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Tiffany: When I was 21 I set out to make my first feature film, Zoli's Brain
and I enlisted all these money from family and friends
and I asked hundreds of people to help me with the shoot
and I spent 4 years of my life on it
and then I totally failed.
I'm Tiffany Shlain.
I'm a mother, filmmaker.
I founded the Webby Awards,
and this series is about how the future
doesn't start somewhere far off in the distance.
The future starts here.
(intro music)
(clapping)
It took me another 12 years before I built up the courage
to want to tackle another feature film
and I did a lot of smaller projects that built along the way
to like build my courage because you know,
courage is like a muscle.
You need to constantly strengthen it to get to the bigger projects.
Along the way, I found my voice which was great.
Started narrating my own films instead of having a man speak my thoughts.
With that first feature film I gave up at the scary stage
and now that I've learned how to embrace all these stages,
the creative process has become a lot more enjoyable to me.
I want to share them with you so that maybe it can help you too.
Stage 1: The hunch.
Any projects starts with a hunch and you have to act on it.
It's a total risk because you're just about to jump off a cliff
and you have to go for it if you believe in it.
And you have to gather the team around you that you want to jump off with you.
Stage 2: Talk about it.
This brings me to my new projects which is this feature Connected.
Tell your family, tell your friends, tell your community.
I mean, they're the ones who are going to support you
on the whole treacherous journey on this creative process.
Involve them, engage them,
unless of course you're an introvert then don't tell anyone.
Sshhhh!
Stage 3 and I love this stage.
It's the sponge.
I'm going to tons of art shows, I'm watching a lot of movies,
I'm reading veraciously, I'm asking questions on Facebook and Twitter
and going on Pinterest and I'm just sponging up ideas
and trying to formulate my own idea about the subject.
Stage 4 is build.
I love the word filmmaker because it has maker in it.
My team and I are building.
We're constructing, we're writing, we're reading, we're collaborating,
we're building an armature, the architecture for the project.
Stage 5, here's the scary part.
Confusion, dread, heart of darkness, forest of fire, doubt, fear.
Every project has this stage for me
but the good thing is as hard as it is and it is really hard,
is that any project film, art installation, writing,
it always gets infinitely better after I've rumbled with all of my fears.
(lively music)
Stage 6: Take a breather.
Literally step away from the project
and I'll build this into the schedule.
Just step away, let it marinate.
Don't look at it or think about it.
I know that I've completely lost perspective.
Let me just ask you, how long have we been working on the edit?
Man in blue: Since last August?
Voiceover: Yeah, it was August 1st maybe.
Man in blue: So, almost a year.
Tiffany: And what minute are we at?
Man in blue: We're in minute 12.
(laughing)
Tiffany: Stage 7: The Love Sandwich.
This is the first thing I teach anyone who joins my team.
Basically, to give constructive feedback, always snuggle it in love
because we're only human and we're vunerable.
When I ask for feedback which I do a lot on my projects,
I try to first set expectations on where you are on the project.
Voiceover: And the ending of the film particularly is very, very, very rough.
(laughing)
In fact, it's so rough ...
Tiffany: Then ask for questions in a way that allows for the love sandwich.
First, what works for you?
Then what doesn't work for you?
Then what works for you again?
If you just ask people for feedback, they'll go straight for the jugular.
The love sandwich, pack it up and bring it with you.
Stage 8: The Premature Breakthrough Ulation.
You will find in a project that you will have many false breakthroughs
and you have to celebrate these little breakthroughs
because they're ultimately going to lead to the big breakthrough,
which will happen.
We're having another breakthrough.
You have to admit there's been a lot of breakthroughs on this film.
I think we're down to 0 minutes.
We're down to 0 minutes on the film now.
Voiceover: We're on negative.
Tiffany: We're negative minutes but we're feeling good, I don't know why.
Stage 9: Revisit your notes.
I always do this throughout the project
but especially during that last home stretch.
Those late nights, that extra mile.
Usually near a deadline and then I revisit all my notes and feedback
and I always find the clue, that missing link that brings it all home.
[unintelligible] last picture, 3 and a half years!
You're in the hug!
(screaming)
Stage 10, I love this part.
I've worked for this part.
We all deserve this part!
Know when you're done.
(lively music)
You can really apply these stages to anything in the world.
I mean, progress itself.
Sometimes it feels like we're going 2 steps forward 1 step back
but we eventually are moving forward.
It's good to kind of understand that it's all a process
and it's going to take you to a new place.
And I try to remind myself all the time to enjoy the process.