2016 Year in Review

CAREER

Followed a financially great year with one not so great.  I had 6 months off at the beginning of the year.  I meant to concentrate on pursuing scripted content, but in the end all I wanted to do was paint!  And so I did, and I put a lot of time and money into creating and selling my artwork.  In the end, I made a lot of contacts and even some fans and got a decent foothold into the group art scene in Los Angeles.  I participated in fourteen group art shows at galleries such as Creature Features, Bearded Lady’s Mystic Museum, The Dark Arts Emporium, Forgotten Saints, San Diego Comic Con Art Show, and even a longstanding dream come true: Gallery1988.  I became the resident artist at Cross Roads Escape Games in Anaheim, for whom I also designed a t-shirt.  I obtained a seller’s permit and had a vending table at Days of the Dead, Monsterpalooza and many smaller events around the city, selling prints and t-shirts of my work.  I sold a half-dozen original paintings, including one for $1k!

My feature documentary “In The Turn,” continued travelling the world and has now been officially distributed.  You can find the film so far on iTunes, Amazon and Vimeo.

I cut a second feature documentary this year called “Keep On Running,” about marathon runners from Sierra Leone.  I am presently going through the notes process with the director, who lives in London.

I cut two short films for the OutFest OutSet program. One is called “Hey Stacey!” and the other is called “It’s a Boy.”  I love them both and they’ve been touring around festivals this year all over the country.

I wrote a short horror film called “Inspiration” that was filmed for CrypTV.  Much of the same team from “Love in the Time of Monsters,” created it.  I also edited my first horror short called “Mystery Phone.”

I returned to professional editing in July.  As such, I was the Supervising Editor of a new MTV show called “Shinesty,” about a clothing company of the same name.  I was very happy to lend a few days work to this year’s TBS Christmas special called “Surprise! Instant Xmas Carols,” which was the official kickoff to the 20^th anniversary “A Christmas Story” marathon.  And I’m currently back as Supervising Editor for season 3 of “Triple Play” for Playboy Channel.

I once again did not vote in the Emmys this year, only the nominations…too busy!

PERSONAL

Still living with Chelsea, we’ve been together for 88 months now and our nub continues to grow.  I still love her and our life together with all my heart!  For our seventh anniversary in August, we basically ignored it because we were deep into terrible wedding planning and a month away from getting married.

Which we did!  We got married on September 18^th and it was awesome!  It’s official, bees for life, yay!  Obviously this is the highlight of my year.

Again, we did not take many trips this year because of not having money coming in.  But I did have a bachelor party in Vegas and my SCAD friends and brothers were there and that was also awesome!  And went to San Diego Comic Con for my first time, which was a blast.  And then I went to Savannah for a wedding in November.

I continued to get my Friday the 13^th painting autographed by stars and crew members, and I’ve done several more horror themed pop art paintings.  I’ve become a little part of the horror scene in LA as well and it’s super fun.

I met a lot of my heroes including famed comic book artists and creators Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, and lots of other people I met at SDCC, which you can read about in that post.  Met Tom Savini and Tony Todd for a third time, Ben Edlund twice, Sean S. Cunningham, Fairuza Balk and Rachel True, Larry Zerner, Adrienne King, John Carl Buechler, Bill Moseley twice (he bought a shirt from me!), Derek Mears, Jessie Lee, Leslie Easterbrook and Sid Haig again.

My running and fitness went great when I wasn’t working, but was destroyed this year by wedding planning.  I lost 22 lbs but I still had to rent a tux.  Then I gained all the weight back with interest :(

JAN 1, 2016 WEIGHT:  204

JAN 1, 2017 WEIGHT: 211

RESOLUTIONS FOR 2016

1) Write a good script.

2) Cut a horror film/short.

3) Cut “Keep on Running”

4) Solo art show.

5) Be really serious about fitness.  I want a new PB 5k and to fit in my tux.

6) Marry Chelsea.

7) Write a song for piano.

8) Continue learning to use more graphics in editing.  Use AfterEffects.

9) Love Chelsea like she’s never been loved before.  And then love her some more.

10) Continue being awesome.

RESOLUTIONS FOR 2017

1) Buy a home.

2) Cut another horror film/short.

3) Picture Lock “Keep on Running”

4) Solo art show.

5) Be really serious about fitness: Get weight back to 180s, new personal best 5k, and run 1000 miles.

6)  BHOT

7)  A secret resolution I will not tell you.

8) Continue learning to use more graphics in editing.  Use AfterEffects.

9) Love Chelsea like she’s never been loved before.  And then love her some more.

10) Continue being awesome.

I know, I gotta believe!