The Art of Staying Busy

Originally Published in Clover Letter

When I imagine my life ten years from now, I see two things with certainty. The first is, of course, that I will be Supreme Overlord of The Universe, commanding an unshakable army of robot minions via telepathy. The second is that no matter where I am, I’ll be busy. I thrive on busyness; I always have. Not the type of busy where everything is overwhelming and debilitatingly stressful (although, I’ll admit, that feeling is sometimes inevitable) but the type of busy where I’m actively challenged, and creatively fulfilled.

This past summer, my best friend and I made a feature-length film together. This was a decision we made in January, at which point we began the intense multi-month process of creating a script, finding a producer, casting, assembling a crew, and racing to complete the various aspects of pre-production work. We shot over summer, nearly every day for a whole month, and then almost immediately began the editing and post-production process. This work was intense, and at times exhausting-- especially on top of being full time college students-- but it was also the most meaningful and involved creative process I’ve experienced.

For years, I have fostered an intense passion for acting, writing, comedy, and filmmaking. I’ve pursued all of these interests throughout my life to various extents; I’m currently finishing a BFA in Acting and a Creative Writing Certificate in college, I’ve interned at film festivals, and I’ve been a part of improv and sketch comedy groups for over five years. All these involvements have been essential to my creative and artistic growth. However, it wasn’t until I took it on myself to apply these passions and skills outside of an educational setting, by making a completely independent film, that I felt truly powerful and fulfilled in my art. Collaborating with trusted peers to create original work allowed me to access a creative agency and voice that I previously hadn’t felt confident to fully express, especially as a young woman.

Currently, my co-creator and I are working to submit our completed movie, a coming-of age dramedy entitled Dear Leo, to various film festivals for the coming year. We are incredibly excited to share our work with audiences. However, we don’t see this film as an endpoint to our creative careers; instead, it is the foundation from which we hope to build our future work. Trying, making mistakes, scrambling for solutions, and finding moments of beauty has been an incredible learning process. Completing our first film was the first step of planning our next film, and so on. We’re working to cultivate a portfolio of work as part of our very own production company, Young/Old Productions. An artistic practice isn’t a series of isolated incidents-- rather, it is a system of failing and succeeding and building on oneself in the process of making something beautiful, or meaningful, or funny. I was only able to make something I’m deeply proud of by discovering the type of work I love and leaning into the busyness of it all, instead of fearing it.

If I were to give a piece of advice to younger me, it would be simply: do the thing. Too many people spend years simply discussing or thinking of an idea, stuck in the paralysis of daydreaming. I truly believe that whether you’re a filmmaker, artist, or aspiring Supreme Overlord of the Universe, the way forward is to get up and do something about it.