We Never Saw A Book Trailer That We Liked Until Now

Irregardless of the all-star cast, the script is dynamite. 

Lettuce Entertain You Group Takes One 20K Workshop, Makes AWESOME Video

Lettuce Entertain You Group took 20K Films’ iPhone Quick Shoot and Edit workshop 2 months ago and nailed it with a well shot, seamlessly edited video using their iPhones and iMovie. 20K Films is seriously impressed. Here’s the video, and mind you, this is the FIRST video they’ve ever created start to finish.

Watch

Also, read our article, Pro Tips: Using an iPhone to Produce Videos for Your Business, On Crain’s Communications Social Blog

Meet 20K Films’ Newest Team Member: Caroline Sickmen, Associate Producer

Carri and Laura S and Laura Z meeting for the first time today on Google Hangout.

We are so thrilled to have Carri Sickmen on board at 20K Films. She’s Florida based, but in this day and age, you don’t have to live in the same city as the company you work for. (20k Films is Chicago-based and Laura Z and Laura S currently and oddly live only .5 miles from each other.) Carri has joined 20K to help us schedule the rest of production for our three current docs: Sweet Nothing, Sick Cells, and Nicole Hollander: Original Bad Girl. She’s also going to help us grow our social media presence and stay in budget for all of our docs. She has lots of past experience with promotions and marketing, but was mostly involved in the area music venues, booking music for bands like the Hackensaw Boys. She currently sells antique globes. Also, her daughter is invisible. Welcome to 20K, Carri! 

Laura Z Working on the Road

Laura Z using a retro iPhone headset for handling phone calls on the road.

Literally. We thought it would be easier to work and conduct doc business on the road. Not so. First of all, we could only get internet access using Laura S’s hotspot on her iPhone which killed her battery and costs her money each month, and trying to focus on emails and scheduling while the world is going by you at 60MPH is distracting to say the least. I found that the only thing that I could effectively get done while literally in a car driving from location to location was typing up all of the notes I took during the interview, which I did in the always wonderful and amazing Evernote, which syncs to your iPhone and desktop and iPad if you are happen to own all three.

So much for that exciting mobile office idea. I much more prefer buckling down in an airport an hour or two in a stationary position to work. I also have discovered that I prefer flying directly to a location, interviewing for a week and then heading home. This plan to drive around America to do all of the interviews, is taking too much time, the same amount of money and makes everyone cranky. Really, 10-15 hours driving in a car in a day would make Mother Theresa cranky. You can only listen to so many podcasts and Tina Fey’s Bossypants on the Audible app for so long.

Thanks for the Tweet!

Aw…we just found this while cleaning off our desktop. We LOVE getting tweets from fans of Proceed and Be Bold!  

Thanks, Indiegogo!

Indiegogo.com just listed as one of the top 12 pitch videos on Indiegogo for 2012.

20K Films’ Laura Zinger produced/directed/edited the pitch video for Amos Paul Kennedy Jr, the documentary subject of Zinger’s first independently produced doc feature, Proceed and Be Bold! 

Sick and Stranded, but Getting Great Interviews

Other than the fact that we’re  getting sick (“we” being 20K Producer/Director, Laura Zinger and 20K DP, Laura Shields) and stranded right now in Northern CA due to an overzealous flight cancellation by Southwest Airlines, I’m incredibly excited and deeply relieved that  all of the interviews we have done this last week for our current slate of documentaries: Sweet Nothing, Sick Cells, and Original Bad Girl, have been outstanding. 

We interviewed Dr. Kimber Stanhope PhD,  an Associate Project Scientist in the Department of Molecular Biosciences at the University of California at Davis, for Sweet Nothing, about her current research regarding the effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup on human health. She was 100% correct that this information needs to get to the public, and we hope to help with that in the documentary.

We also interviewed Jill Escher, Author/Speaker, for Sweet Nothing about her own addiction to sugar and her advocacy to help others decrease their sugar consumption levels and live healthier lives. 

And we interviewed Dr. Bert Lubin, the President & CEO of Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland for Sick Cells about the kind of treatment, care and pain management that Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland offers to their patients with Sickle Cell Disease. We can’t wait to go back and interview the rest of their research and care team and find out more about their music therapy program for individuals with Sickle Cell Disease.

Finally we interviews Robert Greensfelder, a long-term friend of Nicole Hollander’s for Original Bad Girl, and Trina Robbins, an American comics artist and writer. Bob told us that he has kept score over the years of what news items he’s sent Nicole that have ended up in Sylvia, while Trina delved deep into feminist history and where in the timeline Sylvia fit. 

Thank you to all of our amazing interviewees, and we couldn’t be happier with the insightful commentary and personal stories they’ve shared with us this past week.

A big shout out to Cheryl and Caleb, two great friends who put us up for a few days this past week. Thanks for all of the good food, good company and good conversation! Cheryl and Caleb started an awesome jewelry company called Bits of Love, well worth checking out. 

A big shout out also goes to one of my best girlfriends, Taylor and her husband, Brian, who have put us up at their house for the last fews days while we wait for our rescheduled flight back home. Thanks for making us coffee every morning and for having such cute kids. 

Northern, CA we will miss you , but we’ll be happy to be home for the holidays.

Happy Holidays and New Year from 20K Films! Stay tuned for more cool stuff  next year!

It’s Not That Hard…

20K Films’ Owner, Laura Z, with Laura S, the amazing DP for the 20K 2012 Production Tour.

It’s not that hard to follow your dreams. People will tell you it is, and maybe you’ll believe them, because you think you can’t afford it, or aren’t talented enough or worthy enough. 

It’s bullshit. You can follow your dreams, and, in fact, you should.

Here’s why: Even if you never get to accomplish your dreams whether that involves playing basketball like LeBron James, racing cars in Brazil, or good old-fashioned filmmaking, just trying for your dreams will enrich your life in ways that you have absolutely no clue about. 

I’ve wanted to make films since I was 13 years old. I’m now 33. That’s 20 years of wanting to do the same damn thing, and I’ve tried EVERYTHING else in this world to survive, pay my bills, and just get by. It wasn’t until I made a film (a documentary actually), that I felt truly alive. And this documentary wasn’t some crazy break out success. It didn’t get into Sundance, not many people saw it, I showed it to audiences of 12 people, and in one case, 4 people, and I sat in the back and watched two of those people walk out during the film. 

The always amazing 20K Films’ Associate Producer, Caroline P, and 20K Films’ Owner, Laura Z at the start of the 20K 2012 Tour. #20k2012

But what I learned from making that film and showing that film and just going after my dreams at all, are things that I NEVER would have learned anywhere else or anyway else. 

I also gained skills in the following: teamwork, leadership, directing, business management, editing, lighting, social media, self-distribution, etc. What other job would I have ever learned any of this? See what I mean?

So do it. Just shut the hell up, sit down for a day, listen to what’s in your heart that you really want to do with your life, and just do it. It is true. If there is a will, there is a way, and you really don’t need all of the fancy, first-world, consumer things you spend your money on anyway. All you need is your dream, some money, some guts, and a whole lot of friends. (My thoughts on the “friend economy” later.)

For now, here is a motto I live by daily:

Well said, my friend, well said.