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Tag: career choices

Hand holding an award
Oct12025

What I Learned about Filmmaking Life from Guild Wars 2

“Mistakes make us human. It’s rising up again that makes us heroes.” – Your Human Character (Guild Wars 2 video game, personal story)

With the expansion to Guild Wars 2 coming out this month, I dipped back into the game and started a new character. In playing the personal story anew (where your choices affect the story you play and the characters you meet), I was affected by this advice that my character gave an NPC.

A freelance career in the film industry is indeed made up of many ups and downs over the years – some in our control and some not. I’ve turned down working on a film because I didn’t particularly like the script… and then it went on to win incredible awards. I’ve also been faced with choosing an 8-month series or a 4-day unique shoot – a harder choice to make because the longer one provided monetary security whereas the shorter one provided more glamour factor but would leave me unemployed shortly thereafter.

When it comes down to it, though, none of the choices made were “mistakes” (ok, maybe passing on the award-winning film was), but in reality, they just led to different paths through my career life. And for each path chosen, I had to rise up and keep looking for work, keep networking, keep making connections. That is the path to self-improvement in career and life.

I also love that it’s my character in Guild Wars providing the advice. It’s so true that you can give yourself your own best advice. The important step, though, is to take it… and become the best you that you can be. And then you will be a true hero in your own life.

Cheers & a good shoot to you,
Deb

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“Film Production Management 101” (now in its third edition) is updated for today’s respectful workplace and sustainable practices – available worldwide, including Amazon-USA, Indigo-Canada and many other bookstores or directly from the publisher (MWP).

 

Nov12024

What I Learned About a Film Career from Bloomin’ Flowers

In short: Flowers blossom at different rates… and some blossom more than once per calendar year.

Going for a walk recently, a local magnolia is in bloom for the second time this year and it looks lovely. Again! But as with any blooming shrub, I notice that not all flowers blossom at the same time. Some buds become ‘early adopters,’ opening up and announcing their colour to the world while others stay as buds a while longer before opening up and shining their colour. Neither flower is more beautiful than the other, they just have different timing.

So too, I’ve noticed with freelance film careers. Some folk manage to shine quickly in their given field while others find a longer path to find their niche (and so do their shining later on). Considering that finding your place in the industry is the success, then neither path is more successful than the other, it’s just different timing.

With freelance work being so volatile, that’s a comforting thought. Keep going along your path and find your way. You may not have blossomed yet, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be blossoming soon.

Cheers & a good shoot to you,
Deb

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FYI, the third edition of “Film Production Management 101” is coming to bookstores and online in January 2025, but available now for pre-order (e.g. on Amazon, Amazon Canada, Indigo-Chapters).

Feb42019

Up for a Mini-Seminar at DM Youth Expo (Sat. Feb. 9)?

The Digital Media Academy (DMA) is holding its Digital Media Youth Expo again this February and I’m thrilled to participate again – this year at the MWP and Biz Books booth.

More than 800 students and their families attend to learn about the numerous educational and employment opportunities available in the Digital Media and Film Industries.

This year I’m conducting MINI-SEMINARS at the MWP/Biz Books booth:

CAREER PLANNING IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

LIVING A CREATIVE LIFE

So, come on by or pass the word to folk you think should attend. Hey… it’s a free to attend!

Saturday, February 9, 2019
12noon to 3pm

DIGITAL MEDIA YOUTH EXPO 2019
at Argyle Secondary School
1131 Frederick Road
North Vancouver, BC

I hope to see you there!

Cheers,
Deb

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Deborah (Deb) Patz is the author of Write! Shoot! Edit! for teens and Film Production Management 101 for the industry – both books are published worldwide by MWP. She’s also part of the editorial board for Prism International. She loves to inspire the next generation of storytellers… might that be you?

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
Feb. 9/19 – Author Participant with Biz Books at Digital Media Youth Expo, North Vancouver BC
July 2019 – UFVA Conference, Minneapolis, MN

WHERE TO FIND DEB’S BOOKS?
Paperback or eBook: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chapters/Indigo, Waterstones, direct from the publisher and from plenty of other great bookstores worldwide.

Deb at R2R Festival
Apr172018

Inspiration at the Movies: Earth: One Amazing Day

Deb at R2R FestivalThis past weekend, I went to the closing night of the R2R Family Film Festival. It’s great to see family-friendly films from around the world on the big screen… but I digress.

Sometimes in a movie there’s a line that really rings true and you know you’re going to remember it for, well, probably for the rest of your life! It really speaks to you. Well, Saturday, I heard just such a line. Apparently it’s an African saying, but for me, it’s a line from “Earth: One Amazing Day” forever in sync in my brain with a flyover of African vistas and an adorable baby zebra. Here ’tis:

If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together.

Which will you choose? In the meantime…

Cheers & a great shoot to you,
Deb

– – – – – – – – – –

Deborah (Deb) Patz is the author of Write! Shoot! Edit! for teens and Film Production Management 101 for the industry – both books are published worldwide by MWP. She’s also part of the editorial board for Prism International and she really, really, really wants to visit Africa someday.

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
Apr.19 – Guest Author – Tea & Ink Writing Club, Tri-Cities BC
May 2-3 – Guest Instructor – Powell River Digital Film (High) School, Powell River BC
May 19-24 – PM Instructor – Screenwriter’s Bootcamp, PEI
Jul.23-26 – UFVA Conference: Stories Without Borders, La Cruces, New Mexico

WHERE TO FIND DEB’S BOOKS?
Paperback or eBook: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chapters/Indigo, Waterstones, direct from the publisher and from plenty of other great bookstores worldwide.

Oct12015

Movies To See Again: Picasso Would Make A Glorious Waiter

waitrFilm festival season, and though I’m seeing new and terrific films now, I’m also remembering gems of festivals past.

Picasso as a waiter? Huh? Great image, no?

Well, this movie is a documentary that follows the wait staff at Glorious Catering… but, boy, does the movie go deeper than that!

What I really like about this doc is that without any talking heads, we follow each member of the serving staff at a catering event. Each one is adept in their role and we are a spy with backstage access.

Then we sneak a peek into each person’s “other life” and we discover each member of the team is vastly different and uniquely the same: painters, musicians, sculptors, and so on. A mosaic of talented artists!

You start to question your own identity as you re-label them. They are not wait staff who do art… they are artists that wait to pay the bills.

Who are we, then? We don’t have be the job that pays the bills. We can be… whatever we choose. We just have to do it.

So… what are you going to do?

Cheers & good on ya,
Deb

Aug162015

Ink wisdom: “Pirate’s Passage”

pirsailsThink of pirates and your mind will no doubt go back to the Golden Age of pirates. An age so often romanticised in books and movies. Why don’t you first think about Sir Francis Drake? Or other explorers of the Caribbean? If it was government-sanctioned, was it not still piracy?

You gotta love a book that challenges your ideas on a topic… especially when the story is told as a modern day adventure story.

Author William Gilkerson gives us this new persepctive on pirates and on what is good and what is bad from the grizzled old Captain Charles Johnson (who appears to be a sailor out-of-time). Using fiction, the new ideas cannot possibly come across as factual and dry, but instead keep you guessing, teasing you back and forth on both sides of believing them. Through the POV of 12 year old Jim, you are taken on a journey to the thin line of choice to become a pirate yourself or not. And when you’re there, the decision is not as easy as you thought it would be when you were on page 1.

Then again, serious decisions are never as easy as they first seem, are they?

Cheers and good decisions to you,
Deb