Destination: Onward and Upward

The very first London Web Fest is being held at the end of the month as part of Raindance Film Festival and it's hard not to feel a little disheartened because we entered our web series Unlocked and were not selected.

While I'm excited for other web series creators, including a friend of Cheesemint's, Elisar Cabrera with his series 3some, it is quite hard for me personally (I can't speak for the others, obviously) to accept our exclusion.

Not because I think Unlocked was the greatest thing ever (in fact looking back at it despite feeling proud at what we accomplished, all I see is something that wasn't good enough) but because I know just how much of ourselves we put into it. 

At the time of making Unlocked, especially during the last three weeks, when we were all sleep deprived and coming home from our full time jobs, editing all night long stopping only to eat (barely) we were close to burning out. In fact, I think some of us were. I was certainly the most stressed I have ever been that's for sure.

Maybe that's just the curse of being a filmmaker? You put so much work into something, devote so much of your time to it and once it's finished, you see all the flaws, all the things you could do differently and you have this urge to wash your hands of it and move on to new things - better things. Because who wants to create the same things over and over? Certainly not me. I strive to get better with everything I create.

I have other projects lined up and so do the rest of Cheesemint; collaborations, festival submissions, regular shows on YouTube, commissions and a very ambitious project involving some pretty impressive actors (watch this space).  So, ultimately I really shouldn't be feeling sad that Unlocked didn't get nominated. Because I know the best is yet to come. 

I suppose a nomination might have validated making ourselves ill and would have felt like a reward for our hard work but then, I would totally go through all that again without recognition because I love filmmaking. To me, stress, exhaustion, insomnia and malnourishment are inconsequential when it comes to working on something you love. 

That said, best of luck to all of the nominations and their futures. I genuinely hope you all get great exposure, lots of recognition and highlight just how awesome web series are as a medium. I would say we'll see you all next year but based on how many other projects we have planned for next couple of years, maybe not.

Exciting times are ahead. I know it.