We're gearing up to start shooting the trailer for @hardfork-series. Looking back over my life, I've found the least expected turns have had the most profound outcomes.

When I was 10 I was at a party and the family had a video camera sitting around. I asked if I could play with it, if I was careful. Lucky for me, they had the confidence to let me. I filmed the whole party, and never really put a camera down for the last 27 years since.

https://i.imgur.com/oDFA1vr.jpg
*(Future's so bright I gotta wear A.R. overlay goggle props from @hardfork-series)*

## When I was 17... ##

I finally made it to film school. **I Hated it.** The same week I decided to drop out I spotted an ad down by the school's camera rental cage looking for a fourth year students for an editor position at a multimedia group. I called them up and said "I'm a first year but I'm last year". 

I got to tell my parents that I'd gotten a salaried editor position in the same conversation I had to tell him I'd dropped out of college.

## A Cinematographer's Invoice ##

I quickly got bored of editing corporate videos and saw a cinematographer's invoice on a communal desk at work where it shouldn't have been. I decided I wanted to do what he did--and make $600 a day--instead of my $600 a week. But then I got sidetracked when my girlfriend at the time moved to Africa, so I quit the job and followed along.

## Paying Off ##

My girlfriend cheated on me and I figured it out days before leaving for Africa. I almost didn't go but then decided to anyway because I was just too curious about where it might lead. I leased a $10k camera package on spec and spent a year in Malawi, suddenly understanding how the world worked, *and more importantly how it didn't work.* 

I met a guy from Harvard who ended up hiring me on a side project (and later had me speak at the Kennedy school... first year college dropout that I was). 

I then got a call a few days before I left from UNAIDS who were trying to get rid of the last of their year end and between that and the Harvard gig I ended up paying off my entire camera package by the time I landed back in the west.

## With Friends Like That... ##

My long-time producer stole the script I'd emailed him from Malawi, taking my name off and replacing it with his own then entering a competition... and winning.  I was apoplectic, but as a result of his actions was able to easily raise $50k to make my first narrative short film, The Straitjacket Lottery.

https://i.imgur.com/bH7Pb8o.jpg

## Round the World in 270 Days ##

When that same girlfriend cheated on me again, instead of breaking up with her I allowed her to convince me to travel around the world with her for a year (call it the folly of youth) landing back in America for my brother's wedding. I flipped a coin between New York and LA. (12 years later I'm still in the big Apple).

## Bachelorhood ##

In the height of my mid-twenties-NYC-bachelorhood, I woke up from an alcohol-induced feverish dream. I wanted to go back to sleep, but I also suddenly had the framework for a film about my grandfather I'd been mulling the possibility of making for years. I told myself if a specific grant deadline wasn't imminent I could go back to sleep. Checking the laptop, the deadline was in 3 days. I wrote the script, got the grant and that film, Ten For Grandpa, changed my life.

## But I nearly didn't let it ##

If it was up to me I would have bungled the whole thing. 

As we were nearing completion on the rough cut, the Sundance Film Festival deadline was suddenly upon us. I told my business partner at the time, Eddie, who was one of the producers of the film, not to bother submitting, that we'd never get in. 

He didn't listen, outputting a DVD and skateboarding to a fedex box with barely an hour to spare before the deadline. We got in. We went to Sundance... 

...and I met my wife!

https://i.imgur.com/Tkac6Hm.jpg
*(directing a wedding on "Anniversary Present". Look at that hair!)*

## And Then... ##

I wrote an introducemyself post on steemit. It did better than I expected. This gave me the courage to reach out to
@ericvancewalton and @the-alien, then randomly meet @andrarchy and rope @bakerchristopher and the rest of an incredible team together.

And now we're a few days away from beginning production on the first stage of the @Hardfork-series. 

## The least expected turns have the most profound outcomes. ##

I used to call myself a secular Buddhist. Now I believe my religion is keeping my eyes open to serendipity.

Thanks Steemit!
Doug

P.S. this post was inspired by @ericvancewalton telling me last night that he's opening the next chapter of his life. Congratulations brother!

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I am a Brooklyn based writer, film & commercial director, and crypto-enthusiast, my projects include @HardFork-series an upcoming narrative crypto-noir and my novel Dwelling will soon be premiering exclusively on Steemit, and you can check out more of my work at dougkarr.com, piefacepictures.com, and www.imdb.com/name/nm1512347

Please comment, up-vote and resteem and I'll gladly upvote your comments!

<CENTER>https://i.imgur.com/I6oSkgQ.jpg</CENTER>
<CENTER>@hardforkseries</CENTER>

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<CENTER>dwelling-novel</CENTER>

<CENTER>*10% of all profits from Dwelling will be donated to Amnesty International.*</CENTER>