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Inspiration or Procrastination? And I finally talk a bit about my film!

Part I: What I’m thinking about today.

I have very few things I have to do when I get home from my day job. Basically, all I have to do is put my dishes in the dishwasher (and remember to do it the right way or my wife will rearrange them!), drop my laundry in the correct hamper, get the mail, remember to put out the garbage, the recycling (which I forget weeks on end until it piles up in my garage) and take care of the chickens (we’re fortunate to live on a 7.5 acre farm!)

I don’t know how you child rearing parents do it! Courtney Romano et al… So all this is to say I have no excuse for procrastinating. I obviously have time to spare. But then I think, am I really procrastinating? Maybe this world of filmmaking, which is a way of life that I’m very new to, is just different from what I’m used to.

My day job is construction management. I’m nearing the end of finishing a 53 unit apartment building right now. This work relies on getting things done. Time is money. If something isn’t happening all the time that’s a problem.

I’m learning that in general filmmaking doesn’t follow these rules. Sure, on set it’s important to be organized and efficient. But I’m discovering the process itself, while sharing commonalities with putting a building up; it’s a slow process, one step builds to the next, is vastly different.

Now I realize I’m not telling any of you anything you don’t already know. Please bear with me, this is (hopefully) going somewhere. You know how you watch something or read something and feel you completely understand it and then struggle when trying to explain it to someone else? Well in my case that someone else is me. I read all the great writing on here, like Mauro Mueller / El Suizo . This essay in particular informs what I’m talking about here.

The Work That Doesn’t Look Like Work: A Field Guide

Despite nbv cxz (THAT WAS MY CAT WALKING OVER MY LAPTOP!)

Let me start over. Despite brilliant writing like Mauro’s, I find myself having to remind myself of what the filmmaking process involves. Things like just thinking; random thoughts that come to me at anytime. Seems most times it’s while driving a familiar route when I’m alone in the car and my mind is free of any particular thought or concern. All the little (but not so little) things that goes into the mental process of making a film. Again, you all know what I’m talking about.

Still, I’m impatient. While I embrace the process and the amazing journey I’ve been on I also want to see more than two and a half minutes of a rough cut.

This is probably a good place to talk about my film in any kind of detail for the first time so here goes!

Part Two: Voices for Change

Voices for Change is a lyrical portrait of activists, not in the streets, but in their kitchens, living rooms and quiet corners of the world where the real weight of change is carried. That’s my working logline.

Its genesis was a growing discontent I had with the political work and social activism I was doing and the state of these efforts in general. I felt what was missing was empathy, caring for one another. I’ve written here before about how empathy is the main reason we emerged as a species despite not being the strongest or having the largest brain. Although not a fully developed theme at the beginning, empathy has become the core of my film.

I first discussed making a documentary with my son Ray Violett . Ray had just made a short documentary as part of a class assignment and was disappointed that the group hadn’t picked a more meaningful subject than a day in the life of a college student. I basically blurted out what I’d been thinking about for a while but not particularly as a film: “Let’s make a documentary on activists!”

We filmed our first interview in late March 2025. In total we’ve filmed 9 interviews on weekends finishing this first round in August 2025. Our first few interviews were filmed using 2 Canons, basic lighting (often natural) and audio from the cameras with Ray’s iphone as backup. I felt pretty comfortable doing the interviews. I know the people I interviewed through my activist work. I left any b roll totally up to Ray and our AC Vinny Albano , who’s been with us since day one. (Side note: Vinny is always looking for gigs! DM him!) Frankly I didn’t know what they were doing. It just looked like random filming. When I saw the 30 second trailer Ray put together after our 2nd interview it clicked that they were being intentional. Here’s the trailer:

Zellie Trailer

By our 5th interview we were joined by Jose M Pichardo Jr. , an experienced documentary filmmaker with a lot better equipment and his wife Lily, who’s editing our POC (more on that later). We now had professional grade lighting and sound and filmed with two of Jose’s Sony FX6s.

Initially Ray was set to edit our POC but due to school obligations and other things Lily agreed to take over. We’ve got around two and a half minutes of a rough cut of a 5-7 minute POC. I’ll write in a future article my intentions with the POC.

I already have the original music, composed by Justin Banks . We are actually editing to his score. He did an amazing job at telling the story based on the beat sheet I gave him.

We also have an amazing animator/animation director in Elena Toccafondi . Elena got the feel of what I’m trying to do right off the bat and has added some great ideas.

I’m not sure when the POC will be finished. Hoping for picture lock in a few weeks. Once it’s done I’d like to screen it on the NonDē Creative Development lab.

Guess that’s all for now.