Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes

I dare you to dream bigger dreams.
I’d be scared for you if you did is slow.

How loud can you make your ambition scream?
For how long can your momentum flow?

They’ll damn you if you do and they’ll damn you if you don’t.
The only way out is to free yourself from their opinion.

Take your time and make it count.
Humble yourself to the only with with ultimate dominion.

It is only He who can grant us our greatest peace.
If only we dared to dream biggest dream.

Entry through the greatest of gates.
To ultimate tranquility.

In light of Seth Godin’s post “Like a dream come true” I wrote the above…poem…if that’s what you want to call it

– –

3 x 10 :: Day 02

1. Produce an animated feature documentary about the last years of Malcolm X’s life as a Muslim (post hajj)

2. Develop an online learning system for new Muslim converts where they can go from A – Z and be up to speed on what they need to know to be totally functional in their deen.
3. Produce a movie guerilla style for under $30,000 starring local youth.

What’s this “3 x 10? thing? – See my post on focusing ideas:
http://www.leechon.com/focus-ideas-847.htm

Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes

For those of you who haven’t already heard, our brother in Islam Mahdi Ahmad, one of the guys that’s worked on Ummah Films was almost murdered last month by unknown assailants in Los Angeles.

Mahdi suffered a depressed skull fracture among other injuries as well as minor amnesia. Alhamdulillah he is  recovering from his injuries.

Mahdi made a video above talking about his thoughts on the incident.

– –

3 x 10 :: Day 01

1. Produce a documentary about NYPD cops that are Muslim. Tell their story of fitting in with the other cops. Dealing with their own diverse back grounds and Muslim identity and facing danger at times for the protection of innocent people.
2. Produce an online video series that in an entertaining way address the issue of calendar holidays. For example, Valentines day: Its pagan roots, the legend of the Valentine card – a priest who married soldiers to women which was against the empires wishes and resulted in his death and a note to a woman who took care of him in his tortured state. Series would address the affect of these holidays on our culture and Islamic well being.
3. Refocus Tufaan to address not so much the hurricane, but the overall human struggle and adjust the artistic approach of the movie to something more eye candy such as motion graphics.

What’s this “3 x 10″ thing? – See my post on focusing ideas:
http://www.leechon.com/focus-ideas-847.htm

Reading time: 4 – 7 minutes

We all have ideas. They’re so cheap. We get so many every day. We share them with each other and everyone else, but by the end of the day we forget it completely. This post is dedicated to presenting a means of saving any and all of your ideas so that you can use spilt personality as a means of moving forward with the outrageously remarkable ones.

Leechon is a result of preserving a series of ideas for a period of ten days. At the end of those ten days, the ideas were collected, filtered and analyzied. That led to coming up with actual steps to develop a project with then formed into Leechon.

Step 01 – Idea Creation/Collection
— — —
We need to have some sort of method of collecting ideas. Always have something to write on. Have a box or folder at home to throw your ideas into. Doesn’t matter whether the idea is “good” or not. Just write it down. Set yourself a goal where every day, no matter what you’ll write down at least three ideas. Do this over a period of ten days.

Step 02 – Opportunity Evaluation
— — —
Of the list of ideas you’ve collected over 10 days. Pick the top three. How do you pick your top three? – It’s up to you really:

• You can show them to your friends and see which ones get the best results
• You can randomly pick them
• You can have your mom pick them out
• You can see which one sounds cool
• You can pick three that start with the letter “C” (for no reason what so ever)

Bottom line is that you have to pick three.

This is where you get to use Edward de Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats” to properly evaluate those top three ideas. What are the “Six Thinking Hats”?

• White Hat - This is where you are totally objective and neutral to the idea. What information do you have on the idea. Any data of sort? Figures? Dates?

  Lets say you want to start a magazine focused towards filmmakers in the New Jersey area. – How many filmmakers are there in New Jersey? What are some trends among NJ filmmakers? How much money do they spend on subscriptions? Etc.

• Yellow Hat - Here you look at the value, benefits and feasibility of the idea with total optimism.

  If you took action on this idea, what would be the beneficial impact of it? What opportunities would arise as a result of it? What value does it bring?

• Black Hat - This is where you look at all the critical points. Approach the idea with caution. What are the negative implications and the downsides to the idea? Look at the dangers threats the idea presents logically.

  Look at the idea with pessimism. Try to see why the idea might not work. Lay out the fears associated with this. Looking at it this way will allow you to see the weak points and plan around and develop contingency plans it in the event you decide to take action on it.This method of thinking is a means of bringing you back to reality and dealing with the real issues and difficulties that may arise.

• Red Hat - What feelings do you associate with this idea? When you think of the idea do you feel fear? Threatened? Excited? Pumped? Sad? What are your gut feelings and hunches? What intuitive thoughts come to mind?

  You may also want to think about how other people will respond emotionally. Try to understand the responses of people who may not know why you’re executing on this idea.

• Green Hat – This is where you let your creativity shine.

  From the perceived problems what are some alternatives and possibilities that you can think of? What are some ways to change the idea to improve it and make it better in the face of the challenges and perceived problems. What’s interesting about the idea?

• Blue Hat - This is where you get to take a bird’s eye view of the idea. Look at the different hats in relation to one another. You may want to direction your attention to any one of the other hats.

  In this area you’re not thinking about the idea itself, rather the subject of the idea. The big picture

–
What does all this have to do with Leechon?

Everything! – One of the quarter one goals for 2009 (as stated in the previous post) was to:

Start an “Idea of the Week” video series on Leechon which pitches an ideas and starts a brainstorm on outrageous and cool thoughts. – Perhaps some of those ideas will bear fruit!

My issue was that I have just way too many ideas. What I’ll be doing starting tomorrow (Friday) is everyday for ten days lay out three ideas. At the end of those ten days I’m going to follow the process I’ve laid out above.

This is a discipline I intend to keep. InshaAllah by the end of the year I’ll some some really phenominal ideas that have been thought through. If I don’t move on them, then inshaAllah others can.

Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes

I hate it when people defeat themselves with their own words. Statements such as “I’m lazy” make me sick. Statements like that are enough to begin corrupting us and leading us to destory the very integrity our lives stand on.

Part of running a business is living with passion and purpose, which go against the very factors that cause laziness. Laziness is a poison that will lead to the hellfire and that is the worst torment of all. To be remarkable we need to continuously be ahead of what’s already out there. To consistently and successfully lead you need to effectively plan.

If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail. Failure is NOT an option UNLESS it’s in the path of being sincerely remarkable because those failures will still lead to remarkableness in this life and the next.

- — -

This post has five objectives:

• Share my aspirations with you as a means of inspiring you.

• Clearing my head.

• Helping me get some control and perspective on what I want to accomplish in the next four-quarters, which in itself will be a means to gaining more clarity towards my goals and objective for this company.

• Have a frame of reference to measure progress.

• Engaging you and getting your feedback

- — -

Quarter 1 – 2009
January – March

• Finish and close client-projects started in 2008 and earlier who aren’t on a monthly contract.

• Launch “God Speak” – 2 hour feature lecture by Nouman Ali Khan as a means laying down the foundation for an online distribution network.

• Contract a bookkeeper.

• Resume and finish Secrets of Video Production course on Message Mastery.

• Launch a project specific course on Message Mastery as a follow up to Secrets of Video Production in which participants will be working toward a complete feature be working as a means of equipping AlMaghrib Institute Qabaail with adequate media personnel.

• Start at least one client-project valued at over $7,000 and delegate majority of operations to dedicated proteges via Message Mastery.

• Produce a “live-action” trailer and distribute it on YouTube HD.

• Keep Leechon’s Blog to be focused on: (1) Commentary and news on industry, (2) Strategic News and how the company deals with it, (3) Commentary on issues bigger than the company itself, (4) Reflections on projects produced by Leechon.

• Keep Message Mastery’s blog focused on: (1) Reviews of products, (2) Inform about communication methods and tools, (3) Teach and instruct

• Start an “Idea of the Week” video series on Leechon which pitches an ideas and starts a brainstorm on outrageous and cool thoughts. – Perhaps some of those ideas will bear fruit!

• Begin negotiations and talks with a client to launch a joint project that works as an online income stream.

• Spend a weekend in professional Adobe After Effects training.

• Start a monthly group instruction for Message Mastery members on various topics that cover areas of business, film, media and communication.

• Launch a project portfolio website for Leechon.

Quarter 2 – 2009
April – June

• Complete production for new Message Mastery course on Media writing and launch it in parallel with project based course.

• Upgrade IlmCast.com to something outrageously cooler and have it integrated with the AlMaghrib Forums.

• Set the foundations for a monetized online media distribution system which releases a free feature every month.

• Build an email list of 20,000+ people

• Start production for an online HD series titled “Vi’rticle: Aspire Higher” for Message Mastery blog.

• Begin production of short-film “Love Noted”.

• Start pre-production on an experimental type of presentation.

Quarter 3 – 2009
July – September

• Complete a final cut of Tufaan

• Begin production on Film-Business course for Message Mastery

Quarter 4 – 2009
October – December

• Get Tufaan listed on IMDB

• Launch Film-Business course for Message Mastery

- — -

I’d really like you to give me your feedback on any of these objectives. Whether you like them or don’t like them. Perhaps the focus should be else where – let me know.

I’ll be updating this post throughout the year and marking off what get’s accomplished and what doesn’t.

Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes

Last year I wrote a rough proposal for a feature length theatrical MOVIE as a means to get the creative juices flowing. If you want to read the proposal idea, see this: First Impact Movie Proposal (this proposal is simply there to get creative juices flowing)

If I’m going to make a movie, I’m aiming for producing something THEATER WORTHY. I’m talking theatrical release in domestic and international markets worldwide.

In response to the AlMaghrib Movie thread and emails going back and forth on the back end, I figured I’d take the opportunity to drive the development of the movie and take this bull by the horns.

I created a thread which I’ll continuously be updating with possible story ideas worth looking into for further development.

• View the development thread here: AlMaghrib Movie :: Development Thread
• View the story ideas here (they’re actively being updated): AlMaghrib Movie :: Possible Story Items

Either contribute a possible story idea, and state what Marketable Aspect(s) it has (see below for details on what Marketable Aspects are) or simply expand on an a story with further details. I’ll be updating the document regularly so give your input regularly as well.

Marketable Aspects of a Story

In order to develop an AWESOME SMACK DUNKIN’ story, research needs to be done.

Stories should marketable and be of interest to people. The more aspects of the points below a story holds, the more interest and attention gravitates towards it. When sharing yours (or other’s) stories keep in mind the points below.

• :: Timeliness :: A story that really doesn’t get old/irrelevant over time.

• :: Human Interest :: Something that really appeals to people’s heart strings :: ie: Durbah starting the “visit the old folks” project a while back as a result of “Breach of Covenant” seminar and the tears of gratitute that came forth from those elder people.

• :: Prominence :: Producers usually fulfill this by featuring a known star in the movie (ie;Starring Tom Cruise). For documentaries, this is done by having someone of popular on screen (ie;Michael Moore, Leo DeCaprio) or someone with a very sticky personality (ie;Morgan Spurlock-Supersize Me). Also, featuring stories around some prominant people also helps in this area.

• :: Novelty :: Stories that really haven’t been told and are new in their nature. Michael Moore taking a serious issue of 9-11, politics and Iraq War and making it into a satire was very novel in his movie “Farenheit 9/11” No one really took that topic and presented it in such a way, and the stories presented in that movie were stories not covered by other filmmakers and/or media outlets.

• :: Weirdness :: Some stories can have such attributes to them (ie; jinn/black-magic experience of LOG and LUL students classes that can be relayed — like the taweez w/ a calling to jinn names)

• :: Conflict / Conspiracy / Controversy :: Fights always attract attention. The AlMaghrib student getting run over in Toronto seminar by crazy racist guy, the nutty sufi guy from toronto (all the conflicts are in toronto )

• :: Impact :: Gas prices going up or falling drastically, Fannie-Mae going defunct, Credit card companies going out of business — These are stories that affect a LOT of people. What specific story(s) of AlMaghrib or its students can be told that has affected a LOT of people.

• :: Proximity :: Stories can excite interest based on how they’re close to you geography. New Yorkers will give more interest to a story about 9-11 cops than people in Seattle Washington.

By the way, these elements of newsworthiness and marketability will be taught in detail in a future Message Mastery course launching March 09 inshaAllah.

– — – –

As much “hype” and excitement that goes into making a movie professionally for a theatrical audience — We need to have something REALLY developed in areas of:

• Story
• Budget plan
• Adequate Production Plan/Schedule
• Distribution Strategy

The STORY is the most important part of any production/movie/film. What’s the story(s) that we’re telling the audience that is really of any interest to the general muslim/non-muslim populous? The proposal that I had written up lacks tremendously in this area (but it helps in getting creative juices flowing).

Filming a documentary is a LOT of work. Doesn’t matter if its being made for a theatrical release or being made as something amaturish to pass around to family/friends — the work and time that goes into it is the pretty much the same. What’s different is WHERE (pre-production, production, post-production, or distribution) that time is spent.

In making a PROFESSIONAL Theater Worthy low-budget movie ($10,000,000 – $50,000), 80% of the work is in pre-production. This involves:

• Getting an idea
• Researching it for marketability and developing the story
• Outlining – Scripting
• Budgeting for producing the script
• Incoporating and funding/financing the movie
• Developing production schedule/plan
• Assembling team
• Executing plan officially moving into “Blink! Production“

For the moment we’re in the research phase and in the process of collecting story ideas that will be further looked into and developed based on the marketable aspects listed above.

Read this post again, see the thread I created on the AlMaghrib forums and the google document I made (both of which I’ll continuously be updating) and reply accordingly.

• View the development thread on AlMaghrib Forums: AlMaghrib Movie :: Development Thread
• View the story ideas here (they’re actively being updated): AlMaghrib Movie :: Possible Story Items