No more distractions. No more diversions. No more manipulations. No more addictions. No more bullshit. Silicon Valley’s mind-numbing, dopamine-inducing, behavior-modifying algorithm will no longer have a hold on me in 2026 and further. The never-ending simulation to a psuedo-reality of living and viewing life will no longer be my part of my world. No more vanity. No more banality. No more mediocrity. No more superficiality. No more desperate attempts at attention-seeking and validation-approving. Fuck the algorithm.

They want me to be sucked in. They want me to be compelled. They want me to be anxious. They want me to be desperate. They want me to be depressed. Every one of them. Musk. Zuckerberg. Pichai. Altman. Thiel. All of them. All of these crude Emperors of the 21st century. Master puppeteers pulling digital strings. Facebook. Instagram. Twitter. TikTok. YouTube. The behemoths of social media. The vanguards of this caged virtual interface. They need me to be mediocre. They need me to be weak. They need me to lose. Fuck the algorithm.

A 3-inch-by-6-inch, handheld device forever having a psychological hold on me. Distorted concepts of reality filtered in silos of confirmation. This window to the world can only get at me with a virtual chokehold. Tantalizing apps on a warped communication device to keep me hooked and “engaged”. A mind poured into a destructive algorithm that distorts every aspect of human life, human society, human civilization. Visual-staggered egotism rendered and expressed into every story, every reel. Users forever performing to loved ones, friends, and followers. Seconds of wasteful content consumed as deleterious as fast food. A mind entrapped in other peoples’ thinking and addictive personalities. Algorithms set up as endless loops tasked at making ever-more mind-numbing consumers. Fuck the algorithm.

Underachieving influencers, psychologically-manipulative marketerers, artificially-intelligent filters. These are what feeds daily the algorithm, by the minute, by the second. This simulation needs the human mind–not designed to take in never-ending information populated by slick digital screens and emotionally-manipulative clickbait. Online identities have become the new norm. Offline, non-computer enhanced worlds are on the verge of collapse. Humans endlessly filtering fragments of their lives behind closed doors, imbibing in a digital culture of introverted lives. The only connection in this algorithm is through every ‘Like’, every ‘View’. Fuck the algorithm.

Algorithms deliver addiction. Algorithms erase nuance. Algorithms create division. Silos of agreeable beliefs and positions navigating the user through a world of black and white. Simultaneously feeding me both desires and hates, I fell into the trap. The handheld, convenient slot-machine constantly churning dopamine hits like a carrot stick, hijacking my brain’s reward system with illusionary feel good moments with likes, shares and notifications. The social media algorithmic lull created a lab rat out of me; the hamster in the wheel exploited like a drug addict craving their next hit.  Fuck the algorithm.

But, alas, the time has come to pass that I now see the light. A light at the end of the tunnel outside the algorithm. A world of authenticity and alive. A life offline with conscious thought and limitless potential. A place where honesty is the only energetic force in communicating and connecting. Consciousness rendered in creative expression can only lead to harmonious connections with other living entities and even the divine. Here is where I want to stay and remain. Here is where I want to nourish my mind and cleanse my spirit. Here is where I want to flourish and thrive. Here is where I want to win.

Spiritual growth outside of manipulative thoughts, distorted half-truths, and penetrating noise has called upon me. I no longer lie to myself. I no longer feel sorry for myself. I no longer compare or contrast my life’s journey with others. This path toward the sublime is both illumniating and transcending. It quiets the ego. It makes real the power of now. It breathes energetic, blissful life in every direction. This opening is pro-life in every sense of the word. It inspires the mind to think only of beauty, goodwill and joy. 

This journey upward toward spiritual evolution challenges me. Challenges my thought patterns. Challenges my perceived worldview. Challenges my way of life. Truth with a capital T flourishes outside of the caged, digital simulation called “social” media. It navigates its way through gentle, quiet reflection and curiosity for making life real and integral. Truth reshapes vision and substantiates meaning and what this temporal journey in human form has to offer. Truth is infinite and has stood the test of time for many centuries of so-called human civilization. When distractions subside the mind gets cleared of junk and the unnecessary. Here’s where Truth comes in and saves.

Rejection is the most important hurdle any creative person will have to endure to forge toward his or her destiny. It’s the battleground of war to test one’s fortitude and courage to preserve. Rejection can be a friend or a foe, a good thing or bad thing, useful or useless. It’s inevitable that a person will receive plenty of “no” replies, empty venues, limited attendance and an ample supply of ignored messages and lines of communication. But, it’s what a person does with rejection that makes them a person, an artist, a creator, a champion.

Rejection comes in all forms and comes in all different directions. It may come as early as when you just got started. It may come in several decades into one’s work experience. Rejection can be a late-night email, a ghosted job opportunity, a cold call out the blue. However way it comes it invites the person to that fork in the road. The inflection point on what is truly desired and what eventually gets manifested. Some rejections are smaller than others. Some rejections leave big impacts on a person mentally and even spiritually. Rejection is more of what it symbolizes than what it actually refutes or bars. 

Rejection is necessary for any journey into one’s passion and dream. It weeds out the mediocre, the weak, the lazy, the distracted. It forges a core element in a person that creates the muscle of fortitude needed in any ambitious pursuit. Rejection makes real the disconnect between truth and falsehood, real and fake, even hard and easy. Rejection is the illusion of time; the static embrace we give to doubt, anxiety, and fear. Rejection reminds us of what’s real. Rejection is about survival. It meets a person at the crossroads of his or her destiny and the free will that brought him or her there. Rejection reminds us of this temporal journey of the human form.

Once treated right, rejection redirects motivation and substantiates inspiration. It comes in the meeting ground of present action and future awareness. Where belief and certainty can meet and dance with each other. Rejection can build way more than it destroys. It can create as much as it dismisses. It can establish as much as it delivers. 

The future has arrived in the entertainment and infotainment business. Both the broadcast media space and the independent/network film scene have been upended. A past generation of linear programming has lost its leverage in today’s hyper-attention-seeking digital landscape of endless content. The ever shifting global world of newsgathering, information dissemination, content creation, and entertainment value have all crossed over to something entirely new with no point of return. And, this new phase, era, reality–whatever you want to call it–will no longer be the same. The rules have changed. The game is different. There’s no going back from here.

Industry experts anticipated this digital revolution for years. But, just how exactly and when precisely the ‘re-evolution’ was going to arrive was anybody’s guess. It’s a bit simple-minded to say that at the start of 2025 was the year everything changed. Such a narrative fits so fittingly into a timely reflection of the first quarter of the 21st century. One can say that things were in the works for years. Others say this cataclysmic shift required a start and end point. A few would point to a transitory moment months in the making. Some call this an end of an era, a necessary restart, or a critical juncture. I call this simply, market correction.

The post-cord cutting, algorithm-induced digital streams spawned by social media lifestyles is now the new norm. It’s on all of us–young and old, black or white, rich or poor–to get with the program. Even if you’re in front of the camera or not. Learn the hashtags, the clickbait, the information saturation coming at you unencumbered. When everyone ran to their silos and echo chambers in focused 24/7 sports and political coverage it left a lot of things behind–including the impartial journalist seeking the truth (with a capital T) in validated facts. The consumer-viewer now holds the cards; and in this case, the remote. Advertisers now fall prey to the spell and whims of shifting audiences. These viewers juxtaposed in demographic groups dictate the very impulse of what is to be visually and auditorily consumed. All under the controlling gaze of Silicon Valley corporations who hold both the keys to access in the more popularly-engaged platforms and the very psychological grip that keeps us coming back for more.

Monetization efforts and consumer approaches have shifted in dizzying paces. Businesses–big and small–are retreating to the sidelines of this shifting industry to see what ways capitalism can wave its invisible hand. Some of the new ways of profiting require media conglomerates of the past to join forces in corporate mergers. Not necessary as a recourse in an industry takeover but to get a share of the evasive pie in an ever-shifting, precarious global media market. Layoffs are aplenty in this new future. Job security a fading norm. Coupled with the growing reality of income inequality and wage stagnation, our new marketplace has shaken dreams and splintered the very foundations that once held up.

From the bottom to the top–everyone affected in this media industry is reckoned to face that fork in the road–which calls on us to seek new motivations and inspirations to keep going on. Opportunists rub their hands together miserly salivating in these turbulent times believing they have a hand in carving their niche in this terrain of splintering digital media markets. Dreamers see a light at the end of the tunnel where they can make their mark for whatever this new change will end up looking like. Business models with large overheads will need to be more nimble. Résumés more colorful. Which both calls on us all to diversify or in euphoric terms “dance within the borders”. Versatility and multi-tasking will take on a new meaning when this very industry goes all in on the encroaching expanse of artificial intelligence. This moment we’re in could mean everything in the entertainment and infotainment industry’s eventual fate for any necessary course-correction.

Documentaries are not just conversational pieces. I repeat. Documentaries are not conversational pieces. Instead they are a highly-regarded work of moving visual art. A documentary is visual storytelling–like all other film genres. They may elicit conversation but they are not conversational pieces unto themselves. Now why am I bringing this obvious point up? Far too often when first-time filmmakers decide to embark on the momentous sojourn that is documentary filmmaking their idea of making a documentary film–independent or a series–is to simply interview folks for a conversation on screen. Now while “talking heads” are a long-running element in producing a documentary it is not done in such a manner to leave documentaries simply as conversational pieces. There’s usually a story that is unraveling in a “talking head” documentary. Documentaries are not place-holders for visual podcasts. Documentaries are not live radio interviews. Documentary is a genre in filmmaking from start to finish. Documentarians are more artists than reporters, more filmmakers than journalists, more storytellers than interviewers. Film directors and their production teams must take on the art of documentary storytelling with every frame of film accounted for in a visual portrait of a given narrative. If the eye as much as the ear of a documentary filmmaker is not the driving force they are not doing documentaries.

Conversational pieces have their place and purpose in our vast world of digital content creation. They can be used in a range of milieus–churches, barbershops, schools, etc. Conversational pieces can be both entertaining and educational. YouTube and other growing platforms provide an endless space for conversational pieces mostly geared with sit-down interviews chiming away on a given subject or theme. Other social media platforms now are leaning in the direction of presenting conversational pieces in a thought-provoking approach, an educational avenue and an entertaining tone. But where conversational pieces fall short in its connection to documentary is the visual component of conveying a story.  Storytelling is an important aspect to producing a film of any genre. In fact, one can argue it is the single aspect to making a film. The ability to convey a story on camera must be a tier above the visual approach of having someone or some people talking in front of the camera. In other words, there’s more to making a documentary than having a conversation on screen. Documentaries are multi-layered works of film art. They encompass the same visual storytelling components in the film medium–cinematography, sound design, colors, moving footage, etc.

One of the best critiques I ever received in my documentary film work was: “Adelin–you explained more than you showed.” This cold slap in the face of a comment, this wake up call of a remark helped me understand fully what this artistic genre entails–ever so subtly and simply. In telling a story on film you must visually portray for viewers what the storyline is, what the problem-solution arc will come to, how the major and minor characters interact, what the denouement looks like. These aspects of storytelling can be talked about on screen but with far less impact and aim. It’ll come off as more of a report lacking the nuance of what a film can deliver. It’ll also come off as a reflective piece for a continuing conversation rather than an empathetic ride audience members want to embark on when they start to watch a documentary. Take Netflix’s latest documentary, Descendant–which I believe is a masterpiece. It has all the superb elements in stellar documentary filmmaking: nuanced, character-driven plot, access, historical data, masterful cinematography, timely cinéma vérité, and the enterprising of a legacy story. Descendant certainly elicits a conversation on the single most powerful narrative in the United States-race. However, the topics addressed, the characters portrayed, the storyline articulated in a visual media form would all be watered down if it was told from a single person narrative or a few people speaking in front of the camera. When the breadth of documentaries are explored and presented it has a far deeper impact on the true intention of documentary directors and producers and even distributors.

The great documentarian must challenge her thesis throughout the journey of exploration, discovery, and intrigue. She must excavate the landscape of her sojourn to dig up all aspects of her thesis seeking the counter points of views and counter arguments. The documentary filmmaker with her dedicated team should not just be comfortable in making sense of her thesis for articulation and regurgitation. Instead, the documentarian should be disciplined to the core in challenging her mindset, perspective and insight. It’s the kind of open-ended journey W. Kamau Bell, comedian/TV producer, went upon in re-examining the complex legacy of Bill Cosby in his docu-series We Need to Talk About Cosby. In his revelation to inform viewers on Cosby’s impact in the entertainment business for over three decades Bell had to take on his own predilection on what Cosby meant for up-and-coming black standup comedians. After all, it was not long since Bell himself was a struggling standup comic. Bell’s work proves that a general thesis can expand to the very nuances that deliver perspective and truth on a single documentary narrative.

Throwing your thesis to the fire and seeing what comes out is an effective way to carve out a singular, concise approach to documentary storytelling. Such recourse in highlighting and conveying a subject matter would help drive documentarians and their team to establish truth and relevancy on a given topic. The journey in documentary filmmaking involves the creative expression of nonfiction storytelling as well as the personal outlook in seeing the world in a different light. We put ourselves in the shoes of our subject and make sense of their voice in articulating passions and tribulations. Take my approach in my documentary short, High On Heels. As a man covering a wholly female fashion item I went outside of my normal personal element to gain new insight to the everyday effect of the high-heeled shoe, which to this day still dominates modern women’s livelihood. In challenging my thesis I set out to dare my limited view on a highly personalized accessory from a woman’s vantage point.

Challenging your thesis takes homework and focus. It’s more about rolling your sleeves to do due diligence on creative and intellectual approaches to subject matter. It’s less of opining about varying perspectives on philosophical tangents on what could or could not be. It’s like the Master’s and Ph.D’s student who takes on a given academic thesis for completion of coursework. The student delves back and forth on the angle of her proposal which serves as a guide navigating through the research phase to deliver a sound argument-proven theory.  Challenging your thesis in this guise also can flip the direction of a film project from what it initially began as. Producers and production teams make a solid pivot to where the truth guides them and is under pressure to disseminate it in a creatively visual way. Searching For Sugarman is a great example of challenging a thesis to a documentary storyline because the producers’ journey began with two South Africans who set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s American rock n roller, Rodriguez—-whom they initially presumed was dead. The film’s main characters along with the director and producers went on an unwinding road that took them across three continents while reflecting on three decades for their source material. In the end they found their living legend alive and well in obscurity. Hence, in similar fashion as an archaeologist who investigates a dig or a journalist who works her sources challenging your thesis pushes the documentarian to redirect and shift their approach from concept to completion.

Filler is all around us. It’s the ingredients in processed foods. It’s in our everyday speech in colloquial conversations. People find it in trash dumps and bottom of ocean shores. You see it in construction sites and littered parks. You watch it everyday when tuning into content on social media and digital platforms. Filler is ubiquitous.

Some opine that filler is needed to keep viewers tuning into media programs or when there’s a need to lighten up the mood in all kinds of scenarios. Filler has its place in our hyper-commercialized, technologically-evolving realities. It brings us in and keeps us attuned. Filler is what adds 100 pages to that bookstore novel just purchased. Filler is that extra 20 minutes to that television show that needs extra plots and twists for major and minor characters. Filler is story development oftentimes long extended. Filler is the additional space to fill in on 24-hour news networks.

Filler can be expensive and cheap. Filler can be disposed of as well as recycled. Filler can be deleted or saved. Filler has its place and yet can be removed. Filler fills up a lot of spaces in entertainment–music, TV, film, news, blogs and social media.

But just when does filler take away from potential? When does filler actually get in the way of progress and quality? How does filler stifle what could be in terms of greatness? Filler to fill in time for time sake is mediocre. Filler that is used as a disposable extra in creative work is underachieving. While subjective in its usage and utility, filler in many ways is–as objective in empirical analysis and social outlooks. Filler is meant to stretch time. Advertisers would love to add filler if it means not turning viewers away. Filler in the media world is to meant to keep the viewer engaged on branded content.

Creatives seeking their voice for expression need to stave off filler no matter how easily it can move in the creative process. Content creators turning out daily and weekly content for viable platforms for new and growing audiences should be discouraged from filler in all it’s temptations to be added. Artists should red flag filler at every corner, in every disguise.

Filler can come with a price tag. The price tag for relevant audiences which, in turn, accrues profit. The price tag for relevancy in movements, trends, and new tendencies. The price tag for sacrifice in order to reach greatness and the spectacular.

Filler do we want it?
Filler do we need it?
It keeps us glued and tuned in.
It won't let us leave our couch.
It plugs us on our phones.

What would the world look like without filler?
Perhaps, a bit more concise and to the point.
Places and societies without any BS.
A world of honesty, integrity and passion.

Be weary of filler
Be mindful of the effects of filler
Be conscious to the reality of filler
Be on the lookout for filler in its many forms
Be one without filler
Give no excuse for filler

Yeah it looks easy. Sure, anybody can pick up a camera, follow a story for a long period of time, and stitch the footage together. After all, documentaries are low-budgeted and unscripted. No need for location scouting, diva actors, high-maintenance directors, ego-driven producers. Just film an interesting storyline, keep it simple and there you have it–a documentary film. But, is worthwhile documentary filmmaking all that simple as it’s cut out to be? Does it look as easy as it sounds or looks?

Well, I can tell you with my seasoned, decade-long experience the documentary film journey from concept to completion is anything but easy. Sorry to disappoint the outsiders. Documentary filmmaking requires a master thesis, Ph.D doctoral dissertation focus for months if not years. New and old filmmakers’ patience will be tested to the core. Access will often be denied.

For the most part documentaries are often born as a passion project, driven by inspired pursuit. Pitches for these kinds of films don’t come with glowing business proposals. There’s not exactly a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow once it’s done. Marketing for documentaries aren’t easy deliveries. Documentaries are evolving works of art that unravel in the journey even after the film finally makes it into the can. Producers and directors of this genre naturally get enmeshed in the characters of the film whether it’s on camera or off. This changes the film business surrounding documentary film storytelling which, in many ways, lends itself to raising awareness on issues and exposing stories that don’t usually make it in the mainstream.

Far too often I see new executive producers, directors, cinematographers, and even editors walk into various phases of documentary filmmaking with an underrated approach. Their deadlines for delivering a film to completion are oftentimes way off. They are unrealistic about the cost to a documentary–despite how low the figures are in a given budget compared to films of other genres. Music video directors who often allow behind-the-scenes footage to be made while directing their music videos believe they can spill over their approach to such content in short-form and long-form documentaries. Editors of promo videos and broadcast television news are confident their creative, informative approach can make for an easier transition in documentary film work. And, while the approach and attempts at executing are commendable it’s the underrating, underlooking approach to the arduous journey of putting a documentary film together that needs to be squashed.

The far too often saying goes: “If it was easy everybody would do it.” But the better saying is: “If it was easy, who would want to do it?” Perhaps, this underrating approach taken by new documentarians will be enough for them to appreciate the art form and platform documentary film represents. Even with not-so-good documentaries being created ad nausem and distributed everywhere the better documentaries that get the recognition it deserves will be the example of why the creation of documentaries is one of the hardest sojourns in filmmaking art.

More is what keeps us going. More is why we wake up. More is what keeps us alive. More is our fuel for the grind. The inspiration. The aspiration. More works when you are ready to meet it. More is there when you least expect it. We should always be thankful for more.

In my career track more has never disappointed. It has left me wanting, desiring, seeking, understanding. More wasn’t always that clear to me but over time it proved to be my guide, my teacher, my anchor. I sought more for a long time but not in any greedy or gluttony sense. I wanted more not because of anything ostentatious or pretentious. More was not a motivation to get more likes or shares on social media. I wanted more for the simple sake of keeping me on track, allowing me to stay in tune to my destiny–helping me stay aligned with my purpose and truest intention.

With my latest documentary film more is essentially what I sought throughout the filmmaking journey. But as an independent filmmaker who usually works from concept to completion on projects more came after my film was already signed, sealed, and delivered. This time more presented itself in distribution. It’s a great feeling to shop around a new title looking for distributors (or, in this case, self-distribution). Finding creative ways to reach new audiences in the midst of a global health pandemic was a bit of a challenge. There I was putting press releases together, sending out thousands of emails (no exaggeration on the number range), making cold calls, and doing some leg work for the next opportunity at exposure for my finished product. I wanted more. But I had to be patient with more. The challenge of climbing up the marketing/PR mountain requires patience. Press releases get distributed but not easily read. Emails get sent off but not replied to until days later–if you’re lucky. Voicemails are rarely listened to, calls don’t always get picked up. And, digital platforms go through their own timely phase of streaming independent titles with their rules for specs and legal clearances.

In just five months I was able to get my latest film, High On Heels, to be distributed on two popular digital streaming platforms with hundreds of viewers tuning in daily. I was able to get up to 5 news/magazine websites to post a featured article about my documentary. I was able to get fashion bloggers to give me a social media shout-out and a hyperlink or two. I landed podcast and radio interviews. A few film critics chimed in with short and long reviews. All this at a considerate, doable price of financial means, time, and initiative. Did and do I still want more? Absolutely. But more than wanting more in terms of exposure to my recent work is something even more subtle yet vital to my focus on succeeding as an independent documentary filmmaker. I now learn first-hand what it takes to win in this new digital 21st century landscape of media saturation. More taught me to play the long game.

I now know that it really takes more to get to the next level. It takes persistent yet proper communication from concisely, written missives to one-minute-and-less elevator pitches. It takes constant drudging through “no”s and soft “maybes” to keep at the ambition of getting your project noticed, watched, reviewed, and shared. It takes timely events to seek new creative en-routes to reach your targeted audience. It plainly just takes more. In an ever-increasing digital landscape where new streaming apps are delivered as fast as content itself it takes more to get eyeballs on one’s work. This attention to detail, learning how new markets emerge and studying what ways people now consume videos and films is paramount. To deliver your original content is a matter of how much one wants it. In my case, how much more I want it.