#PROJECTMOVEOUT : Great People...

Great people talk about ideas.
Average people talk about things.
Small people talk about other people.

Great people don't say "I'm not going to do it because they didn't." Great people say, "I'm going to do it because this may potentially produce change."

I personally find it pathetic that there are people who think so small. Allowing others' actions dictate what they do. And I don't mean peer pressure to choose strawberry ice cream over chocolate. I mean really heavy stuff.

Often I am told I have natural leadership qualities. And I see it. When I'm passionate about something, I make other people aware. I don't allow others' convictions to steer mine. Thankfully (but sometimes annoyingly) I have close friends who are the same with theirs. This challenges us to be even greater than what we already are.

With that said, I want to take this time out to encourage everyone to stand up and stand their own ground. Don't worry what someone else is doing. Worry about what you're doing. I remember when my mother used to tell my brother and I just that. He'd be mad and say, "Well she isn't doing it." And my mom would say "Don't worry about what she's doing," And she's right, there was no relevance. Focus on yourself and your quality of work will be better. Your influence will be contagious. You will make a difference even without the intention to.

Pay attention to what you're doing.

#ProjectMoveOut: HBO Girls

Girls is about just that, girls, but the lives of them are from an angle rarely ever seen. Hannah, a writer, who wanted to stay at her internship while desperately waiting for it to become her first big girl job. And newsflash/spoiler to all you recent graduates out there, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you have to move on without ever getting a cent from them. Sad, but very true.  Hannah's superior at her internship was a lot more blunt about what her options were... Work for free or I guess we'll miss you. In someway we've all been given that choice. But not many people talk about it. It's very hush hush. Well... then again, not between friends.


I watched the Pilot of this lovely gift from God during my lunch hour because of a promise I made to my friend. Within minutes, I knew I had to blog about it. Primary reason, if you've never seen it and are a 20-something year old college graduate , you must see it. At first I thought it would make me very sad about my situation (not having that steady paying job after grad school) but it actually encouraged me to know that at least one of us is doing something we love at 26 and that I'm not alone. It's a get up off your ass kind of show.


My first thought while watching was, "Why didn't I make this?

Being in your twenties today has challenges within itself. It's not all about figuring out who you're going to sleep with next or getting a job. It's about staying true to yourself and not settling. At this age, settling looks good everyday. REAL GOOD. Why do you think there are drug dealers, prostitutes,  and accountants? At some point, that person was swayed to go that way. Of course some of them grew up wanting that for themselves, but that is an entirely different blog. Anyway, being in your twenties is a blessing and a curse. I like to think more so a blessing, but sometimes being this young doesn't give me enough credibility when in fact I am wise beyond my years. Girls gives everyone a chance to sit down for an hour and take a glimpse of what it's like to be in our shoes today.

Lena Dunham is a fellow Millenial, who took her talent to a place most people (likely including her parents) probably doubted it would take her. As New York Magazine wrote (Emily Nussbaum), "Girls was a bold defense (and a searing critique) of the so-called Millennial Generation by a person still in her twenties." I couldn't agree more. 

"Does she feel completely different from Hannah now that she's gotten to the place she strived for?" Here's how Dunham answered, 

“How do I express this without getting too personal with you?” asks Dunham. “That lostness and that questioning—I wish I could say that it completely went away when you were getting to do the thing you wanted to do, but unfortunately, that’s not the truth.” Her work is going gangbusters, she admits—her personal life, those daily mortifications, that’s another matter. “I’m just fuckin’ it up all other kinds of ways.”

Could not say it better myself. 

Dunham didn't only write "Girls", but she directs it and plays the main character. Busy busy, I say. I admire her creativity and ambition. Thankfully, I am in company of people who have large plans for their lives. After hearing about Dunham I thought, "26? Damn that's a year from now." And realistically speaking, if I don't make it to my goals now doesn't mean I never will. But now sure sounds better than later. Never said we were the generation of patience. 

#ProjectMoveOut: Hard Workers

"In a foreign country the hardest worker could still possibly go to bed starving, meanwhile in America the laziest worker won't." 

As encouraged the Millenials are by every other generation still living today, we are just as discouraged by just as many truths of today. 

"It's easy to argue that this genius stuff is for other people, not you. Those other people have gifts, or genes, or education or background or connections. It's easy to fool yourself into believing that genius works for them, but it won't work for you. 

Of course. Except Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs were raised by adoptive parents, and Nelson Mandela changed the world from a jail cell. Except that Jill Sobule struggled just as much as every other acoustic singer-songwriter but didn't give up. Except that Cathy Hughes dropped out of the University of Nebraska at Omaha and ended up as the first black woman running a public company in the United States. I don't have room to list all the less famous people who had the same resources you do, but were willing to accept the genius label and make a choice." `Linchpin

THE CHOICE is whether or not we are going to allow ourselves to just slink to the back and wither away. Of course it's okay if that is what you want to do. Be average. It's taken me time to understand that there are people in this world who are okay with that. They don't see these teeny boppers and think to themselves that they need to get their game up. They need to work towards their dreams and desires as hard as they can. 

But the discouragement is working 12 hour days and 7 day weeks and then looking at how much money you have and it doesn't quite match up. It's discouraging. We are discouraged. I know I'm discouraged when interviewers tell me that I'm overqualified, but in the end of the day, I still didn't get the job. But I am encouraged by the list of clients that trust me with their dreams. A negative and a positive. It's our jobs to not only see the bad but embrace the good. 

Again, this isn't about moving out of our parents' homes but encouraging one another to be the best us.  

#ProjectMoveOut : Job Market

I'm behind on my writing schedule for the prequel and so I decided I was going to start reading some of the "motivational" books my dad sent me while I was in college. It wasn't that I didn't want to read them then, but life just seemed so chaotic. Well... it's even more chaotic now, so I figured what better time am I waiting for?

Linchpin. I've only read the intro parts and I can honestly say that I'm definitely going to finish this book. I'm not a reader, just a writer. Therefore that statement is massive.

As I read the intro, I thought of all of you. I wanted to say, "Poor us, look what everyone else did." Our schools fed us lies. Our parents' examples were flawed. We were set up for failure. Work doesn't mean what it used to. Working from 9 to 5 isn't enough anymore, like it was for our grandparents and parents. This sucks? Yes it does. But what sucks more is if you don't notice the change.

Questions we ask often.

"Where Does Success Come From?" 

&

 "Where Does Average Come From?"

I'll give you what Seth Godin wrote in reference to the second question. In my opinion, it's what should motivate you most.

"It comes from two places:

1. You have been brainwashed by school and by the system into believing that your job is to do your job and follow instructions. It's not, not anymore.
2. Everyone has a little voice inside of their head that's angry and afraid. That voice is the resistance--your lizard brain--and it wants you to be average (and safe).

If you're not doing as well as you hoped, perhaps it's because the rules of the games were changed, and no one told you.

The rules were written just over two hundred years ago; they worked for a long time, but no longer. It might take you more than a few minutes to learn the new rules, but it's worth it."

No one ever said life after college or high school or on your own would be easy. But we can equip ourselves to help guide us not to make foolish mistakes. And quite frankly, (I'm also learning this again) complaining is not effective. And even worst... its infectious.

#ProjectMoveOut : Mindset

I spoke to my mother about this topic and she supported my thinking. But I did believe I need to better explain. 

Your Mindset

As a fellow Millenial (1981+), I understand that the economy is hard and our pockets are empty. The job market isn't what it used to be. You think? I have applied to almost or more than 150 jobs this last month and a half (Dedication for sure). But ultimately, it's all very scary. 

I agree with you.

For the past few weeks, I have been talking with my friends about this movement I want to do and we raised our voices and nodded our heads about it. In the end, we understood it was about the greatness inside of all of us that seems diminished by certain "situations". For example, living with our parents is one. Not the only one but one. For some... emphasis on some, living with their parents has crippled them from doing what they sought out to do in college or high school. Their comfort in their childhood home has made them once again a child. My mother even shined some light on this very thing. She says my sibling and I often come to her house, kick back and wonder when our favorite meals are going to be done. And we get upset when there is no food in the fridge as if we put any in there to begin with. 

It's a mentality. A mindset. - Anything referring to your parents automatically makes you a child. No matter how old you are. 

Does this hold everyone back? No. In fact, I joked with my mother that if I have to move back to her home; I would work super hard to get out of there. Haha. I love my mother though. It's just that for me, I know I can do better than that for myself. And it's uncomfortable to have to depend on my parents at my age. But that is my personal feeling. 

Like I have said before, this is about encouragement. I want us all to come together and call ourselves to greatness. In the words of Dee Marshall to me, "I speak to your potential and demand you to step up". 

Not gonna lie stung a little, but pushed me to get my butt moving.  Love Dee!

What's crippling your greatness? 

Ever Last with Chris Dimoulas

Not that cupcakes are more important than the film, but I have to confess I breathed (aka inhaled) my Red Velvet cupcake from Ava's cupcakes (It was in my goodie bag from the screening). Yum. 

From Right to Left: Eloy J. Delgado, Chris Dimoulas, Angeline-Rose Troy, Sean T. McGrath. 

Now for the anticipated interview with the Writer and Director of Ever Last. 

S.A.E:  Often times as a writer, your story finds you in a specific way. While you're on vacation staring out your hotel window, at the playground watching your kids or even just sitting at a coffee shop staring at your computer screen. But the result ends up being a story you've got to tell. How did your story come to you? And even what influenced it as well? 


Chris Dimoulas: The story for Ever Last originally just started when I was a freshman and I wanted to write a script for Sean T. McGrath, so that we could one day work on a film together. At the time he was a little on the overweight side as you remember, and so I thought it would be interesting to write a story about an overweight superhero. There is a very stereotypical image people see when they think of superheroes, or just major male characters in films. I wanted to change that and do something different. So it started off as a very straight forward script about an guy with superpowers, who was trying to get a girl. It was much more of a comedy then, sort of like a Seth Rogen type of superhero. But after a while I put it aside, because I just didn't think it was all that good. I didn't start it up again until my junior year, when I was taking a course in Creative Writing. One of the exercises required us to write a break up scene, where one of the characters was immortal and had superpowers, and the other had to be regular. And that's when I realized the story shouldn't be about the immortal, but it should be about a regular person having to deal with that character in extreme circumstances. So I plugged the characters I already had created into that exercises, and the script just grew from there. It gave me a good idea of how I wanted to write a whole feature about these two characters, and I really wanted to write a feature length draft as just a personal goal. In terms of influences of writing a script there really were none, except for a Franco-German film that probably not many have heard about called Wings of Desire. The film City of Angels was a loose remake of that film. Wings of Desire was about an angel who falls in love with a woman, and decides to become human so he can experiences human emotions with her. I wanted Ever Last to have the same sort of tone that Wings of Desire had.


S.A.E: What's been the best part of this journey of making Ever Last come to life?


Chris Dimoulas: Probably the best part of making Ever Last was of course when it was finished haha. All the pieces came together in a way that I was really happy with. So many people throughout the entire process, from pre-production to the finished product, helped me reach that moment. And I am eternally grateful that I had such a wonderful cast and crew.


S.A.E: As many people asked after the movie, What is your next project or hope for your next project? 


Chris Dimoulas: I don't really like to talk about screenplays that aren't finished. It's almost like this thing that if I talk about it too much I will never get it done. But I am in the process of writing two feature length screenplays right now, in genres pretty out there in comparison to Ever Last. And I would of course love to film either of them one day, hopefully I will get the chance to.

Left to Right: Angeline-Rose Troy, Sean T. McGrath, & Chris Dimoulas

For all the writers out there, keeping up with a story sometimes takes years. So to see the fruit of someone else's labor is encouraging to see. It can give all of us hope that with hard work comes something you can be proud of.

Congrats to Chris Dimoulas!