Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009

Howdy there, Folks

I been bad. Soooo bad... in looking over the blog here, it looks to me like the last post I made of any substance (beyond posts about how much I suck at blogging) was back in mid-November. The usual mea-culpa's: I've been exceedingly busy, I haven't had the time or mental energy to sit down and fill you in on what's been going on, etc. If you're really here LOOKING for a run-down of what's been happening in Trish and my life over the last couple of months, click here - it's mostly there (for a little extra spice, you might want to check my Twitter Feed - the widget to the right just displays the last couple posts. There's so much more!). A re-cap of the past couple of months isn't what brought me to the keyboard today, though.

I'm here today because I feel blessed. 2008 has been a tremendous year for me... according to my PerformerTrack, I worked on over fifty projects this year. Some of them you're probably well aware of, like Animus Cross and The Outbreak. If you've read the blog with any frequency you're probably aware of a bunch more, such as my work with the CTN and Wild Bills' Murder for Sale division. Those projects may have been a little "lower profile," but they were no less rewarding.

I guess my point is that I've been pretty lucky this past year, and I can only hope to surpass the success I've enjoyed this year in 2009. As I wrote in a message to my mailing list earlier today, we're facing some challenges in the upcoming year - the economy is down, advertising agencies are cutting staff left and right, SAG is still holding out the possibility of a strike... a lot of things could conspire to make 2009 a challenging year.

All we can do is work together to make the coming year as good as it can be. The independent spirit that defines Portland has already begun to rise to the challenge - at a recent Film Community Night mixer, local producers called for investment in "indigenous" filmmaking, and attention to locally-created work. The Portland Area Theater Alliance is putting together a "Fertile Ground" festival of new work, meant to highlight all the creative energy this area has to offer. As new challenges arise, we creative types are doing what we're good at - being creative - to overcome them.

Will it be enough? Who's to say? All we can do as we enter the new year is keep on moving forward - keep building on what's come before and hope that we can make progress down the road we've chosen to travel. For my own part, I'm hoping to exceed the number of projects I worked on this past year (and, hopefully, the amount of money they brought). I'm hoping to expand my range outside the Portland Area, perhaps getting an agent in Seattle. Whatever the future holds, I'm going to move forward into the new year. I hope you'll do the same.

Well, that's enough maudlin "auld lang sine" for one night. I hope you all have a wonderful new year... Trish is taking me to a lovely little hotel in Cottage Grove tomorrow for my birthday - you likely won't hear from me until next year (unless, of course, you follow me on Twitter; I might send a message or two from my Blackberry while I'm out and about). Until then... stay safe and stay warm!

-Harold