Brave New World

By
Javier Ronceros
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Goodness knows I really want to get back to work, back to collaborating with fellow artists, back to a sense where telling stories is still important and necessary. How do I navigate these uncharted waters?
"Brave New World" Goodness knows I really want to get back to work, back to collaborating with fellow artists, back to a sense where telling stories is still important and necessary. How do I navigate these uncharted waters?

This is a brave new world we’re living in.

It was pointed out to me the other day that this year’s award season is already in deep jeopardy. However, I can only assume the conversation had to do with the current Omicron variant and the upsurge in infections. What that means for productions currently filming or ones ready to go up, I know not. But, there has been a few signs that the film industry does not want to stop. Spider-Man: No Way Home is doing boffo business at the box office here and abroad. Auditions (EcoCast) and submissions are up.  Just last week I read for no less than three films that, presumedly, are shooting later this month and in February. I’m getting mixed messages here.

Another example would be the current project I am directing. My production team has us on schedule for principle photography to commence in March. In some ways I am so ready to move forward and get back to making some art, tell a story, stand behind a camera and capture some magic. On the other hand, I wonder where this recent variant will take us. I drive by long queues of cars waiting to get a drive through COVID-19 test. Some of my family members have tested positive and are in quarantine. I have tested about five times in the last couple of months, all negative thank goodness. So what does this all mean? I do not know.

Goodness knows I really want to get back to work, back to collaborating with fellow artists, back to a sense where telling stories is still important and necessary. How do I navigate these uncharted waters?
“Brave New World” Goodness knows I really want to get back to work, back to collaborating with fellow artists, back to a sense where telling stories is still important and necessary. How do I navigate these uncharted waters?

Goodness knows I really want to get back to work, back to collaborating with fellow artists, back to a sense where telling stories is still important and necessary. How do I navigate these uncharted waters?

I feel I have been a drift in a vast sea of fear, anger, and doubt. Most of the time I see faces without mouths, eyes that are as weary as mine, contactlessness and social distancing are now the norm. The question is, for how long. I feel stuck on pause, no matter how many meetings and plans to shoot again this year I may have. Then I remembered something very important. I have been here before.

Artists as a group have always had challenges that have felt, at occasions, as insurmountable. We don’t have money, we need day jobs, the competition is so great, if we could only get someone to see us, or if we just got this part, or if Steven Spielberg would just see my last YouTube video, then I can make my art. But, the truth is, we don’t need any one elses permission to create. The only permission we need is our own.

We don’t create because we can. We create because we must. Only we can stop or we can start.

In my case, I feel I have no choice but to continue and face these challenges head on. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. So, join me my friends.

Work on that draft, edit that film, read for those parts, make art. More than ever before, the need for a good story, relatable characters, and happy endings, or sad, will always be welcomed and necessary.  Until the next time.