Simply. Just. "Breathe."

Few things are as stressful to a director as his talent not showing up for their video shoot.

The only thing that could make such a situation worse is if the film said director is shooting has to be completed and edited for said director's largest client in just three days!

If you haven't guessed by now, I was the director in question. What happened that day, and the resulting video, is another example of how an "epic fail" resulted in creative success.

"What had happened was..."

I was hired to produce a 3-part film series for my largest client at the time. The films were to be part of the new CEO's opening presentation at their largest conference of the year. Hundreds of professional photographers from around the country (and some from abroad) were coming to improve their skills, network, and be inspired. In fact, the theme for the conference was "Dream. Create. Inspire."

I had already finished two of the three films, one each for Dream and Create. This third film, for the theme "Inspire," was going to be a short film about a man recently released from prison who had made a lasting impression on a high-profile commercial photographer I was good friends with, Zack Arias.

This gentleman had shown up at Zack's door selling soap. Zack asked the man why he was selling soap door to door, and the man gave the story of how he was trying to put his life back together. It was a powerful tale of overcoming odds when the odds against you are your own worst inner demons. I wanted to tell this guy's story!

Zack was able to get ahold of him again, and arrangements were made for us to meet the man at his home for an interview and a recreation of the encounter.

He never showed up.

To this day, I have no idea what happened to him. He had a tortured past, so it's possible old skeletons re-appeared and scared him away. All that mattered was there were only three days until the event, and I was S.O.L.

Keepin' it Simple

There was no time to plan a new shoot. I contemplated having Zack just tell the story, but it wouldn't have been the same.

And that's when "inspiration" hit.

The first two films were cinematic, colorful, and engaging documentaries about pursuing your dreams and the creative process.

What if this third film was the exact opposite? My partner was a talented writer and poet, and decided to write a beautiful spoken word piece about the importance of slowing down.

It was brilliant. The conference attendees were all self-employed professional photographers who, when not spending hours shooting in the field or in their studio, spent hours at their computers. This piece could be a reminder to slow down and keep everything in perspective.

The only problem left was, who would be the talent? We decided on the grip, Pedro. I kid you not. He had gone to film school, so he was familiar with what it takes to perform. And he had a cool look (tattoos and all).

It was just Pedro, a lav mic, a black background, and a spoken word piece written on the spot. AND HE NAILED IT!

Happy accidents

The whole series was lauded by the attendees, and numerous people told me how meaningful it was to be reminded to slow down and put life into perspective.

Years later, I think these words are just as meaningful today.

But the best part of this whole story was that unbeknownst to my partner and me at the time, the Latin root for the word "inspire" means "to breathe." The original story we planned to tell of the door-to-door soap salesman was meant to inspire. What we ended up creating was an inspirational film that literally meant "to inspire."

May it inspire you.