Moving on

I have been planning to write this post forever now but I haven’t really known where to start. I feel like in order to make the decision official, I need to write about it online (for all 30 of you, including the robots). For those of you who are close to me (including the robots), this will come as no surprise as I’ve been contemplating a change-up for some time. Today, June 23, 2006 is my last day working for Participant Productions.

I was one of the first employees at Participant – I started before the name had even been made official. I had just finished working on the set of a small film and I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to make the switch to office life. I had been working in film production for a while and I didn’t think the 9-5 was for me. But the idea of being a part of something with such huge potential, and to get in on the ground floor, and even more than that, I was so idealistic about Jeff Skoll’s mission! Let’s build a media company that produces films that highlight social issues with the goal of inspiring audiences to take action! Yeah!

The small team worked like crazy, brainstormed together and took risks. All the sudden, a real company formed around us. I watched as our team of 3 became a group of 25 people with real job descriptions and reporting structures. This time of rapid growth provided the greatest opportunity I’ve ever had to prove myself and to create my dream job within the company. As the Director of Internet Outreach, I was able to combine my interests in film, the internet and social change into one really challenging and fun job. I created the job and it fit me perfectly. I had the freedom to define the direction of Participant’s online presence and I infused a lot of my personality and idealism into it. Participant’s mission became my mission and Participate.net was my baby.

In any fast-growing company, things can change quickly. Success brings changed expectations and managing an ever-increasing workload puts stresses on the corporate culture. How do you implement structure and process and still retain that start-up idealism?

My experience at Participant has been invaluable. What more can you ask of a job than to help you better define what you want to do with your life? Participant is a Hollywood movie company. To succeed in this business, you’ve gotta be it – Hollywood. The small indie start-up was a good fit for me but as Participant grew into a Hollywood film company run by Hollywood executives with Hollywood personalities and goals, I began to stick out like a sore thumb. I found myself spending less time in front of white boards bouncing around ideas about social change and internet tools and more time sitting around huge tables with studio marketing people.

I knew way back in film school that Hollywood wasn’t for me. I didn’t know back then that the internet was. Thanks to my 2+ years at Participant, I now know that. Humans create two things – technology and art. (OK three, if you count more people.) Hollywood hasn’t been known to do much of either. As technology takes over our lives, the distinction between it and art is blurring. Everything interesting right now is happening online. People are connecting, learning, teaching and creating. Information is flowing more freely than ever. A consumer/citizen/artist revolution is happening and I want to be a part of it.

So on Monday, I start my new job. Yes, Monday. No, I’m not taking a break. Remember who you’re talking to, after all. I’m joining the amazing team at Revver, Inc. as the Director of Community. Revver is the first online video network to put the artist first. It’s your work – you should earn some money for it. More to come on the new gig soon…

I’m super excited about the online video space. We are no longer a passive audience sitting on couches (or in theaters) as the blue flickering light lulls into blind consumerism. We are demanding more control over our media and we are creating our own. That, to me, is real social change.

Tagged as: community, Participant Productions, Revver