The Him Network
The lifeblood of independent creative activity
Since we launched Him almost one year ago, one of our guiding principals has been to share what’s happening in our process. This is inspired by Austin Kleon’s fantastic book Show Your Work! One of the first tips he offers is to find a scenius.
Scenius, a term coined by Will Eno, rejects the idea of a lone genius on the pedestal in favor of a “creative ecology” where people work together.
We think that this principal is a healthy way to think of activating your network. “Networking” can have anxiety-inducing connotations - cold calls, social events with high stakes, the pressure to make a connection right now - but your network already exists. In fact, you are likely a part of many networks. We find that creativity flows when we combine networks in unexpected ways.
We are constantly activating parts of our networks during the post-production process. Networking is how we met peer filmmakers during our pre-production process who shared valuable advice with us. With the exception of two actors, our entire production and post-production team can be traced to networking in some way - including an instance where someone networked with us, leading to the development of our sound department. Check that out visually:
And this just scratches the surface of how our networks are at play. Here’s an ultra-specific example of how Tess is expanding her network!
Tess has become part of an exciting indie film network in LA - in the fall she connected with Izzy Stevens, an award-winning filmmaker and Netflix series regular who has a creative coaching and career strategy group for filmmakers called Indie Spunk. Lots of Izzy’s guidance was useful during pre-production, especially when it came to crowdfunding!
Each month Tess participates in group coaching calls, and special guest seminars all about empowering filmmakers. It’s also a space to find accountability by sharing what you’re working on each week with the group, and seeing who can help each other out!
Through this group Tess has gotten to know other new female filmmakers, and learn about their experiences creating their own work. In fact, one member of the group was part of our test audience who provided feedback on the latest cut of the film (thanks Sonya!)
Special thanks
To the folks in Rebecca, Tess, and Kelsey’s networks (see what we did there) who generously watched and responded to the current cut of the movie this week! We are excited for our new cut which will be done soon 😎