Everybody loves someone who succeeds despite intense odds against them. We all especially love someone who does things their way and has no fear when breaking the bonds of conventional thought on their way to achieving a dream. This is why I believe people tend to enjoy hearing about a man from Los Angeles who has done things his way Hollywood style.
Dennis Woodruff cruises around Los Angeles in cars that he has personally decorated with a constant theme of advertising himself and his movies. It seems that 20 years ago Woodruff arrived in Hollywood and like all aspiring actors he tried to get acting rolls in movies. After visiting over 200 casting agencies he faced only rejection. He figured if nobody would cast him in movies he’d just go ahead and make his own movies.
Article about Dennis Woodriff“Wannabe Actor Writes, Directs and Stars in His Own Films, Makes $400,000 aYear”
A one-man movie crew Dennis Woodruff does the work a regular movie would take hundreds of people to do. He is the producer, screenwriter, director and star actor. I wonder if he argues with himself for a better deal. He does all the movie’s editing, special effects, casting and even operates the camera. It doesn’t stop there. Once the move is made he also sells and distributes it. To date he has made 24 movies and has been able to sell over 100,000 copies from the back of his unique cars. He’s become quite a popular movie seller to the many tourists who regularly visit Los Angeles.
His movies run quite the spectrum. Some could easily considered documentaries such as “Horror Stories from the Laundromat” and “What is Art” which covers graffiti around Los Angeles. Other movies he provides some special effects such as his movie called “Spaceman” which was such a huge success he had to make the sequel “Spaceman Returns.” For those who laugh at his movies or how he promotes them according to Dennis Woodruff he makes around $400,000 a year.
The vehicles he’s decorated can be refereed to as a style of “Self promotion gone wild.” He has his name, picture and listings of his movies on the outside of his cars. He has more than one vehicle. They are decorated with everything from a huge head to various items you may find at a garage sale and just about anything you can think can be attached to a car.
Dennis Woodruff is an inspiration to all those who dream of making movies for a living but fear failure.
There is another man from Canada who has taken the theme of doing things his way to extremes. Jean Beliveau who is from Montreal recently completed a walk around the world. For the past 11 years he has spent his time walking through 64 different countries in South America, Africa, Europe and more.
Article about Jean Beliveau: “Meet The Man Who Spent 11 Years Walking Around The World And The Woman WhoWaited For Him To Return”
This epic journey started on August 18, 2000, after Beliveau’s neon-sign business went bankrupt. He felt he was experiencing a mid-life crisis and decided to find a way to escape his routine. When he told his girlfriend he planned to walk around the world she felt he was trying to end their relationship. Beliveau told her that was not the case. For eleven years she supported his walk emotionally, financially and flew to wherever he was once a year to be with him.
He was able to say with 1,600 different families during his walk and remembers eating snake in China, a close call with a puma in a South American desert and being escorted by armed soldiers in the Philippines.
Now that he’s completed his journey he plans to spend more of his time with his family and to begin writing a book. He claims everything he experienced has made him appreciate the little things that life has to offer. I’m sure many people think about doing what Jean Beliveau accomplished. Jean Beliveau is obviously the type of person who does more than just think about doing something.
While the news media is filled with stories about people who blame others for their situation in life, it’s good to know there are also those who take responsibility for themselves and work to make a difference in their own lives. These are the people who look inside themselves for guidance and not to angry people whose victim status gives them self esteem. These are people who ignore what others say can’t be done and dare to do things their way.
Here is a link to the article.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2036467/Penniless-actor-Dennis-Woodruff-makes-250k-year-homemade-film-sales.html
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