If you haven’t yet heard of the film Lemonade, you really should watch the short trailer below.
Erik Proulx was laid off from his job in the advertising world back in October of last year. He was not alone. Determined to do something to try to help himself and others who shared this new-found extreme lifestyle change, he started Please Feed the Animals, a job-search website for people in the ad world.
Using Twitter, he bounced out the idea for making a short documentary of their tales as a marketing piece for the blog. He got the attention of production company Picture Park, and so began production of this documentary film.
A fascinating interview with Erik got my attention and shows the power of tools such as Twitter, as help poured in from a variety of sources. Camera crews, production facilities, a Director, and even air transportation from @VirginAmerica for his crew to fly out to film interviews on the left coast.
It’s an inspiring story, but only so much can be told in a documentary short. As Erik wrote on PFTA yesterday:
They had to have lost a job in advertising. They had to be available on a specific shoot days in either LA, Boston, or NYC. And they had to be willing to tell their story on camera.
Unfortunately, some of my favorite submissions had to be shelved because one or all of those conditions weren’t met. But their stories still need to be told. So, once again, I’m leaping blindly into a world in which I have no knowledge or experience: book publishing.
Now he is accepting story submission for the Lemonade Book.
Lemonade Book
Lemonade, the book will assemble a collection of essays from people telling stories of reinvention in their own words. Only this time, I don’t want to limit it to the advertising industry. Imagine all the inspirational personal triumphs that arose after the auto industry crash. Think of all the school teachers, engineers, and finance professionals who have found their life’s work thanks to being downsized. Those of us in advertising provide just one, very sheltered viewpoint of what’s possible in unemployment.
If you lost your job but found your calling, I want to hear from you. You can submit a simple abstract of your experience, or an entire 1k – 3k word essay. (I want this to be more about the quality of your story and less about the quality of the writing. If your story is inspiring enough, we’ll get it written.)
If you have a story to tell, and would like to be featured in this book, you can get the general submission guidelines and details from his website, Please Feed The Animals.
Follow Erik on Twitter to stay up to date on the movie release as well as developments with the new book.
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This is a cool idea. Combine it with the personalities often found in ad agencies and the result could be very interesting indeed.
Watching the film on Hulu right now…
http://www.hulu.com/watch/120840/lemonade
Yep, I am putting up new posts shortly, including that one. I saw it on the direct link before it hit Hulu, but I’ve been trying to get everyone to see it there or just to buy a DVD from the guy. It’s very inspirational, or could be to a lot of people. Particularly those who are in that nebulous state between wanting one thing and needing anything.