So, I was on twitter just now (yes I tweet @russellnohelty) and I saw a very interesting trend called #threewordstoliveby. Almost immediately I knew what I was going to write. It's an adage I've been saying to myself and everybody for the past few months: Never Stop Failing. If you've read my latest interview on the Viper site, you get a little insight into why I say that, but for those of you who haves a) why and b) here is my reasoning.
You see, unlike Charlie Sheen I didn't have a famous father or a starring role in a Best Picture winning movie when I was 20. And I certainly wasn't blessed with good looks. So, I've had to work and work HARD at everything I've ever done and I've failed about 5,000,000 times for every success I've ever had. In fact up until this point I've had very minors successes and MASSIVE failures.
However, these failures are what build our character and test our resolve. When I graduated college I was set to direct my first movie. I knew the crap that was on TV and in the theaters and I knew that I could do better. So I bought tons of equipment ($30k worth), wrote a script, worked doing projects for a couple years, and in 2007 I was on the set of my first movie. Heck, I was 24 and feeling on top of the world. Well, we wrapped on July 1st, 2007 and the movie still hasn't gotten out of editing. Overall FAILURE.
I wasn't deterred, though, because I got a job soon after working as an executive producer at an internet start-up. There I produced a couple spots in animation, live action, and even a full blown TV show pilot. Then, after a year I was out of a job. Again, overall FAILURE.
Luckily, during that time I was hired to direct a reality show. Awesome news, right? We shot for 2 weeks some great footage with an amazing crew. 4 years later and the project is still in editing. All I have is a trailer for my efforts. For a third time, FAILURE.
I could keep going on and on about small victories that led to massive failures, but this isn't about wallowing in self pity. It's supposed to be encouraging and uplifting. Because, even after all of those failures... I'm still here trying to break into other mediums, learning from previous mistakes and resolute not to do them again. I've written and been produced in features, TV, Web Series, Commercials, Animation, Comic Book (soon. knock on wood), and hopefully upcoming with a book. By all accounts except financially, I've accomplished a lot (even if I never get footage from any of those people I know I did it dagnabit!)
You see, if I stopped the first, second, fifth, of 10,000 time I failed, it means I'd have stopped trying and I wouldn't be here right now. Because by trying and opening yourself up to opportunities you're probably gonna fail. If you open 10 businesses 9 are gonna fail and most are gonna fail spectacularly. But, as long as 1 succeeds you'll be able to keep going and maintain that spirit.
So it's with that I say to you Never Stop Failing because if you keep trying and keep failing, you'll eventually succeed and it'll make the success sweeter.