Other details on the festival: you can only do in-camera editing, which really means NO editing. And that means you have to shoot every scene sequentially. Once you have the scene, you move on to the next. No going back to redo, no fixing it in post, no multiple takes. We have from 6pm on Friday to 6pm on Saturday to shoot a short film no longer than 7 minutes.

The awesome crew includes:

Directing: Jason Digges and I

Cinematography, In-Camera Editing: Jason Lange and Jason Digges

Production Assistant: Lindsey Wilkinson

Boom: Charles Gammill

Happy Birthday, Gwendle!:)

Also, I will be announcing an incredible offer from PowerUp in the next day or two, so please stay tuned! Oh, and sign up for my new newsletter that will be sent out this week, also designed by Chelsea Brady.

I’m honored today to tell you that the Sex, God, Rock ‘n Roll website is now LIVE. You can see free clips of the first episode, and you can sign up for some amazing memberships and get immediate access to the first full episode. Sex, God, Rock ‘n Roll will air on national television, April 26 on HD Net.

It’s taken a lot of work to get here, but I’ll tell you, it’s been THE best experience of my life. I love the show and I love everyone I work with.

Here’s a little about my involvement in the first season:

Producer – “producer” in a general sense means, “makes shit happen”. And make it I did.

Segment Producer – I worked a lot with Stu on getting the different elements of the show in a flow for the live audience. The biggest part was creating and running the “live elements”. We had two HD televisions set up for the audience and we’d use these to show photos and videos that accompanied news jokes, as well as playing other segments and the music videos. Stu and I would work together to get the timing down of jokes with the live elements. Quite fun:)

Audio Engineer – I mixed everything you hear in the episodes except for the music, which was already produced and most likely mixed by the awesome, Alex Gibson. (I did mix some silly stuff we came up with on the fly, but you’ll know the difference:P) Also, the supreme audio geek, Mike Yach, was a huge help in my process of mixing.

Between now and next season, I hope to write some comedy sketches for the site, and in season 2 I’ll have the honor of helping write jokes for the show.

Davis has studied his heroes (Ricky Gervais, Amy Sedaris, Jon Stewert), but is finding a unique voice with his ‘spiritual’ brand of comedy. SGR&R is a delirious dive into life’s Mysteries through the mind of a Cosmo-centric comedian. It’s no wonder Davis has become known as the Twisted Mystic.

“Without exaggeration, Stuart Davis is one of the most fascinating and exceptional songwriters in modern music.”
-San Jose Metro

While Davis is a happily hyphenated artist (writer-director-actor-comedian-songwriter), he’s first known for his music. The sound track to Season One of SGR&R (‘Songs From The TV Series’) is being released simultaneously with the debut of the tv show. The first single, Twisted Mystery, hits radio in April and is also featured on Showtime in the series I Can’t Believe I’m Still Single. Davis will be touring nationally through the summer to promote the TV series and the new collection of pop songs.

“Not since Bob Dylan burst through has Minnesota produced such a confident and creative songwriter and social observer.”
-Minneapolis Star Tribune

Filmed in HD in front of a live audience in Boulder, Colorado (take that, Mork & Mindy!), SGRR will also have a web-based home at www.sexgodrocknroll.com where fans can find exclusive content for members only. The SGR&R subscription site includes interviews with spiritual figures, unreleased sketches, and regular vlogs from Stu.

“Davis may be the best songwriter you’ve never heard of.”
-Des Moines Register

Sex, God, Rock ‘n Roll airs Sundays on HDNet beginning April 26.

“Davis’s music subtly sneaks religious dialogue into popular culture. Most surprisingly, the music is damn good. Critics, you can sigh with relief.”
-Miami New Times

Unemployment
In the past I might have thought about unemployment as this completely horrible, depressing, and degrading experience. Completely the opposite for me. I was happy to receive the government’s help:) It allowed me a period of reflection and redirecting in my life. Falling Fruit’s “failure” was just the opportunity I needed to clear the way and see who I am and what I want to do. I’m an artist, not a business person. I want to create art, film and music. Had I not had some pressure free space to realize that, I might still be pushing on in less meaningful way.

Freelancing
I also had the opportunity to venture out as a freelancer, which also suits me much, much more than working a regular 9-5 job. ugh! I’ll take the rewards and challenges of freelancing without hesitation. I spent the summer and unemployment creating PowerUp Productions, setting up my studio, and creating the foundations to be successful. Got a fair amount of gigs in audio, including freelance content editing for Sounds True, thanks to my buddy, Vince. My studio has been on Pearl Street in downtown Boulder and is now at the loving and exciting home of Boulder Integral.

Sex, God, Rock ‘n Roll
This is THE most exciting development of 2008 for me and it ranks up as one of the best experiences of my life. I’ll actually dedicate several posts to my experience, but here’s a brief wrap-up: I was brought on as a Producer for Stuart Davis’s live TV show, Sex, God, Rock ‘n Roll. In addition to generally producing the show with Jason Lange and Jason Digges, I headed up the live elements of the show and was the sound mixer for post-production, which we just wrapped up. The show is on it’s way to Hollywood to be shopped to cable networks (and we’re already getting great responses). It will also be distributed on our shiny new website that will launch this month. It was an absolute blessing to work with Stuart and all of the crew. Wonderful and amazing experience.

Buddhist Geeks
Buddhist Geeks has done nothing but continue to grow and we have the most amazing listeners. We cracked 40,000 downloads this year, each month breaking the previous month’s record. We also started to live-stream our interviews, video and audio, which our hardcore listeners seem to really enjoy. Look for some exciting and new developments this year.

Contemplative Practice
Well, this has been pretty much shitty sauce:P However, there was one important discovery I made, thanks again to my awesome friend, Vince. I realized that in my solitary retreat two years ago I hit the dark night. Basically, it left me not very interested or motivated in contemplative practice or study, but I had no idea way. I now have a much better understanding and a renewed motivation to continue on the path.

Health
Overall, kind of weak. I did 75% complete the 12-week Strength for Life program, but I wasn’t able to go at the intensity I hped for and I let things drop (consciously) after I finished. Really looking forward to 2009 as a great year for my health.

Film Study and Experience
I’m extremely pleased with the development my film abilities and experience in only 6 months since directing my life towards this. In addition to being a Producer and Sound Mixer for SGRR, I spent a good deal time developing foundational skills in film, primarily screenwriting.

Experience is the best teacher for arts, in my opinion, and my goal has been to gain some knowledge and understanding through study, and then to put it into lots and lots of practice. Written a few sketches, filmed one. Read Story by Robert McKee, perhaps the best book on screenwriting and storytelling. Also studied a bit from a few other screenwriting books. Read some from Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics, as well as The Ultimate Filmmaker’s Guide to Short Films, both great books.

I’ll be sharing my 2009 goals in an upcoming post….after I figure them out:)

Unlike other blog sites that recycle tired old aphorisms and
over-generalizations, we will focus on precise, practical ways to bring about change using the richest and deepest models available, backed by real experience. We will wrestle with complex issues while keeping it simple.

Think of it as personal development 201.

Also, Falling Fruit TV is launching a companion podcast on April 2nd, also called Precision Change.

You want more. More from your career, more from your time, more from
your life. To get more you’ve got to grow, from the inside out. Growth
is not always easy, but it can be a lot of fun, and a healthy
challenge. Precision Change is a show about growth. We explore the
technologies of transformation—from personal productivity to personal
power, lifehacks to life mastery, GTD to NLP, and other acronyms you’ve
never heard of.

Our first guest is Mark Hurst, author of "Bit Literacy: Productivity in the Age of Information and Email Overload". We already have several well-known personal development bloggers on the schedule, and one HUGE productivity author on the bill. Stay tuned for it’s launch!

Check out my first post on Precision Change, "Overcoming Obstacles by Listening to the Voices in Your Head".