How Tumblr Changed My Life - stephendiaz
by stephendiaz
please excuse any typos, gramatical errors or general rambling……
As a creative individual, tumblr has given me an avenue to do so in a way that reaches farther than i ever could. Currently I run 7 tumblrs with different themes, but the most popular one seems to be my filmmaking one stephendiaz.com and community-run veryseriousbiz.biz . Why I say tumblr has changed my life is that it has made me realize what i love doing (1. being on the internet, but more than that being in community, and 2. making films, and helping others make films). stephendiaz.com used to be all about me, it was just a personal portfolio site where i posted only my own content. this was fine, but it was until i made the site more about the followers than myself did i see transformation. now the site is a mix of social media tips, filmmaking diy, and projects that i’m involved in or ones that i just want to share! i have been spotlighted on tumblr’s filmmakers page and that has really helped me build a bigger community of people. tumblr has led me to jobs and to complete strangers who i’ve met up with and worked on projects with.
basically what i’ve come here to say is that i am graduating from filmschool this may…almost all my classmates are stressed out trying to get into hollywood and build up their careers up there but i honestly don’t care about hollywood. I WORK FOR THE INTERNET and will for the rest of my life, because that’s where my passion is. I can reach more people with a simple vimeo video than some movie that i held a boom mic on in hollywood. i see dudes like Kirby who is basically paid to do what he loves because of the internet. he made a series called everything is a remix, it was awesome, and now he has a new project which is fully funded:(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kirby/this-is-not-a-conspiracy-theory?ref=live). do i think the projects going to cost him 60,000 dollars to make, probably not… that’s his salary for the year, for a job he absolutely loves and that he made up himself. this gives me confidence that i will never work a “”desk job”” in my life, [ unless it’s for Tumblr ;) ], I will work for myself, for the community, for the internet.
All it takes is building reputation and a community of people that will support you because they love what you do. (it’s been said, having 1000 true fans to make a living as an artist http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php).
the internet, and tumblr to be specific, empowers artists in a way that is new and exciting. it allows us to touch millions with the click of a mouse.
again sorry for the typos/gramatical stuff… if you want something a little more coherent let me know and i can write up something more official (or make a video). thanks for listening, you guys are the best (seriously).
