who is going to consume your eventual product, even if they’re not paying for it.

What else would you want from a Broadway/West End show based on a comic book? I can’t think of anything other than good fun and spectacle. It’s the old K.I.S.S. message: Keep It Simple, Stupid.

1. as misguided as that is [↩]

I rarely give things up for Lent. A few years ago, I gave up going into hospital , but that one didn’t last, thanks to those pesky medical people trying to keep me alive.

This year, though, I’m vowing to give up the fear of failure.

Too many of life’s decisions are governed by the “what if it all goes wrong?” question or “what if I look silly for trying it?”. Too often we skip over great opportunities because we can’t immediately see how to make them work and we worry about what it’ll look like to our friends, colleagues and clients if they don’t.

So this month I’m going to enter into every project with a sense of the infinite possibilities as opposed to the dread of defeat.

That’s not to say that I will be hurling myself into projects willy-nilly. Fear of failure is very different to realistic expectations for the success of a project and if it doesn’t make financial (or time-cost) sense, then it will remain on the back-burner for the time being.

What are you going to commit yourself to for Lent? What are you afraid of failing? Announce yourself here – loud and proud – and we’ll all keep tabs on each other.

I’ve spoken on this blog before about Jon Reiss, filmmaker and author of Think Outside The Box Office, the authoritative guide for finding and building an audience for your low-budget indie flick.

Jon has now gone a step further and established the best iPhone app integration with your film. You can read Jon’s post announcing the app over on his blog, but here’s the key part of it:

This is an app to share the graffiti and street art you love with others.   It is free – and is intended to create a broader community around Bomb It.

Jon Reiss, jonreiss.com

Rather than simply using the app as another platform for selling his film, what Jon has created is another way to engage his community. He’s adding value to his audience, giving them a way to talk, debate and share while still pushing (but not overtly) the BOMB IT brand out there.

By keeping the app BOMB IT-branded, the people who know him and his film will start to use it and share it with their friends (from with in their community and, thus, the target audience for the film) and spread the word. More awareness = bigger target audience = more views. But, significantly, Jon’s not trying to expand beyond his identified “niche” – he knows who is audience is and how to cater for their needs; textbook indie movie marketing.

Any producers out there looking to enhance their film’s brand with an app would do well to study what Jon has done here, which comes back to the same story  we push time and again: know your audience, give them what they want and give them more than they expect.

Engage, converse, offer value. It’s a simple equation that too many filmmakers frequently skip over.

I’ve been in a funk since the weekend.

Working too hard, not playing enough and feeling generally a little run down, I’ve been struggling to concentrate and get my head in order with no inspiration to get anything done.

Then, today, thanks to a friend on Twitter, I did the one simple thing that works every time. I got off my arse.

The simple act of standing from your sofa, your desk, your workbench and going and doing something can be all the inspiration you need to get back up and at ’em.

Next time you’re funking1, just choose something, get up and DO IT.

1. new word! [↩]