Vilano Studios

In the Summer of 2011, I was living on credit. I had been living on my credit card for months, and had no job prospects in the horizon. I was looking in all the public places, applying at restaurants, small businesses, big businesses, theatres, film companies, schools, factories, warehouses, bars, and tour companies. I was scanning the usual websites, knocking on unusual doors, and walking the streets looking for "Now Hiring" signs. Every day, I talked myself into going on the search again, and every day, my perspective got bleaker. If I, a clean and educated man with a reasonable work history and a spotless background check could not find a job, then what hope did any average unemployed person have?

To be fair, my skills set is somewhat limiting. My resume consisted of museum jobs, education jobs, and theatre jobs. I had proven leadership skills, but no proven computer skills. I could talk all day about the history of old Florida, but had no certification to teach in the public school system. When counties are cutting budgets, and some are even eliminating schools, people with my job skills are holding desperately to whatever jobs they have. I'm too clumsy to be a waiter, and too out of shape to be a stripper. What could I do?

Searching on-line for jobs, it's easy to find the scams. Someone out there will pay a telemarketer to offer a pretend "service" while collecting personal identification and credit card information to sell to the highest bidder. I found a company willing to pay a representative to collect on illegal debt that had survived well past the statute of limitations. I even interviewed at a job where the employer required the employees to pay him for the privilege to work, and the employees were permitted to keep their tips. As my sense of self worth got lower and lower, I had to find a way to laugh.

I started a writing project that could be a positive and progressive resource for me to laugh at the situation I was in. Knocking on doors every day, I was feeling less and less qualified with every rejection, but laughing about it while doing something productive prevented me from feeling less and less like a human being. I was laughing, and writing, and soon I found myself acting again in independent film. I was meeting people and making connections, and I still kept writing. I was being inspired by a variety of creative resources, and I kept writing. Then came a real job that made me feel good again. I was teaching in a classroom four nights a week, and when shortly thereafter I no longer felt the compulsive need to write about the tragic comedy of my life, I had a completed draft of a screenplay.

"Almost Failures" is about six men who have no exceptional talents and a lot of obstacles in their way. We see them through the lenses of documentary cameras following them in the pursuit of their dreams. They struggle to get by as they try to pay the bills, survive, and get recognition for their ambitions. Each one is willing to do whatever it takes to make their mark in the entertainment industry, while they visit all the usual websites and knock on all the unusual doors. Each one of them individually have all the makings of a perfect failure, except they also all have the willingness to give a try and fall on their faces. That's the one thing that saves them from becoming a cautionary tale. They are each of them failures... Almost.

I have the ability, and I have the support of a team of extraordinary people. My team consists of multi-talented and successful business artists. As I build this blog, I intend to mark the progress we make as we bring these stories to public view. Thanks for reading.

Posted 1st February 2012 by C. Stephen Mitchell

http://almostfailures.blogspot.com/2012/02/in-summer-of-2011-i-was-living-on.html?view=timeslide