It's All About the Plan, Man.

Last night, I finally completed and emailed a customized Cinedulce proposal to a key division of a very big media company. Basically, I know a fella at one brand owned by the parent; he e-tro'd (email introduced) me to a contact at another brand that has more direct relevance to both the NY Int'l Latino Film Festival and Cinedulce. That contact requested I first send her an overview of the company and thoughts on a potential partnership. Reasonable request. So, that's the proposal I sent out last night. Hopefully, we'll connect when I return from D.C. (GoBama!)

That aside, Calix, Lyndon and I had our weekly mtg yesterday. In case you're keeping track, which I'm SURE you are, we moved our meeting from Wednesdays to Thursdays. Whoopding. Anyhow, we are finally launching our new channel this Tuesday, 01/20. I'll tell you all about it on Tuesday, but I think our timing is somewhat poignant (in terms of coinciding with Obama's inauguration). Mas en eso luego...

We also have another new channel launch in February, so there's LOTS going on. AND, we have a whole other project that's muy chevere! That should be ready by end of March/early April and, if all goes well, we'll have another installation in mid-June. Plus, of course, Calixto and I are deep in planning for the NYILFF and have started discussing a cool idea for our 10th anniversary creative campaign. Can't wait to run it by HBO!! Clearly, there's lots of planning going on...which leads me to an important discussion we had about the absolute need to lay out a plan for the short-, mid-, and longer terms. It can be challenging to project in the longer term because it's unclear where the company will be in terms of resources, growth, partners, programs, etc. But, I still think it's crucial to look far ahead and project what needs to get done today in order to prepare and position yourself for reaching that goal tomorrow, particularly in terms of time lines. The older I get, the faster time flies. I can't even believe it's already mid-January. In the blink of an eye, it will be July and time for me to write my NYILFF Opening Night audience address (ay dios mio!!). If we don't carefully plan the next 7 months, we potentially will miss valuable opportunities for both companies. So, there it is; it's all about the plan, man. Have a great weekend and bundle up all of you East Coast-ers!

Liz.
(P.L.H.H.)
www.Cinedulce.com