Meet Sean Alan Stone

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sean Alan Stone. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Sean, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
From a young age, I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be on TV. I wanted to be in movies. My mom tells this story of when I was 2 and would say, “When I grow up I’m going to move to Hollywood and be an actor.” I was lucky in that it was clear for me and that is what I’ve done. I try to continue to learn and grow and take inspiration from as many places as I can. The thing I’ve found even now after doing this professionally for over 10 years, is that the more I do it, the more I like it, and the better I get at it. The art is in the doing, so I try my best to do as much as I can. It can sound cliche but to live as much as I can. But for becoming the person you want to be and being able to be confident in that I would say surround yourself with people who are better than you. Once you do that the ceiling opens up and you realize there is more room to grow and you step through and grow, and then you meet new people who are even better and, again, the ceiling opens and you grow. After time you look back and realize you’re no longer the same person and this “new” person has earned the confidence and has been boosted up by supportive talented folks around them that make you see your potential. That’s why teachers are so important because they are often the ones, the gasoline if you will, that makes the spark become the light.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m a working actor, director, writer, and photographer based in the US currently. I’m excited currently about making the movies that I want to watch and being a supportive force that helps people realize they can be greater than they think they can. The wildest dream you have can be better than you imagine it, but most of us are set in a fear and “scarcity” mindset. I have a piece of advice. The things that you have are not only because you budgeted out your life to be portioned for each stage. If that was the case then how to you explain that some of the happiest most fulfilled people I know are still figuring life out? A weighted and measured approach isn’t the only approach. I’m not saying sell everything you own and start selling candles, but if you REALLY love candles there’s a way to build a life selling candles. Right now I’m working on a film anthology series that is based in a genre, but the main soul of the stories is what connects us. What do we fear? Depression, death, loss, anxiety, family, health, escaping the rat race, etc. All of the themes we can relate to and be connected to community through storytelling. AND that this storytelling doesn’t just have to be something on a screen. I miss the community. I miss the in-person connection of getting out of the hosue and going to the movies with friends. Smelling the butter and corn, and navigating the sticky path to your velvet seat to hear the whispers and laughs before the lights go down and the movie comes up. So I’m also working on ways to interconnect screenings of these events to physical places where people can meet up and enjoy a film together as well as online. We’ve got a live event coming soon where there will be a live stream of the festival, interview, red carpet, and panel discussion, alongside the physical screenings to increase the visability of what it is that we’re doing. That’s the point of art, right? To make us feel something and make a connection.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Go and do. Do as much as you can. My company No Moss Productions is based on “ideas through action.” I am very passionate about “the doing is where you get good.” Reading a book is a start and I read a lot, but surrounding yourself with a community, even if it’s one person, and actually doing something you’re passionate or curious about is the path. So if you’re unsure of the next step ask yourself self, “Can I see the next step?” If you can see anything as a next step take the chance and see what happens. 100% of the time you get better and in turn are that much closer to doing the thing you want at the capacity that you want. Also, it will connect you into a community of people doing the thing too and that is where you can start to learn quicker and grow. As I mentioned earlier, be around people better than you and that is the path. Go and do.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I’m always looking for folks to collaborate with. I would say most filmmakers are because…I don’t know if you know this, but films don’t get made on their own. It’s a collaboration all the way and my job as a director is to surround myself with the most talented people I can find and turn them loose to do what they do best. On each set I am on I create a safe and creative space for people to create. Those are the types of folks I’ve always preferred to be around. Back in the day, we were just the “weirdos” that no one really knew what to do with. But now we have this outlet to express the things we love and are passionate about. It’s the best. When I’m looking for folks for a certain project I’m looking for doers. The doing, again, is something major for me. It shows that you are going to do your thing with or without me, so from a storytelling perspective, I know I just have to plug you in and am going to get positive results based on your specific skill set. Words of wisdom: It’s hard to pitch something you’ve never done before, so go and do. An example would be right now I have a stop-motion project that is coming soon and that whole team came from seeing their work online and being like “Wow! Hey would you be interested in this project I have?” We got to talking and that was the end of it. I didn’t have to ask an artist, whose style I liked, “Hey can you do stop motion.” I found stop-motion artists who were already doing what I was looking for. I would have never found them if they weren’t doing.

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Sean Alan Stone

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