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Today on Build Your Utopia, we have an exciting guest, someone who has traveled the world, produced film projects on several continents, and is just a remarkable human being, Morgan Paar.

Morgan is a film director, still photographer, and teacher of film making. He has also published over 200 articles and columns in technology, pop culture, and travel.

Morgan has 2 degrees in film and started his professional path into owning and running a film production company in 1986 after first experimenting with film equipment.

Morgan lived in Taiwan for 2-3 years, came back to the states for Grad School to be able to teach, lived in the bay area for 12 years, completed film projects, music videos, and film work for the film industry during this time.

Shortly after he traveled abroad, and as he traveled he realized he wanted to experience the world. It was during this experience that Morgan discovered one of his passions that he wanted to focus on for his path into entrepreneurship, travel.

Morgan and his girlfriend now run Nomadic Frames. The company focuses on international film projects so he can combine his two passions of traveling with film.

His Utopia of building Nomadic Frames has allowed him to visit Africa a staggering 8 times, Greece, England, Taiwan, and other countries.

Of note, out of all his travels, Palo Hwan of the Philippines has been his favorite place so far where he biked through the breathtaking countryside.

Another factor that has drove him to build his current Utopia has been staying away from "the 9-5", since he hates cubicles, is happiest when he’s implementing his own ideas, and likes to work irregular hours.

Currently Morgan is contemplating a move to either the Vietnam or Amsterdam because NYC is very competitive to find film or teaching work. For example, others that want to teach in NYC have Academy Awards, which he doesn’t.

To accomplish this goal of moving to another country, he’s working on marrying someone that is a UK citizen… (really, listen to the show)

His top catalysts for building his current Utopia was his mom who said to go to college and don't have a kid until you are ready and his Uncle Lou who made it a rule for him to find a job, any job, in the film industry for paying for his Grad school.

Altogether, friends, family, and his girlfriend, have all helped him in some way attain his current Utopia.

This shows the power of relationships.

Morgan loves his work so his idea of not working is “working” by staying up on industry trends, camping, hiking, and futbol aka soccer.

He’s the Secretary of Arsenal’s (Arsenal is a soccer team) supporters group in NYC.

A massive value bomb that we discussed with Morgan was his tip for Utopians: focus on passion.

Utopian Quote of the Show

"Always strive to provide value without expecting anything in return. "- Josh Marsden and Morgan Paar

During the show, Josh mentioned the quote above which was born out of one of Morgan's stories.

His stories theme was to not think about yourself. Don’t think about what you are getting out of it. Think "what are you bringing?"

Morgan's 3 tips for Utopians were:

  • Do what you love
  • Be careful of distractions
  • Be confident and take chances

Another off the record takeaway he shared with us and Utopians that the biggest mistake he made in his education was that he did not participate in internships while he was in college.

Instead he focused on partying and girls. (like many of you, including Ben and Josh)

Out of his undergrad, he graduated with honors, and barely knew he has a passion to make participating in film his life's purpose. Then when he went to grad school and finished his Masters of Fine Arts in Film, he graduated with the mentality “who wants me?” expecting opportunities to come his way.

He came to the realization that he should have networked more and potentially spent time in an internship. Not making industry connections are his biggest regret.

Finally, on a closing note, get out of your comfort zone and practice outlets in moderation. Both are valuable tips that only added to the wealth of value in this episode.

Thanks again to Morgan for being on the show. If you are interested in reaching out to him and discussing potential film projects (he is one of the hidden gems in the film industry), shoot him an email at info@nomadicframes.com and check out some of his work on Vimeo.

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

Direct download: 028_Interview_with_Morgan_Paar.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

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