While I don’t believe in making New Year’s resolutions because you can start something new any time, I like to review my year’s journey for my last blog post of the year. Of course, what makes this review process easy is the ability to look at videos and photos that have been stored in the cloud.  When I think of the number of places I visited, 2023 was most certainly a busy year!

What I try to do is to accomplish one major project in any given year. For 2023, that was the completion of the manuscript for SOS United States. Writing a book from scratch, or in this case, adapting it from a screenplay is no easy task. But one thing it did do is give me the opportunity to expand the story whereas a screenplay has time limits. The next stage of the project is to engage an editor. As I’ve been in limited discussions with a publisher, I’m hoping to make a formal announcement soon.

When I was reviewing my travels for the year, there’s no question that the highlight for me was my trip to the Star Trek Original Set Tour museum. For those that have watched the original series, the numerous movies, and even more contemporary TV series, this museum really is a must. I would even suggest it to those who work in the entertainment industry (both sides of the camera) as the museum demonstrates what’s possible in the independent film space.

In addition to another wonderful trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota, another highlight of the year was my visit to Titanic: The Exhibition in New York City with my friend and fellow filmmaker Dan Groom. It always amazes me that well after a century, the story of Titanic can still be told in a new, informative, and exciting way.

But it was First Signal that continued to outperform on VOD. In fact, the last quarter was one of its best. When I consider the film was released in 2021 and to this day is still resonating with audiences, I cannot help but be proud of all of us who made this project happen. So many independent films never recoup their investment. What the reasons are or aren’t isn’t for me to speculate. But there is one thing I have continued to do for both First Signal and Justice Is Mind—marketing. For those that work in this space, I can’t stress enough the importance of making an effort to promote. It takes almost no time for a social media or blog post to keep your project in front of an audience. If you spent years bringing your film to life, why not take a few minutes a day or week to give it a lasting one? 

This brings me to a decision, do I put SOS United States or the sequel to First Signal into production next year.  Logic suggests that it would be First Report. But as that script has enough length to make a part one and two, weekend shooting schedules would require five months of time to produce. On the other hand, SOS United States, I believe is a solid story with a screenplay that has won several awards. It could be produced in a few months along with a companion book that would be released before the movie (as often happens in “Hollywood”).

Next Year