Kingston is about to embark on a cultural planning process. I hope that by the end of it, we can find a way to explode the current way of thinking in this city about the value of our cultural assets and specifically, the exponentially concentrated value of small-group, experimental, even non-commercial, not-for-profit, practitioners. These groups attract the “creative class”. I’ll bet that if one did a survey of what was most important to an innovative, visionary, creative individual considering where to make their home, one would find that places like The Sleepless Goat, The Artel, Modern Fuel, The Skeleton Park Music Festival, reelout etc., along with vibrant neighbourhoods, greenspace and other such community features are more of a draw than some of the larger, more expensive cultural projects/organizations that receive the lion’s share of municipal funding. We should consider how we can cultivate the grounds for many more small, robust, experimental grassroots cultural organizations and start-ups…I’m not sure if other people share this way of thinking but if we want to truly blossom as a destination for the ‘knowledge economy’, we need to think creatively about how we invest our municipal dollars to get the highest cultural return. Separately, while it is a great start that the city is finally funding the arts with annual operating and project grants, looking at the numbers, only 54% of applications were funded, and far less than 50% of the monies requested was actually granted. This demonstrates that the available pool of money is not sufficient to sustain even the organizations that already exist, never mind demonstrate capacity to provide resources for continued growth in the number and diversity of arts organizations locally.
That’s just my two cents :)….
Talk soon,
Lenny

Welcome to the next phase. I feel like things are going well. I am excited to announce that I will have a new intern from Queen’s film join me in the next couple of weeks. Welcome James. I will also begin teaching a video class to music/dig. arts students at St. Lawrence College. It will be a fun way to spend my Fridays. I plan to push ahead with my projects in development and to continue to take on select commercial work. I am planning to get a downtown office in the near future and to finalize my new identity elements. In fact, Vince is in halifax right now working on it, I’m sure. Right Vince?

I’ve read a few business books lately (kind of un-literary, I know, but at the same time, occassionally enlightening) and I can’t believe how easy it is for some to aspire so aggressively to wealth and ’success’ at the expense of things like human rights, environmental protection, and intimate relationships. I think about how I’m running my business, and my life, and am content with my slow-growth approach and my commitment to producing work of the highest quality with my collaborators/clients. If I ever write a business book, mine will be different. If I ever write a cookbook, it will include only deep-frying recipes and there will be a picture of me, battered and browned, on the cover.

yours in good sense,
Lenny

Why in the world is it so difficult to post to this blog regularly? It should be easy. It only takes a minute. I guess it’s because I feel like I should at least have something to report, keep the narrative going.

So, what’s new to report? Not much really. I’m doing work on a number of corporate projects. Some interesting museum exhibit stuff upcoming. In discussions on a number of things (including some projects of my own and some excellent collaborations). Locally, I did not run for re-election to the board of Modern Fuel (check out their new website by the way) and, instead, will be the new chair of the Facility Action Committee for the artist-run centre. Ahhh Kingston…such a wonderful city.

On a side note, I was recently in New York and look forward to travels upcoming to Vancouver and Los Angeles. And I miss my friends in Ottawa, so I’ll hopefully zip up there soon too.

Take care. I hope to have some concrete exciting news to report soon.

Take care,
Lenny

Hey all,
If you are in Kingston, come check out “Two Little Monkeys”, my film which has been enjoyed by those who have seen it. It’s playing as part of a benefit for the Skeleton Park Music Festival. It’s a neat event - my film, followed by music by Mark Wilson. He’s good. He’s from Ottawa. Anyways, the show happens at The Screening Room movie theatre at 1pm on May 5th (Saturday)….It’s a matinee so you can bring your families and support the neighbourhood music festival.

I have a lot of work to do in the next little while. That’s good, but it doesn’t give me time to write my trans hockey musical, “Stanley’s Cups”….A shame really, it could be a great movie. I wonder if such a thing could ever get made. At any rate, thanks everyone for keeping me so busy. Keep the business coming. Thanks to everyone who spreads the word and recommends/mentions me. I’m grateful for your support.

Later,
Lenny

It’s hard to believe that so much has happened in one month. I have been basically taking meetings and lining up some wonderful projects and exciting partners. My challenge to myself now is to make sure that I push forward on an ongoing basis. I think I need to continue to develop partnerships and prospects while running a smooth production operation. If I can continue to do this over the next months, I should be able to produce a lot of good stuff and grow to a sustainable point.

In the near future I will be going to Ottawa, South Carolina, and likely Toronto again, Montreal and hanging around Kingston- to work and (hopefully) meet with you sometime.

Later,
Lenny

ps. Did I ever put this picture up? I scanned a balloon once. I like the blue.

Hello to everyone who is checking this out who got my card at the Chamber exhibition. I would have liked to walk around more and check out your tables but I ended up just staying at my table for pretty much the whole time. I did sneak away for some of those little meatballs though. A brief reminder of some of the things I can do for you…1) Video for your website!- there are so many things we can do with this. Explain what you do in an engaging, easy to digest way. Give people a chance to see how you do what you do. Let’s talk about possibilities. It costs less than you’d think (Thanks Stu for that one.) And you can use video in your powerpoint presentations too! 2) Viral videos for mass dissemination- build your brand, drive people to your website. I am planning to create advertising opportunities for businesses within creative webisodes and viral videos. 3) Live event filming. If you have a workshop, panel, guest speaker, focus group, etc. and would like to have it documented as a resource for future use, this is cheap, easy, professional, and, above all, useful to you!

Also, I cut a short corporate reel (it’s the video embedded on this page). It will change and get better as time goes on. The music is thanks to an excellent group from Brooklyn, NY called Ratatat. I will also get around at some point to cutting a dramatic reel.

I feel like this webpage is a little cluttered now that the video is there. I’ll have to work on getting the whole thing tidied up. But the info is here I think. So, please, enjoy.

Later,
Lenny

Well, the Keystone webisodes are officially launched. You can watch them here. At some point in the near future, you can look forward to a little bit of a new look on my website. I’m planning to update the video interface and beautify things even more as well as add an official “in development” section to allow for easier interactions with other production companies and broadcasters.

On another note, my reelout contract got extended slightly which is good for now. I’m very excited for the festival which is coming up the next two weekends. It’s going to busy as it is every year. My birthday is on Saturday- 3 screenings that day. I’ll likely celebrate in February when the fest is finished.

Take care all,
L.

For the first time in quite a while I feel like I have the time and energy to stir up a new batch of projects. It’s quite exciting and there are a number of really interesting potential works and opportunities that may develop. I’m also, right now, looking to build new relationships with potential collaborators and clients. Ideas can be sent to me here via email.

In the next week or so, Epstein Creative will be launching an opportunity for departments, researchers, and faculty of Queen’s University (my alma mater) to develop video content for any diversity of uses. I believe that using video to document and communicate often makes a lot of sense within the context of the University community but it isn’t always given due consideration and, as a result, is likely under-utilized. Our special service for Queen’s will ensure high-quality, high-value video production for your needs- from live events to scripted/documentary-style pieces, we can version your video for the web, dvd, broadcast and more.

Anyways, Ill write more sometime soon. Later,
Lenny

Well, what a couple of weeks it has been. The commercial spot shoot went really well. I believe it’ll cut together fine and the finished product should be pretty unique. I think the client will be happy, which is important for commercial work. Of course, in the midst of all the busy-ness surrounding the shoot, simultaneously, the reelout programming deadline came and went. Thankfully, Carla did a great job with the reelout work and we managed to pull it off with style as well…The program for the festival looks great. Our gala film is “The Gymnast” , an excellent indie American film that this year we are screening at the Empire Capitol 7 cinema in downtown Kingston. It’s amazing to see how reelout has grown even in the short three years I’ve been involved.

As the arts community in this city works towards a sustainable funding model with the municipal government, I hope that a strong case is made for grassroots, smaller scale alternative arts organizations to receive operating funds. It’s these street-level groups that foster innovation in the arts and garner surprise media attention and credibility for a city trying to position itself as a leading creative community. It also increases the opportunities for local artists and curators, I would imagine exponentially, beyond the larger arts bodies like major galleries, symphonies etc. The return on investment in terms of economic impact, I suspect, is also higher with the smaller groups- though I’m curious if any studies have been done.

Anyways, Happy holidays. I’m looking forward to new projects, building new relationships in this next year. So, please, be in touch.

So, the screenings in Kingston and Ottawa of “Two Little Monkeys” went really well. It was surprisingly well received. A lot of people were grateful because the film gave them a chance to see something they rarely see on screen. There are a few little things I’d like to adjust, but I’ll get to them sometime later. Also, thanks to Ohbijou and Jill Barber for graciously allowing me to use their songs. You’re the best. Right now I’m in the throes of pre-production on a few webisode commercial spots for a local company. It’s a very fun and exciting concept and I’m actually really enjoying the creative possibilities that advertising provides me. Strange, eh?

Related to that: I need student extras. Here are the details…

STUDENT EXTRAS NEEDED for a commercial to be shot on TUESDAY MORNING DECEMBER 5th. Meet at 10:30am in the lower ceilidh of the JDUC. We are shooting a parade scene (one block in the ghetto and one block downtown) and it won’t take longer than 2 hours. We will provide food and coffee and a small cash honorarium. Please wear clothing without logos. Bring studying with you in case of any waiting around.

50 people needed. Email to reserve a spot, or just show up. Once we have 50 people, that’s it. Some people, if available, may be held over longer to shoot smaller scenes later in the day.

RSVP: lenny@epsteincreative.ca

NOTE: We also need a couple of adult characters who would be appropriate age to have kids in University. Please email to find out more about those roles as they would be shot at a different time that day.