Make It Happen: DIY Across America

The Make It Happen Project is a documentary series dedicated to covering people succeeding at what they love, and doing so independently.


We kicked off the project by traveling across America in search of inspiring people with stories to share.


View TeamJaded: Make It Happen in a larger map

We also posted blogs and vlogs from the road detailing our progress.


(Check our Youtube page for updates. We recently reuploaded all the vlogs in HD.)

We kept up with vlogs until we realized that it was way more fun to travel if we weren't constantly filming ourselves.

We were on the road for four months. In that time we met many interesting people including the Austin Craft Mafia, the artists at Okay Mountain, the folks who run the Lost Film Festival and Evil Twin Booking in Philly, the New Orleans poet Chuck Perkins, the Poor Pony Collective, TBC Party, and Bling Kong, a Brooklyn based, choose your own adventure rock band.

The trip was awesome, we only wish we could have been on the road longer and met more people. Since we've been back in San Francisco the post-production process has been slow. We were struck with the reality that we needed to pay rent, and unfortunately paying gigs took priority. In the time since we've been back we had a tryst with the Web 2.0 industry, we got married, Abby started making book trailers for HarperOne, and Jeremey has worked lots and lots of freelance jobs. Even with all of that, we've made time to work on Make It Happen, and we are editing the stories.

The first story we finished was Make It Happen: Lowcard. It also happened to be the first story that we produced for the series. It was shot in San Francisco just before we left for the highways of America. After we finished Make It Happen: Lowcard, we were lucky enough to have it featured in the 1st Annual Skateboard Film Festival in Seattle, WA 2009.



"Lowcard started as a humble xeroxed rag passed between a small crew of friends. Now its circulation is in the thousands, and the Lowcard brand presides over an empire of clothes, shot glasses, and even AM/FM radios.

However, the name Lowcard is more than just the header on a magazine or a logo on a t-shirt. Lowcard is synonymous with raw and unapologetic skateboard culture. This film is a brief look into the day-to-day happenings of Lowcard’s editor in chief, Rob Collinson."

The second piece we finished was Make It Happen: Lost Film Fest:



We're particularly proud of this piece. Scott and Liz are inspiring, and interesting artists dedicated to bringing "not necessarily popular" ideas to the people. And they're also generally fun to be around...

And that's where we are today. This story is still being written. Please check back for lots more updates on the project.