When Wearing Many Hats, Life Can Get Confusing

I recently attended the wedding of an actress I have worked with a few times.  I have always considered her a friend, but mostly my wife and I only see her when we're working.  This is likely due geographical differences to a degree, but it made me hesitate when people would ask, "So how do you know the couple?"  The answer, "We're friends" didn't seem specific enough and "She was in a couple of movies I made" makes me sound like I make more well known movies than I do.

I've never been one of the great "friend makers".  With me the places I would meet people were school and later work.  When I started working mostly for  myself I didn't interact with many new people on a regular basis.  Casts and crews would come and go.  Most of those people I would consider friends, but I never know how to gauge whether that feeling is reciprocated.  And when I am friends with actors or crew members it can make it tough to know when they're helping because they like a project or when they're doing me a favor they'd rather not, like  helping me move a refrigerator.

So, those two hats, filmmaker and friend, are already a problem.  Add to that the property manager hat, podcast hat and all of the hats I have to wear to keep Hocus Focus Productions running, and at any given moment I have to decide which job I'm working and which one I'm not.  I find it easier to break it into days so that I can get a groove going, but that's not always possible.  I sort of miss having a regular "day job" (and I'm looking at remedying that) where someone else makes a schedule for me every two weeks.  I found last October, while doing retail work, that having those immoveable blocks in my schedule made me better at managing my other time.  You would think the loss of free time would make things harder, but it really just helped bring things into focus.

For instance, right now I'm writing this blog while waiting for it to be time to log onto BCinemaTV Talks and interview Thomas Ryan about "The Theater of Terror Anthology".  I also sort of "double booked" myself as I have someone coming to do work around the yard.  He's a great guy and won't ring my doorbell since he knows I record on Wednesdays, but I should have timed this better.

I have guests at the cabin, so I need to talk to them later today and right after the interview is over I'll be making copies of the "Jack vs Lanterns" DVDs for the cast, and you, if you'd like to buy one.  (Please want to buy one. )


I have to promote the upcoming landing of "Jack vs Lanterns" on Amazon Prime, shoot an informational VLOG for my YouTube channel and eventually mow my back lawn because it's starting to look like a jungle out there.  Meanwhile, I have started taking some night classes (or I tried to, but the first class was rescheduled).  I'll talk more about that if it works out, but it would be me putting an old hat back on. One which I've missed for quite awhile.

So, if at any time you talk to me and I seem out of it, please, remind me which hat I should be wearing.  Are you talking to me as a director, property manager, cleaner, landscaper, blogger, vlogger, podcaster, salesman or friend?

Thanks in advance.