“I’m not one to stand still. On February 1st, I’ll start writing a feature film. Over the years, I have found ways to obscure my writing ambitions. Getting lost in ‘busy’. Or perhaps my inner-critic questioning whether my ideas are good enough. In 2022, I’m not allowing those thoughts to deter me.”
-DANIEL JOHNSON, 31st January 2022.
On January 31st, I said I would begin writing a feature film on February 1st. On February 1st, I most definitely did not begin writing a feature film. I did not do any meaningful work towards writing a feature in the entirety of 2022.
I continued to be productive and creative with my showreel for actors work, but in terms of writing bigger projects, which I promised myself I would do, I did nothing.
I have excuses, many of which are valid:
-I had two bizarre legal issues appear early in the year; one where another creator breached my copyright, and another where an individual operated under a name which I had trademarked. Both of these issues were costly, financially and mentally.
-My Grandmother died. She had been sick for a long time; it was a draining period for myself and my family.
-I rekindled a project that I filmed for CFOR, from 2017-2019, a series of documentary projects about the reconciliation process in Rwanda following the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Much of the latter part of this year has been editing material.
-The economy tanked and life got more expensive. During more prosperous days, I could reward myself with a week or two of focusing on a creative project, but this year it felt risky.
There are many more excuses for not focusing on the writing goals I gave myself.
“I’ll also shoot a short film or two as well.”
-Daniel Johnson
I said I’d write and direct some short films, and I definitely didn’t do that. I wrote a couple, but I didn’t film them.
Whether I failed in this area is less clear cut. I did, unexpectedly, begin making comedy sketches for Tik Tok. And these sketches got millions of views, hundreds of thousands of ‘likes’. I could, and will argue – that my ‘short film’ creative energy went into my Tik Toks. And in many ways, in terms of eyeballs on my work, they’re my most successful projects ever.
So maybe the feeling of failure around my short films is unjustified.
I feel like there are different versions of me in my head. I have this idea of me as a writer and director of films that is based on who I was at 17, but is my dream still the same, or is it different? Is television comedy, in sketch form or sitcom, more fitting to my skillset?
All I know for now is that I set myself goals for 2022 and achieved none of them.
I honestly don’t know how the year passed so fast.
Here I am, on the eve of 2023, preparing for a new year.
I haven’t figured everything out yet, but if I do, I’ll let you know.
