We Built a Fort

Welp. We did it. We made a feature film. It's kind of hard to believe that it's over. I feel a little like I did after my (and Leah's) wedding. Months and months and months of planning and then boom...it's done. Am I the only one who expects the thing you plan for to last as long as the planning? I'm not sure how to really process the experience. It's going to take months I think. But I want to attempt a quick reflective thought.

For me, making a movie felt like building a childhood fort in the woods. It was hard work full of challenges, missteps, hurdles and conflict, but every day I woke up excited to march out through the wet grass and keep building. We had a common goal, a purpose, a mission with a deadline. We had goals to hit hour by hour in order to accomplish a day's work. But it didn't feel like work. It felt like a group of friends, collaborators, builders all pooling their talents and resources to create something together. And honestly, our motivation was purely that. Sure we hope the movie will be good and find its way into theaters or DVD players. But the real reason we spent 12 hours a day working our tails off was because it's a magical thing to collaborate. We were building a fort together in the middle of a tall forest, completely lost in a project.