What are you willing to give up? What are you willing to forego to make your dream come true?

In my February 26th post, there was quite a bit of back and forth about the different methods we can use to stay independent, or to find alternatives to the network model.

A lot of it comes down to what we are willing to live with? Mostly money wise. Don Herdzfeldt and Bill Plympton have to make financial and lifestyle choices to make their model work. And to them, that is a choice for their quality of life they are willing to make. Some are not willing to part with their big screen TV’s and a zillion channels or the car that will give them the most ego building bang for the buck, in exchange for a life in the arts. If you check out my Jan. 23rd post, the story of Dr. Suess shows a willingness to keep his lifestyle simple in exchange to do what he loved. Make books. He had offers to work for Warner Brothers as a movie writer for a lot of money. He turned it down. And our lives are all more enriched because of that decision.

Before I got into television, I lived an extremely frugal life with my wife and my small illustration and animation studio. I did independent films for love, knowing not to expect riches. When Rocko happened, I suddenly found cash flowing into my account, not really knowing what to do with it. So I stashed it. It wasn’t long before I found the consumer way of life though, and began eating at expensive restaurants and staying in top hotels. I developed some poor habits ( but I have to admit, had fun doing it. Travel is one extravagance I don’t regret, but there are more inexpensive ways of doing it.) Now, two kids, a divorce, and a stock market collapse later, I’ve learned to develop new habits. Not to mention a very conscience approach to how my purchases effect the earth, it’s global citizens and finite resources.

But I am also approaching my two new projects independently. That means pulling back on expenses. Being more prudent in my spending. That is my choice. I’m still far from the numbers I would like to bring my budget down to, but I’m working on it. There were a lot of aspects to Rocko and Lazlo I loved. But that is why I would love to be in the position to keep producing them. But I sold them to the network. In exchange for short term cash, I gave up my right to keep making them without the network. Now they sit on a shelf collecting dust.

My new projects will not carry that same fate. Not sure how they will turn out, or what the final outcome will be, but I’m willing to take that risk.

I’d rather make films and books, continue teaching what I know, and run my small studio with attention to quality and conscience choices, both socially and environmentally, then be under the thumb of a conglomerate. Of course , if it came to not being able to put food on the table for my daughters, I would have to re-evaluate that. We still eat and live in houses ( although mine is small)  that would have been a luxury a couple of decades ago, and in most parts of the world still are. We could all use a little perspective.

For now, my daughters are fine. Except they have to put up with their dad’s cooking. But it least I can sit with them at dinner and tell them how much fun I had working on my film that day. And keep an eye on them that they don’t get sick from my cooking.