The Season of Film

It takes no small amount of courage to share your art, this small piece of your inner life, with the judging and jaded public. We hold this authentic expression of identity close to our hearts because the inner monologue runs “what if they think I’m annoying? Or bad?” Despite all the reasons not to share your art, and there are many, don’t you feel you’ll never truly live keeping it caged?

I write constantly. I fill journals, write poetry on scraps of paper by my side, write here in this blog, write music, write sketches, notes, lists, and short stories. Most of them are kept hidden away in my room next to my fat stack of books I have going at all times. Many a role model in this wild entertainment industry keeps repeating, there’s no way to make it unless you make it yourself. Having little nepotism on my side, I know that to be startlingly true. So at the end of last year, I picked up some colorful motivational self-help guide and live-laugh-loved my way into sending an intimidating first email out to a friend titled “I wrote a film. Will you read it?”

The Piece follows Mila Grewkowski on her last piano lesson before her first big audition. When fear manifests into an apparition out of her control, she fights to save the music in this short horror film.

While the film is fiction, the feeling of imposter syndrome is all too real for me, and countless other musicians. With this film, I took those fears and made them tangible, a horror that Mila, my character can stare in the eyes. Writing and producing a film based around your greatest fear is hard. Every step has been a battle against that voice telling me to stop. It tells me to stop because I’ll look silly, because no one really likes me, and especially because I can’t play piano. (yes it constantly yells you can’t play piano despite the on-paper facts of 16 years of private lessons and a music degree). I think I wrote this film because they say to write what you know. I know this fear. I know this fear and my dreams are bigger than the fear.

Film production is a huge undertaking and I'm working to ensure my talented crew gets all they deserve. There's also travel, location fees, props, food, costume, rental gear to get our studio as spooky as possible, and marketing! Join me on the journey of realizing "The Piece" into a fully finished film.  All your support is dearly appreciated and I can't wait to update you on all the film's progress!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/emmayoungofficial/the-piece

Here's an easy way to share with 3 (or more!) of your friends:

Please contribute to my friend Emma's film campaign for her original short, The Piece. It's a fast paced horror about music, imposter syndrome, and when manifestation goes wrong.