Going MIA for Citizen Hearst

I hate to say it but sometimes I have to go Missing In Action when making a film. It's so all-encompassing and a million things are happening at such a quick pace that I have to drop everything, including this blog, and focus on making the film.

And that's exactly what happened these past couple of months as I helped finish a new documentary on the Hearst Corporation titled Citizen Hearst.

I know my colleagues can empathize with this fact. If you work in film, you've been there and done it. I have emails from colleagues proving it. If I reach out to a colleague during MIA, I may get a quick response from him or her saying he or she is on set or amidst a final push in post etc or I may not get a response at all.

And that's okay. I know he or she will surface some day and will have a great film to show for it.

One thing you can't do in this field is take anything personally. Even if you find yourself the focus of someone's rant, you need to let it roll off your back. If you don't get a response to an email, then wait a couple of weeks and send a friendly reminder. If you never receive a response then let that connection go. That person you are trying to reach is not interested in working with you at that time. And that's okay too.

There are more than enough people in Hollywood with whom you can create. Find those people. Move on from those who aren't interested in working with you. Perhaps those relationships will change in the future but for now let those relationships remain in neutral.

I bring this all up to say that I am finally surfacing from my recent MIA moment and we have a new documentary on the Hearst Corporation to show for it: Citizen Hearst.

I oversaw the 5,000 clearances of images and video clips toward the end and what a responsibility that was! Thanks to Google Docs, we created the most amazing chart that was tracked and updated by about half a dozen people throughout the process. I don't know what we would have done without Google Docs!

Check out more information on our new documentary at: www.citizenhearst.com.

And here's the trailer (enjoy!):