I came to this project perceiving Jeff Minter as totally on his own: self-reliant, unrestrained, but lacking the kind of support other people take for granted. Turns out I was wrong about that.
The myth of the auteur, the originating single voice, has mistakenly evolved into this notion that artists are singular visionaries who don’t want or need help. It’s a preposterous idea, certainly to anyone who has actually tried to make anything of any scope. Jeff is no fool in that regard either.
I learned while making this film, for example, that Llamasoft was originally a family business, in that Jeff’s mum scuppered an exploitative deal Jeff had been persuaded to accept and became Jeff’s de facto business manager. Jeff’s family helped set up and run the Llamasoft stand for years and the many computer trade shows of the 80s. It might be easy for some to take for granted that kind of on-tap family assistance. Jeff didn’t.
So I caught myself wondering if I was leaning into this solo filmmaker thing a bit too hard. Yes, I would definitely love to have a producing partner, but I have, despite my insistence, indeed had a partner in this project since the very beginning.
From the January 3, 2021 newsletter:
2020 was the year my wife officially became a gamer. She got her first console for her birthday in April - a Nintendo Switch. Animal Crossing was the app that came with it, but Just Dance 2020 was the game that was just absurd enough to make March and April bearable for both of us : )
Amanda has been my wife for nearly a quarter of a century. Our anniversary is tomorrow, as it happens. Amanda didn’t blink when I told her I wanted to make this documentary, my first feature film as director. She was 100% supportive of that (to my face, at least lol) and has been throughout. And, through the lens of our relationship, I’m able to look back and appreciate the Heart of Neon journey a bit more clearly.
She helped me try to articulate the goals of the project in the early days when I was still struggling with the difference between the film that I set out to shoot and the stories emerging from the interviews I actually shot. She’s been a staunch supporter on-line and at in-person events. And while I don’t know that she saw the same thing I did when she watched the second draft of Heart of Neon with me, she definitely celebrated the milestone and was excited about what was to come next.
Since then she’s seen me evolve as a filmmaker, becoming the director who took to the stage with Brian Newman and be complemented by Brian about how thorough my distribution plan was. She’s seen me elicit a great deal of strength and confidence through participating in peer groups like the Brooklyn Filmshop and the Looky Looky Pictures Impact Campaign workshop, and she has seen me expand the goals of the film to embrace not just getting Jeff Minter the attention from a wide audience, but trying to leverage the film to improve the situation for all indiedevs in the world, through things like the Heart of Neon partnership with the IGDA Foundation.
She’s also seen me go from being that guy who really doesn’t like video conferencing, to being the guy who does it every day. Yikes.
Throughout all of this she’s had faith in me. Maybe not unshakeable faith - the Kickstarter campaign tanking was not a great outcome - but she’s seen me do all this work developing Heart of Neon and not go into debt to make it happen. She’s been my biggest fan and my best friend throughout. That’s the kind of support you don’t take for granted.
And that’s what is so remarkable about Jeff. He has had people who want to help him - out of love or admiration, it amounts to the same thing - and he’s never taken it for granted. He’s never imposed himself on anyone to further his career. It’s usually the opposite. Jeff’s always takes less than he rightly deserves, sometimes to his detriment. But those are his terms.
I’ve hosted a few online Heart of Neon events now, and I’m always boosting the message on the socials. And I see these names that appear in support come back again and again. I have a core group of people whose support in recent years have kept me sane through those “what the hell am I doing!?” phases (including, but definitely not limited to): Tony Longworth, Jan D., Peter Haas, Artstate Digital, Andy Roberts, Judge Drokk, Stef Animal, Sidney Saachi, David Van Taylor, Boris Hladek… oh making this list is folly, because I’m 100% guaranteed to forget so many people… everybody who has supported me in any fashion on Patreon, everyone who has followed me on the socials, or read this blog…
Thank you. I never want to take your support for granted.