Goodbye Corporate America... Hello, Spastic Children's Parties (or What Have I Done?)

I'm in deep. Real deep.

Last December, after my wife's mother passed away unexpectedly, my 2 young sons and I were futzing around the yard. It was strangely 65 degrees outside and a few weeks before Christmas. Not your typical Chicago weather. We were blue. So I asked them if they wanted to make a movie.

I've had a non-linear editing system for several years, and always dreamed of making some sort of indie film. But never did. I decided I'd make one now. Well... a five minute movie short. With no written script. No professional actors. And no costumes, budget or props.

I grabbed a couple neighbor kids to star with my own and then grabbed my digital camcorder. They grabbed their toy guns and brought lots of enthusiasm, and I started feeding them lines. I made up a story of bounty hunters searching for Darth Vader (we had one prop -- a Star Wars Darth Vader helmet). I shot it in sequence to make editing easy. And 60 minutes later, I had a finished DVD with sound effects, music and a theatrical menu.

My neighbors were flabbergasted at the premier. And it occurred to me that this frustrated Hollywood screenwriter finally had a way to make money doing what he loved most: writing movies and filming them.

After putting my entrepreneurial thoughts into it, I created a Web company called www.LightsCameraBirthday.com, bought a ton of equipment (HD camcorder, lights, computer, software, duplicator, cargo trailer and thousands of dollars of props, costumes, electronic equipment...) Within a month I had filmed a couple of demos, one of which is posted on my Web site.

I started making DVDs of my demo and gave them away like candy. I had ambitions of doing at least 2 or 3 parties a month. I worked with my local Park Districts to arrange Fall workshops, and even advertised on Google and in Chicago-specific parent magazines. I had lots of inquiries, lots of "Wow! What a great idea!"

Well, in early September, I finally had my first gig. My business model was to get in and get out in 3 hours... filming, editing, scoring, adding sound effects and burning DVDs of the movie for all the children at the party in just 3 hours.

I was there for 5 and a half. Only 1 child stayed long enough to get his movie. The rest left with promises to get their DVDs later that evening.

I'm chalking this up as a success. The parents were extremely happy, and the kids couldn't believe that they were in a "real" Hollywood movie (it had opening credits, and bloopers at the end and everything!)

The father couldn't believe the quality of my Canon high-definition camcorder. Frankly, I couldn't either. You simply can't get this kind of picture quality with *anything* you buy at Best Buy.

Well... that's what's happened so far. In less than 2 weeks I'm being shown the door from my marketing job at a Fortune 100 company due to downsizing. I have to admit, I'm a little stressed. And my wife, who's a stay-at-home-mom, is torqued up a little tighter than me. Still, I have confidence in my abilities. And God's providence, of course.

I mean... if you're gonna spend 1/3 of your life (or more) doing something, it might as well be something you love, right?

Thanks for listening.