Ladies Who Launch: Who Knew?

Stepping into the foray of entrepreneursip with the birth of my consultancy, Red Slice, has opened up a whole new world to me. A world of LLC documentation, checks to the Secretary of State, business bank accounts, and more than a weekly need to speak to an accountant or lawyer. Who knew this land existed? Well, apparently lots of people.

While my grandparents all came to this country and managed to open their own businesses with little English skills and lots of gumption, my immediate family has always been a "Do one thing and retire with the gold watch" kind of gang. My dad worked for over 25 years at the same company, doing the work he loved best: engineering. We may have felt more comfortable with the establishment-type jobs, but not at the expense of doing something you hated. And come to think of it, my Uncle owned his own business and so did one of my brothers for a time - so maybe it's in our genes somewhere.

I always envied those people who were like, "I have this kooky idea..." and then 3 months later, there's a storefront on Union Street and a shout out in Daily Candy. I felt like they were inducted into some mystical world; a place I would never understand, navigate or see. "I like security, paying my rent and buying expensive wine," I told myself comfortingly.

Ha.

A whole new world has opened up for me since hanging out my shingle. A world where ideas become reality just because someone can show you the steps you need to take. And those steps are reasonable and possible in and of themselves - you just need to break things down. A world where people come up with ideas and do something with them, not just talk and talk. A world where there are experts to turn to, sites to visit for advice, and never a shortage of folks who are more than happy to show you their scars and help you avoid your own.

I'm talking the world of entrepreneurship.

I had the divine pleasure of freshly completing a 4-week session called The Incubator, thrown by Ladies Who Launch. Ladies Who Launch is a nationwide resource and connection network for women who want to "start" anything: a business, a book, a new travel venture. Basically women who want to make a positive change in their life and build their career or personal life in the way that best suits them, rather than forcing themselves into a life that doesn't fit. Their motto: Creativity and Entrepreneurship as a Lifestyle.

For 4 weeks, women in your city come together (small groups) to gather support, find energy, gain encouragement, network and share resources on whatever initiative they want to launch. We work through our ideas, verbalize them, and paint a vision for others. I had low expectations, ranging from "This will be a business plan course" to "This will be a female whine-fest" to "This will be like therapy or a really painful episode of Dr. Phil."

Surprisingly, I was wrong, wrong, wrong - and a little bit right in a good way. I found a group of women sharing their career (and often personal) dreams, fleshing out their business ideas, offering advice and feedback, sharing resources and ultimately, cheering each other on. It often felt so bizarre, like something unreal. And then I figured out why: I had never in my entire career been in a group of women who encouraged each other to brag, who did not judge when others celebrated success, who had no ulterior motives for helping each other. No one thought Susie talked too much about herself or Sally thought she was "all that" - this behavior was encouraged and celebrated. And how sad that this positive experience is not what we women in the workplace have created for ourselves. The Glass Ceiling be damned - 9 times out of 10, I have seen women be the saboteurs of other women, whether through talking behind their back, being cruel just to show they were tough, gossiping or holding a gal's own success against her lest she think "she's better than everyone else." This negativity has nothing to do with men, ladies.

The 8 women in my group ranged from current business owners looking to branch out, corporate types wanting to make a change but not sure how, women who were trying to find a way to build a business out of their passionate talents, and those who had a vision of a business venture but had never been encouraged or assisted in pursuing it. Most of all, women who are tired of being scared, or bored, or concerned with "what other people thought" and who want to start living their lives for the only human that will judge them on their death bed: themselves.

In just 4 weeks, I bonded with these women in a way I often do not with gal pals. I now consider them all close confidantes, my own personal and professional Board of Directors, who I will consult and give back to as long as they will let me. Because of them, I now have more clarity around what I want Red Slice to be, what clients I want to pursue, and more importantly, I feel more than ever that some of my crazy ideas and schemes (opening a wine bar someday) are POSSIBLE. People open businesses every day and, damn it, I can figure it out, too!

Ladies out there, if you have the opportunity to make a change or have an idea to build a business, I highly encourage you to sign up for the Incubator in your city. You will be oh so surprised at what you find in these other women - and in yourself.

PS - and by the way, starting up my own thing means living on a budget for a while. So I'm halting the expensive wines - but only for a bit. Paring back in and of itself is cathartic and eye-opening so it's just another unexpected blessing from this new phase.

Sundance '08: "I totally admire, like, musicians, and stuff."

Sundance '08 brought me home with the memory of Quentin Tarantino bumping into me (literally) in my hotel lobby and a stomach bug. Enjoying a shorter stay than in years past, I ate, drank, and celeb-spotted by way up and down Main Street for only 2 days and 3 nights.

This year, the festival tipped the scales at about 50,000 - up about 10k from last year according to the word on the street. I only started going 5 years ago, but I have never seen it this crowded or crazy. Time was, you could easily get individual film tickets online beforehand (even though that system is as painful as a sharp stick in the eye - Silicon Valley, please hook these guys up....) or just wait a bit in the Wait List line and 4 out of 5 times you were golden. Not the case this year. First off, not everyone registered even received an online ticket buying window (my partner in crime being one of them) and us "lucky" few who did were met with most everything being already sold on when we logged in, leaving the scraps - to which you couldn't even get THOSE tickets. Once you clicked to buy, you got an error message that it was indeed not available. Headache.

We managed to get into 2 films on the waitlist, and a panel so all was not lost. First up was "Good Dick" written, directed by and starring Marianna Palka, an adorable Scottish lass with some weighty ties in Hollywood. While this was her first script, she got her friend Jason Ritter on board, who in turn got Charles Durning in for a cameo (not too shabby) and she also snagged Tom Arnold for the role of her abusive father. I totally admire that she pretty much did this film as a resume piece - she admitted to writing it with all intents of starring in it - and that is good, since the odd dysfunctional and provocative premise of the film leaves little room for mass distribution. But the art is the thing, right? The movie centers around a sexually damaged woman who rents erotica every day from her local video store. Jason Ritter is the adorable puppy dog/whipping post who decides to reach out (in almost stalker like proportions) to this girl, thus creating one of the most disturbing and dysfunctional relationships since Brian the Dog's infatuation with Lois on "The Family Guy." Not sure the characters were likeable enough for me, but I appreciated the moments of black humor and the idea that humans can and must find love in the most unorthodox ways. Palka stated the film cost about $1M to make, which surprised me based on what I saw, but she also chose to film in L.A. which never helps.

We tried to get into some other films, but ended up lucking into "Chronic Town" instead. This isolated tale of a flawed cab driver in Fairbanks, Alaska follows his quest to find friendship and connection after he is dumped by his girlfriend. The desolate, "nothing changes here" locale was perfect for the film's mood and the director, Tom Hines, thanked his producers (which include his now wife) profusely for supporting his desire that they could not film anywhere else. The film starts JR Bourne, a very attractive model-type who they tried to "scruff up" for the role of Truman, an alcoholic, pot smoking mess of a guy. Watch for this guy, I think he'll go far. He managed to make his character wholly likeable while being a complete loser. The acting and production of this film was stellar, but again as with "Good Dick" I felt like the character arc was little plodding.

We wanted to see such films as "The Last Word" about a guy who writes suicide notes for a living; and"Sunshine Cleaning" starring Amy Adams and Emily Blunt, two of my fave actresses, as sisters who start a bioharzard crime scene clean up service. But alas, we took what we could.

For more info on other Sundance films, click here for an alphabetical list.

The panel was called "Webolution! Hollywood Adapts to the Web" and was moderated by Kara Swisher of All Things D. This killer panel was small (we were lucky to get in) and had a great group of industry heavies, ranging from the CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, to the heads of Joost, Vioh and HuLu to the guy who does emerging media content distribution for Comedy Central, Spike and other MTV properties. Check out Kara's site for her video of the panel (and her celeb/friend guide Jane Lynch who I also saw - loved her in Best in Show and 40 Year Old Virgin) and I'll write more on another post. This panel was the perfect blend of my high-tech experience and love for the entertainment industry. Hmmmm, maybe I need to make that leap after all......

Celebs spotted this year: Marcia Gay Harden (who looks about a size 0 and 10 years younger than she does on screen), Colin Farrell, ("He's very short and has a big head" says Carrie) David Boreanaz (from Angel and Bones - sat drinking next to him at Bar Boheme), Stanley Tucci (as he impressively naivigated the Main Street sidewalk while doing an interview), Dylan Walsh of "Nip/Tuck" (dining a few tables over at Cafe Terigo), Tom Arnold, Jason Ritter, Rachel Hunter (who doesn't really look all that tall but is still stunning), Dennis Quaid (with a posse he was having as much luck getting into the Queer Lounge party as me and Carrie had, which made us not feel so bad), Marc Jacobs (I have to give this one to Carrie, since I had no clue), Jane Lynch (once on the street, graciously having fun taking pics with people and then again at the Web panel), Harvey Weinstein (with a bevy of blond assistants - they looked like duckings, all huddled around him as they walked). And as mentioned at this post's start, Quentin Tarantino in the lobby of my hotel. We smiled and said hello, but I just didn't have it in me to be "that girl" and say "I love your work. Here's my card. Call me if Uma is not available." Damn it! Then he ran into me when he came back in to the lobby. He's kind of like that clumsy lovable friend you had in High School who is scared of girls. I love that the man who can dream up Lucy Liu's character in Kill Bill is really just a goofy guy. Classic.

I also met a key fundraiser for the Seattle Film Festival in my airport shuttle, so watch this space on how I might get involved with that this year.

So overall: more crowds, less films for me to get into, more celebs spotted (this happens when you go towards the beginning of the festival rather than towards the end), typical inane artistic conversations and loud cell phone conversations about deals and PR. "We need to go through him to get her and I think that would be a win, so let's just offer her what she wants."

Viva la independent film.