Hey Steemit! Finally introducing myself - my novel and original narrative series coming soon!

Hi Steemit!

My name is Doug Karr and I started writing and making films when I was sixteen (I'm now 37) and this month has been one of the best of my career as a commercial director. I directed 3 projects for 3 different brand new clients, a narrative comedy spot for James Allen/Google, a Tretorn shoe commercial that stars Andre 3000 and spot for Lands' End. All creatively fulfilling in their own way, and I'm hugely thankful for the work, but with the increasing success of my commercial career, my own filmmaking aspirations have taken a back seat.

(On the soundstage in Toronto, directing my 2009 Sundance Short Ten for Grandpa)

So, this seems the perfect time to finally introduce myself and get in gear on Steemit! I've been on the platform for 10 months and have been planning my media offerings the entire time.

(Here's a little steemit intro video I put together)

I'm developing a web series exclusively for Steemit, and plan to launch my novel on the platform, as well as writing insights and crazy stories about parenting, growing up in a Tibetan Buddhist community (read: cult?), my experiences living all over the world: I was born in Paris, spent my teen years in Canada, a formative year in Malawi directing a documentary as I hit my twenties, then round the world ticket for another year before landing in NYC for the last dozen years. I feel so fortunate to have had all of these amazing experiences and I'm excited to share my world and work with Steemit and help grow this amazing community.

(during an awesome hang with the family yesterday at Coney Island)

One of the highlights of my life was having a short film, Ten for Grandpa, accepted to the '09 Sundance Film Festival. Not just because I got to go to Park City and have massive door open in terms of career and ability to make art, but also because on the first day of the festival I caught sight of the girl I would eventually marry sitting at the filmmakers welcome desk. When I came back to score more ski lift tickets a couple days later, there she was. I got the tickets and we've been deeply in love ever since, made a life together, a feature film (Art Machine), and now have two wonderful little boys, Travis who's nearly 5 and Wesley who turns 2 in September.

(In the Colorado Rockies a couple weeks back, with my lovely wife Aimee and our little one Wesley)

(my little champ, Travis, getting his first trophy for T-Ball, we went to a BBQ that evening and he carried it the entire party)

(And here I am having with Andre 3000 on set last week)

September will also mark a year that I've been on Steemit. I can't stay passive any longer. One of my biggest points of pride is that I've supported myself through my filmmaking and writing since the age of 18. Steemit seems like the next evolution of that potential -- a way to collaborate, create, and directly distribute to an audience while getting paid in the process. I've had a dozen feature films in development, one had Alan Cumming attached as star and executive producer, been paid by a studio to write a script about an 8 inch tall ballerina, spent time volunteering at Riker's island to research a script I wrote for years that eventually won the grand prize in a screenwriting competition... and the common denominator is that at the end of the day I had to go out and ask the Studio gatekeepers to open their wallets and allow me to make these films. Even with everything going for the projects, years have gone by and I don't have nearly as much to show as I'd like for how much I've written. I believe that as Steemit evolves that can change. The true democratization of media rests in this amazing model and I'm hugely excited to take part.

So with that in mind, I've decided to premiere my crime novel, Dwelling, on Steemit and I'm actively developing a crypto thriller web series (with an exciting star) that I'll be directing and premiering on the platform soon.

I've been working on the novel for years and it's a huge thrill for me to finally offer it up and begin a direct dialogue with readers. And I believe the web series will help take narrative film on Steemit to the next level.

I'm so excited to be here and finally present myself and what I have to offer.

Thank you & Steem on!
Doug Karr

PS. You can check out more about me here: http://piefacepictures.com/