The Fatherhood Project

Have you ever signed up for a project and thought, "How did that happen?" 

Well, I have recently been asked to produce a pilot for the Youtube Channel "Soulpancake". 

Rainn Wilson sent out a tweet and I submitted a pitch and got asked to shoot a pilot. 

The show is called "The Fatherhood Project." 

Everybody is affected by their father. Maybe he wasn't there, maybe he was there too much. 

I am on a quest to find out what it means to be a good father. I have 3 kids, 2 boys and 1 girl. 

The more I dive into fatherhood the less I know and the more I second-guess my approach to the zen/art of fatherhood.

The series will consist of 3-5 minute videos documenting the journey of finding out what it means to be a good father.

It will feature interviews with people answering the simple questions: 

“What did your dad do right and what did he do wrong?”

“What did you do right with your kids and what would you do differently?”

I couldn't be more excited about the project!!

This is how it works, I shoot a pilot and then if the pilot does well on Youtube, Soulpancake has the option to pick up more episodes. 

Here is the problem, I hate asking for help. A while back I was cleaning my garage and needed to move a 300lb filing cabinet full of tools. Rather than asking for help I moved it myself. This stubbornness led to the cabinet dropping and nearly breaking my leg. It ended up taking 3 of us to move it.

 So here is where you come in. I need your help to avoid breaking my leg and to spread the word about the show. I can't make this happen without your help. 

Here is how you can help:

1. Sign up to be notified by email about show updates.

I love spam emails from people asking me to sign up for their social media course on how to get 1,000 followers. (Insert sarcastic laugh) Don't worry I won't spam you.

2. Send me your story. I need show ideas. Answer these questions and put it in the message field of the sign up form. 

“What did your dad do right and what did he do wrong?”

“What did you do right with your kids and what would you do differently?”

3. Follow me on instagram, twitter, and or facebook and get updates and the occasional cute picture of Audrey. 

Name *

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First Name

Last Name

Email Address *

Message *

Thank you!

Someone Will Poop Their Pants

Do you ever plan a family event and wish you weren't so grumpy once you get there? You know that feeling when you are smiling at everyone around you, but you are a short fuse ready to explode if you get asked one more time for a gogurt.

Meanwhile you check instagram and the Jone's are enjoying a nice picnic with letter pressed napkins, matching TOMS and Mumford and Sons playing in the background. #totesadorable

Sarah and I recently took the kids to the park to celebrate the end summer. My instagram account actually doesn't tell the whole story.

I actually spent the whole day wrangling kids, untangling fishing line and yelling at my kids not to kill the fish. I love Instagram, but I think I'm fooling people into thinking that I am a superdad. I love it because I can lie to you. I can make you think we are awesome.

I get cranky. I am impatient. I cuss a lot. I am not awesome.

I told a friend who recently had a baby that kids are a fantastic way to remove your head from your ass.

It is no longer about you. It forces you to constantly be on and act like the sparkly lip gloss does look beautiful even though your daughter put it all over her face and the couch.   

Here are a couple of things that help me get my head out of my ass.

-Go to bed early.

When I'm tired and overworked my kids are really annoying. When I'm rested, my kids are much more pleasant. Or maybe I'm more pleasant. 

-Storyboard your day.

Since I'm a director for my job, I try to visualize or storyboard the day as if I was filming it. If we are going to the pool I create a scene where I'm doing a cannonball and wrestling with the kids in the pool. Even though I would rather sit by the pool and read my Kindle or check email. The movie of me doing a cannonball is way better than sitting poolside with my Kindle reading about how to be a better dad.

Cannonball!!!!

-Expect that things will not go as planned.

l like to be in control. Even if you plan and storyboard, someone will poop their pants.

What do you think? What are tricks that you use to be awesome?

Here are some pics of us being Awesome. For some reason I didn't get any pics of me yelling at my kids.

Here and There

Here are a few things that are on my inspiration boards:

What Would You Like to Do if Money Were No Object?

What would you do if money was no object? While to truly live like this is impossible, I think we can live our lives as close to this as possible, but we have to figure out what we don't like in order to discover what we would do if money was no object. Doing this allows us to narrow down what it is that we truly love to do. It also allows us to discover new things that we love.

If money was no object I would probably do nothing for a very long time. After a while I think I would get bored and end up doing something close to what I do now, which is telling stories, solving problems and being a good Dad.

I came across this video via Nofilmschool.

I try to align my company with clients that are like minded and allow us to do what we do best. Anytime I take on a job because of the cash it usually ends in disappointment. This always causes a dilema when actual bills need to be paid.

If I can spend a life solving problems, finding solutions and helping organizations I would be happy.

Here are a couple of projects that we have produced recently that I would do even if money was no object. All of these projects were done for free and with no budget. To be honest, this is some of our best work.