Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 9:03AM 
Chris Frederick is a Brooklyn-based artist. His work has crossed media and genres, in the form of photography, drawing, video production, acting and now film making. He answered a few questions about his new film, Heads & Tails, which is currently in production. You can read the interview here.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 11:56AM Again, it's the Year of Yes (I'm really having fun with this one so far) and accordingly I'm not turning down any potential adventures.
As I've mentioned before my friend Chris is in the process of making a film. He and his partner started filming it about a year and a half ago. Once they had enough footage, they put together a trailer and started shopping it around. This year, they received the funding they needed and are able to finish the production.
You can see the trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WLwnw7JRFk
Knowing my friend Chris from the days we worked together at Morgan Stanley, I know how creative he is. also know just how passionate he is with his work. So when he asked if I was interested in helping with the final filming I had to say yes.
My role was not a glamorous one, but then again I've never been all that into glamour. I was a PA, helping out anywhere and everywhere I could. I was Craft Services, Wardrobe, assistant to the Props Manager (Abby) and Extra. Perhaps because it was a volunteer one day even, it was surprisingly fulfilling. Because of the professional attitudes of the crew and cast, it was an absolute pleasure to work on.
After working for myself, and by myself after the past few months, it was a fun role to play. It reminded me that I was very good at my Production jobs. The last place I worked was completely chaotic. I wasn't learning anything, I was very unhappy with my role and management. Despite completing my tasks timely and accurately, I never felt I was doing my job well enough. That was my last work experience.
This was exactly what I needed. It was a fun, creative environment in which we needed to meet actual, attainable goals within a timeline. Everyone worked very hard, but everyone also had a great time. It was one of the smoothest projects I've ever worked.
Who knew that was going to be such a fun reaffirming experience? All said, it was another example of the power of saying yes to the world.
Monday, November 17, 2008 at 10:30AM So I had the thumbs up from the family and friends, decided the job wasn't worth keeping, had an idea of what I wanted to do. Again, I'm pragmatic. I just needed one more thing to take the faithful leap: real-life examples that it could be done.
It didn't take much looking around. As I've mentioned, my friends are pretty amazing. Hardworking, clever, creative and here in New York to follow their dreams. Immediately I had examples of people who, within the past couple years, had made this leap. It never before occurred to me exactly how brave they were. In each case, I knew there had a been a lot of work involved, some times of uncertainty. Ultimately though, they were all incredibly happy.
I had been with them when they made the decision to pursue their interests. Although it took time, effort and perseverance, they are all happy. In fact, each of these endeavors has given each of them confidence and knowledge (and they were all confident and knowledgeable people to begin with) that they wouldn't have found staying at their jobs. No one ever says that making this kind of leap is easy, but everyone of these people proved it was worth it.
At the time I was making my decision, a colleague of mine had just returned from a year abroad. When I asked her about making the decision she said "No one ever looks back on that year and says 'I wish I'd stayed working 9-5 in a cubicle.' " And she's right. No one ever says "I shouldn't have made the attempt." Worst-case scenario, that time leads to something new and excited otherwise unavailable.
So the decision was made.
A funny thing happened this weekend. I was out with Lauren and a couple of other people. Someone described a friend as "taking the money he saved from his job and deciding not to work full-time for someone else anymore." Lauren and I high-fived each other.