To be interesting, be interested.

Dale Carnegie

Some of the things that stand out even from the trailer of 306 Hollywood is how Annette’s grandkids ask her deep questions about whether she missed sex or was afraid to die. They spent meticulous time arranging her clutter into Wes Anderson-like displays. The home video interviews with her? They spent 10 years recording those while she was alive.

These are efforts that come not from Annette being what we’d normally associate as interesting, but because her grandkids were so deeply interested in her.

You don’t need to be jumping out of planes or risking your life to craft an interesting story. You simply need to place your lens of deep interest onto your subject.

Going back to Casey Neistat, I don’t think his “interesting life” is at all why he’s had so much success. I think what keeps us so glued to him is the remarkable interest he has in his subject matter and in filmmaking. Have you seen him spend time using arts and crafts to explain his sleep schedule? That’s not “interesting”, that’s him being interested.

Like Casey, if you provide folks with what your authentically interested in, your enthusiasm will shine. Don’t get me wrong though. This is still hard work. 306 Hollywood took years to make and a ton of inventiveness to get right. But Annette’s grandkids had the passion of their interests to see them through those challenges we all have in the creative process.

306 Hollywood is an inspiring example I hope for all the folks out there struggling with their mundane lives. Your life is incredibly interesting, as long as you’re interested in it.

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