Now Playing in 3D: A Revolutionary Approach to Personal Transformation
Joe Martino, Founder, Collective Evolution
Dear Joe,
"To laugh at yourself is to love yourself." - Mickey Mouse
Where in the vast sea of "10 steps to enlightenment/7 steps to happiness/3 easy healing methods" Information Age approach to personal transformation is Mickey's simple solution?
Except for a few icons like Jim Carrey, it's audibly absent, mainly because media outlets and publishing houses make up the rules for approaches to self-help: bullet points and goal setting, categorizing and coaching; as if we could work our emotions, beliefs, and thought patterns the way we work our muscles in a gym.
These rules are not set in place to effect lasting change, but to sell books. It's simple marketing, and this incongruity lies less with the publishers or media outlets, and more with the change workers who know personal transformation is more of an art than it is an exact science, but stuff their vast experience and knowledge into bullet points and Power Points anyway, and end up hawking their transformation products like cigarette ads in the 70's. That's how old, tired, and damaging this approach is. A disruption is long overdue.
Dear Joe,
"To laugh at yourself is to love yourself." - Mickey Mouse
Where in the vast sea of "10 steps to enlightenment/7 steps to happiness/3 easy healing methods" Information Age approach to personal transformation is Mickey's simple solution?
Except for a few icons like Jim Carrey, it's audibly absent, mainly because media outlets and publishing houses make up the rules for approaches to self-help: bullet points and goal setting, categorizing and coaching; as if we could work our emotions, beliefs, and thought patterns the way we work our muscles in a gym.
These rules are not set in place to effect lasting change, but to sell books. It's simple marketing, and this incongruity lies less with the publishers or media outlets, and more with the change workers who know personal transformation is more of an art than it is an exact science, but stuff their vast experience and knowledge into bullet points and Power Points anyway, and end up hawking their transformation products like cigarette ads in the 70's. That's how old, tired, and damaging this approach is. A disruption is long overdue.
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When it comes to truly changing lives, Mickey Mouse had a much greater impact. What we're about to share with you, if done right, can do for the personal transformation movement what Walt Disney did for film when he added sound to cartoon, bringing magic and WONDER to the entire world for decades to come. Like Walt, we've added something else to cartoon: personal transformation. |
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Cartoon, Story & Wonder
What was your favorite cartoon character as a child? Answer quickly and honestly. Does the character match your personality?
Fusing the projective nature of cartoon (We don't just observe the cartoon, we BECOME it!" - Scott McCloud) with the transformational power of story ("Telling stories is not just the oldest form of entertainment, it’s the highest form of consciousness" - Peter Guber), we created a revolutionary method for something that desperately needed a makeover: the typical means toward teaching personal transformation.
My current work as a screenwriter and over twenty-five years experience as a Psychotherapist, as well as my partner Craig's work as a member of Tony Robbins' events staff for 8 years and as a Producer (particularly on his Television show "Power of a Dream") instilled in us a keen insight into the importance of a playful and entertaining approach to personal transformation.
Fusing the projective nature of cartoon (We don't just observe the cartoon, we BECOME it!" - Scott McCloud) with the transformational power of story ("Telling stories is not just the oldest form of entertainment, it’s the highest form of consciousness" - Peter Guber), we created a revolutionary method for something that desperately needed a makeover: the typical means toward teaching personal transformation.
My current work as a screenwriter and over twenty-five years experience as a Psychotherapist, as well as my partner Craig's work as a member of Tony Robbins' events staff for 8 years and as a Producer (particularly on his Television show "Power of a Dream") instilled in us a keen insight into the importance of a playful and entertaining approach to personal transformation.
What is it about cartoons like Mickey Mouse, Peanuts or The Simpsons that makes their characters so memorable and enduring? We identify with them. We can listen to our favorite cartoon characters impart wisdom in a fun and magical way more than anyone in the "real" world, and a cartoon provides the playful means to make it stick.
Information doesn't stick. Information is certainly one of the first steps to change, yet lasting change happens at deeper levels, involving emotion, motivation and the subconscious mind. Due to the Information Age we live in, almost as a default most people equate information with transformation:
"In today's fast paced information age, many live their lives in a state of overwhelm and paralysis. This is the result of what we at Splash City Studios call the "How-to" world. Like eating empty carbs, we stuff ourselves with information in the hopes of improving our lives and end up malnourished and wanting more, never achieving the results we were looking for, and often becoming disillusioned, cynical, and operating in a flat, 2D state of mind. Our craving can never be fully satisfied, for information is NOT transformation."
At Splash City Studios, we have developed a new, common sense approach that is nourishing to our souls. Our fun and colorful characters are not How-to experts, nor are they judges or coaches. They are Cartoon Mentors with heartfelt stories that are therapeutically woven to take us to the pinnacle of transformation..."- Craig Cloutier & Deborah Whitaker
Information doesn't stick. Information is certainly one of the first steps to change, yet lasting change happens at deeper levels, involving emotion, motivation and the subconscious mind. Due to the Information Age we live in, almost as a default most people equate information with transformation:
"In today's fast paced information age, many live their lives in a state of overwhelm and paralysis. This is the result of what we at Splash City Studios call the "How-to" world. Like eating empty carbs, we stuff ourselves with information in the hopes of improving our lives and end up malnourished and wanting more, never achieving the results we were looking for, and often becoming disillusioned, cynical, and operating in a flat, 2D state of mind. Our craving can never be fully satisfied, for information is NOT transformation."
At Splash City Studios, we have developed a new, common sense approach that is nourishing to our souls. Our fun and colorful characters are not How-to experts, nor are they judges or coaches. They are Cartoon Mentors with heartfelt stories that are therapeutically woven to take us to the pinnacle of transformation..."- Craig Cloutier & Deborah Whitaker
Splash City Studios comprehensive Self-Empowerment program for adults and young adults, Now Playing in 3D, consists of a series of short, therapeutic Life Fables (5 out of 11 books completed) designed to help readers begin "playing in 3D" (or what we term "mindfluence"), and written by archetypal 'Cartoon Mentors' from our cartoon world Splash City; an accompanying product line to "make the magic last;" a Splash in the City blog, and an affordable online Course that encompasses all of the above.
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We blend CARTOON to engage our subconscious (used as an icon, not a comic or graphic novel), STORY to engage our hearts (each Life Fable is written in Joseph Campbell's hero's journey format), and a splash of WONDER to engage our neurology (Bathology; a daily practice based on the latest neuroscience): |
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Story has a completely different delivery process than information. When we are called by story, we pause whatever we are thinking or doing to ask one of life's most important questions: What happens next? Suddenly, we care.
Neuroscience research indicates that when reading a story, different brain regions collaborate to create an experience that is much like imagining a real life, vivid event. Recent research further suggests that once a reader is in such an "experience-taking" state, they put aside their own identity, lose themselves in the story, and identify with the character until the thoughts, beliefs and emotions of the character are taken on as if they are their own.
Splash City is an adult cartoon world that mirrors our own, where flat, 2D and oppressed people either work at "The Abusement Park" or on ladders to get to the top of "The Wall" on Fall Street. By transforming their world, Splash City Cartoon Mentors help us imagine how we might do the same in our world:
Neuroscience research indicates that when reading a story, different brain regions collaborate to create an experience that is much like imagining a real life, vivid event. Recent research further suggests that once a reader is in such an "experience-taking" state, they put aside their own identity, lose themselves in the story, and identify with the character until the thoughts, beliefs and emotions of the character are taken on as if they are their own.
Splash City is an adult cartoon world that mirrors our own, where flat, 2D and oppressed people either work at "The Abusement Park" or on ladders to get to the top of "The Wall" on Fall Street. By transforming their world, Splash City Cartoon Mentors help us imagine how we might do the same in our world:
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Longstanding greed, corruption and lack of vision have made the people of SPLASH CITY as flat, muted and two-dimensional as the world around them. Hidden in broad daylight throughout Splash city are small, discrete groups of Splash City residents who emanate color. These three-dimensional (or 3D) folks are vibrant, energetic, playful, self-reliant, radiant, imaginative, and they have a secret. They discovered their way off The Wall and out of the 2D, flat world. |
The Transformation Age
After developing this project for years, we learned a valuable lesson when we began looking for avenues to launch. At a time when laughing at ourselves is now an integral part of the political landscape, when it comes to personal transformation professionals, it's taboo.
At a large holistic fair in Westchester County, New York, our booth was next to one run by a lovely, prominent and coiffed Life Coach with so much bullet pointed information on her poster boards, that few people approached her booth. When a crowd surrounded ours, she was gracious and congratulatory, but didn't make the connection. An Expressive Arts PhD who passionately shared his story about buying a castle for his counseling business, and giving us a tour of his fairy tale designed rooms, couldn't include anything the insurance companies wouldn't sign off on. And upon hearing the name of Splash City's Psychotherapist, Lisa Hearditall, an overworked Wellness Center owner (and Life Coach) with a marker on her mirror about self-love, choked back an inadvertent laugh else it become full blown. In the end, she could only offer what her business model of renting space allowed.
If there was anyone who needed to play, stretch and evolve, it was these three. While each of them intellectually recognized a playful state of mind is vital to our creativity and overall adaptability, they, like so many, resist play and cartoon; afraid they might look silly, and won't be taken seriously. They may have become too susceptible to these inner (and outer) critics:
They also could not see the grander vision, most likely due to being caught up in the daily grind of running their business, and/or caught in a business model that was no longer serving them. Moving from the Information age to the Transformation Age requires a new set of rules. We're old enough to remember the early days of the Information Age when people rushed to become some kind of expert in order to have information to sell on the web, as it was more often called back then. Now, everyone is an expert to where this approach has reached a bifurcation point. Either we become a slave to it, it destroys us, or we evolve beyond it.
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Heralding in the Transformation Age means helping people accept rather than resist change, and toward that end, its important to blend and build upon worlds, not carelessly throw out the old and familiar ones.
Your How We Create Shifts in Consciousness video encouraged us to contact you. In it, you demonstrated your mastery at blending worlds; presenting information to shift consciousness, and then revealing the importance of adding an educational component. You keep offering information (the old), while helping educate (the new). Here, your leadership qualities were on full display. However, we feel you missed a dimension: entertainment, specifically story. |
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The most obvious example of the transformative power of story lies in Joseph Campbell's hero's journey, now a screenwriter's staple. Another prime example of the power of story focuses on narrative. When biologist Randy Olson became a filmmaker, he discovered just how scientists could benefit by learning more about story and narrative to become more effective communicators. He is now training scientists in Story Circles across the country.
Similarly, when I bridged worlds from Psychotherapy to screenwriting, I discovered how story (particularly the hero's journey format) can help counselors get their message across as well. Stories grab our attention in a distracted world, and take us straight to the heart. |
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In the beginning of this letter, we noted the importance of Splash City Studios' revolutionary approach being "done right." Our early attempts to launch helped us understand how important it is that Splash City Studios' Self-Empowerment Course, books and products are not segmented into a genre or stuffed into the wrong business model. For the integrity of our mission, we cannot reduce our concept to fuse personal transformation with entertainment (via cartoon and story) by defining it as one or the other. That will surely usurp its potential.
Our business is more than a cartoon, a series of books, or heavenly aromatherapy soap; it's a fun yet substantive approach to transformation. But it's also prey to the Cynic Choir (as a friend put it, "unfortunately, many view cynicism as the new hip way to look at life.") so before it will be accepted, it must first be acknowledged as a process of transformation and not only a cartoon world and a series of fables. We created the concept and content, but marketing and promoting it means teaming up with like-minded partners to present it as a whole, via a strategic and comprehensive campaign. In other words, Splash City Studios needs a disrupter, with a shared mission.
And that's why we're writing you. We're impressed with the integrity, fairness and objectivity of your "heartfelt journalism" approach, and your passion for, and more importantly, your certainty about shifting consciousness. We'd like to strategize with you (and your team at Collective Evolution) about a means to jointly introduce Splash City and the "3D Movement" to the world.
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However, it's not just about Collective Evolution. While CE certainly provides a means of distribution, we invite you to first come on board as a producer. We have an exciting promotional idea to produce an animated cartoon short that would include a cameo Voice Over by one or more leaders in the Personal Transformation field, thereby instantly merging the world of transformation with the world of cartoon and story, while making a big promotional splash. Co-producing it is a way to begin working together.
What about funding? Using our books and product line as perks, with your rightfully loyal audience we could easily and readily crowd fund it, thereby building energy and anticipation before the video even comes out. With the crowd funding acting as the marketing campaign, should you and Collective Evolution then choose to distribute/retail, it would be to an engaged audience and community. And a movement will have begun. |
"Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life? Or do you want to come with me and change the world?"
Recognize this famous line? It's what Steve Jobs asked of Pepsi executive John Sculley when he pressed him to become CEO of Apple. We only know you by your exemplary work in founding and operating Collective Evolution, and certainly don't have anywhere near the wherewithal of the likes of Steve Jobs (Splash City Studios has yet to be monetized), but replace 'sugar water' with 'information' and take out the CEO request, and the rest of the question applies.
After following Collective Evolution for several years, we believe you when you say you want to change the world by shifting consciousness. Through Collective Evolution, you're already doing it but, as Walt Disney put it, "when you believe in something, believe in it all the way." When Steve Jobs was thrown out of Apple thanks to John Sculley, he turned his attention to something else that changed the world: Pixar.
Here is an e-book of the second book in the Now Playing in 3D series, I Will Find My Way "written by" twenty-something Miss Guided Light, (Splash City's Tour Guide) and the coupon to receive a complimentary copy: ET58D.
For style and voice contrast, here is the fifth book in the Bathology series, Listen to Yourself "written by" Splash City Psychotherapist Lisa Hearditall, and the coupon to receive a complimentary copy of that e-book: BW64J. Each story is unique, and written in the voice of the 'Cartoon Mentor.' The first three books in the series revitalize the 'Lost Arts' of Imagination, Self-reliance, and Will. In addition, we will be happy to give you and your team a link to review (and play in!) our Now Playing in 3D online Self-Empowerment Course.
Did you name your favorite character yet? Mine is Tweety Bird, for I love the way he always outsmarts the cat with a smile. Craig loves sports cars, so naturally his favorite character is the Road Runner.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Kindest Regards,
Deb Whitaker, Founder and Co-Owner, Splash City Studios
Craig Cloutier, Founder and Co-Owner, Splash City Studios
SplashCityStudios.com
For style and voice contrast, here is the fifth book in the Bathology series, Listen to Yourself "written by" Splash City Psychotherapist Lisa Hearditall, and the coupon to receive a complimentary copy of that e-book: BW64J. Each story is unique, and written in the voice of the 'Cartoon Mentor.' The first three books in the series revitalize the 'Lost Arts' of Imagination, Self-reliance, and Will. In addition, we will be happy to give you and your team a link to review (and play in!) our Now Playing in 3D online Self-Empowerment Course.
Did you name your favorite character yet? Mine is Tweety Bird, for I love the way he always outsmarts the cat with a smile. Craig loves sports cars, so naturally his favorite character is the Road Runner.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Kindest Regards,
Deb Whitaker, Founder and Co-Owner, Splash City Studios
Craig Cloutier, Founder and Co-Owner, Splash City Studios
SplashCityStudios.com