it's interesting - I remember that post like it was yesterday and I couldn't figure out what to write then. So this time I'm forcing myself to be a part of this. I kinda love-hate this question. I'm already in the quadruple decades... so there's a fair amount of "shouldn't I have this figured out by now?" in my head - but I feel like we can re-invent just about any time we want. I am solely responsible for the life, care and feeding of several other humans, so I have to have some grounded sense of reality in my imaginings... I'm going to be a better husband. I'm going to be a better father. I'm going to be more connected to my friends. I'm going to own some commercial real estate. I'm going to enter a film into a festival. That's a good start...
Cool! My mom bought a big rowhome in Baltimore and turned it into three units that she rented out mostly to Johns Hopkins graduate students. Only problem was... she bought it in 2005, and had to sell it in 2009. It was pretty hard to watch her, and by extension our family's, project unravel. The plus side is that the three other houses she owns and rents out are all still around and doing really well. It's because of my mom's success that I always considered real estate as some sort of way build wealth. What are you thinking?I'm going to own some commercial real estate.
1) The first three are easy and commendable. 2) Commercial real estate is a den of pit vipers. 3) Film festivals are an utter and total waste of time and money. Make a film, put it on youtube or Vimeo, then take what you learned and shoot a feature. Seriously. Fuck festivals.
Commercial. There's probably a different word I should have used for this... I mean to say I'm knee deep in starting an apartment building project. Not the kind of nastiness you e been dealing with. Festivals... Ok fine. It just seemed a little more attainable than the feature at this point. Or at least a logical next step.
An apartment building is still damn impressive. Put it this way: I know enough about apartment buildings to know if they're worth owning or not, and I can easily see going that way. Commercial? Well, there's money to be made... but I think I'd rather prostitute my body, and that's fully knowing just how little I'd make. Film festivals are a loss leader for all involved. They primarily allow big fish in small ponds to feel bigger. We got into like 20 of the 30 we applied to, which I hear is semi-unheard-of, and it was still a distasteful experience that made me want a shower.