Fear, Exposed – Featuring Danny Mannina
Hey, hey guys – it’s Tuesday, and you know what that means – another edition of Fear, Exposed, where real people discuss their adventures, and the challenges they had to overcome to make their dreams a reality.
Normally, the people featured here are risk-takers from around the web, who contact me with a pitch & we go from there. (Interested? Email me.)
Today, however, I’ve got DANNY MANNINA. Dan is actually a good friend from my rural Pennsylvania, small-town high school–we instantly hit it off when, during an in-class party, we both snuck down to the closed cafeteria, maneuvered our bodies into the return-tray dock, withered our way into the behind-the-scenes, and made it out alive with–you guessed it–armfuls of CHOCOLATE SYRUP. I guess that’s what class presidents do, right? The rest is history.
Over the years, Dan has never failed to amaze me with his unfailing faith, perseverance, dedication and straight up KUTZPAH. From Disney’s Animal Kingdom to National Geographic, onto public television & getting nominated for an emmy, Dan has ventured far into the unknown, constantly pushing himself to be better, do better, and live better. Currently his video production company, Cinemap Productions, which focuses on bringing a fun perspective to green-centric stories from around the world, is undergoing a lot of healthy (and welcome!) growing pains, as his dreams are finally being materialized right in front of his eyes, and his first documentary, based on his experience in Africa, is being shopped.
A few weeks ago, Dan asked me to go hang in Africa for a while & help with a new production. I think I might just have to do that.
Honored to bring you a friend, a true visionary, and a truly big breath of fresh air. With that, here’s Danny Mannina, as he shares just one of the bumps he’s hit along the road, and what makes him come back for more, time & time again.
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I’ve always dug the concept of adventure.
Just, you know, charting a wild journey into the “great unknown.” So of course, one of my biggest heroes in life is none other than Indiana Jones.
Now before you roll your eyes, let me explain…
Beyond being wholly intelligent (and totally charming), I’ve always admired his cavalier energy & fearless poise when faced with obstacles. Why?
Well, in addition to finding the humor in every situation, whenever fear creeps up on him, Indy goes directly into “survival mode” – not searching for solutions, but creating them right there, in that moment, generally without hesitation. Who knew that I would have to channel this very essence of character when fighting for one of my biggest dreams in the world.
After planning for almost a year, I was heading to Kenya for my first big production.
Film had always been my number one love; I had gone to school in Miami for it, and, after finding myself begrudgingly working the 9-5 in video for Disney’s Animal Kingdom & National Geographic for a few years, still practically begging for the opportunity to bring someone their coffee, one day it hit me that–you know what?–I didn’t have to wait for someone to give me permission to do something great.
All I had to do was…do something great.
On my own.
So that’s exactly what I decided to do. Always one to adhere to the go big or go home philosophy of life, I up & decided I was going to fly to Africa. And I was going to shoot my own documentary.
I had no idea how I would finance it, or how I’d pull it all together, but that didn’t matter; all I knew was that I had to do this. For me. For the sake of my dreams. To be doing what I loved; not just waiting around on the sidelines.
So there I was, about to be producing a full-length documentary to be filmed on the outskirts of Nairobi. Since I had never produced my own movie before, there was a lot riding on its success.
In short, I was nervous as hell.
As I stood in line at the airport waiting to check-in, flashes of the past year flooded my head, and a rush of excitement overwhelmed me.
To calm myself, all I could fantasize about was sitting on the jet with a nice cold JD in hand, gazing out the window, drifting off into a wonderful, fully relaxed slumber. Damn, was I in for a rude awakening…
“Your passport is no good,” said the TSA guard, indifferently.
Insert me totally speechless (a generally rare phenomenon).
While planning every aspect of the trip/production, one thing literally slipped through my fingers. Two years prior, upon returning from another ‘round the world exploration, I had left my passport in my jeans and needless to say it went through the wash.
SNAP.
To me? I mean, geez–I thought it looked okay, but in post 9/11 America, one can’t have any frayed threads on his passport (because, of course, only terrorists have frayed passports!!!).
So, they reported me to the central passport agency (can you imagine?) and told me I couldn’t fly unless I got a new one. Yup, I needed to get a new US passport to fly to Kenya and start shooting the documentary that I had so painfully & methodically planned for an entire year, but lo and behold, I couldn’t get there. And, as we all know, getting a new passport on the fly is almost impossible–it’s a process that can take weeks or even months. I didn’t know what to do–I had a crew flying with me, and they were awaiting a response.
To the normal person – the odds weren’t looking that great. But me – Danny Mannina? I was already channeling the great Dr. Jones, thinking, “WWID?”
I told the crew to go on without me–to go ahead to Africa and live my dream, sans the man behind it – moi. I mean, I couldn’t delay it just because some TSA guy had me cornered. Plus, in the broader more-grand scheme of things, I knew that the story we were about to capture was much bigger than my little passport snafu (and the show must go on, right?).
So, I promised them all I’d make it to Kenya the following day – a pretty bold proclamation, but wouldn’t Indy say the same?
I watched them walk through security and they turned back and sadly gazed in my direction.
So, what’s a man to do? I excitedly waved at them, cupping my mouth yelling, “I’ll see you guys tomorrow!” And they returned my enthusiasm with an attempt at a genuine smile, but looked a bit defeated.
On my taxi ride home, I called the US passport agency and they gleefully reported what they thought would be bad news for me (sassy dream killers in training!) “Sorry sir, but in the entire United States, there’s only one emergency passport appointment tomorrow (did I mention this all happened over a weekend no less?!) and its in Miami, FL.”
My heart pitter-pattered. I WAS IN MIAMI, FLORIDA.
Immediately, I made the reservation and found my way back to North Beach, hopped on the web, and figured out everything I’d need for the next day’s appointment. My birth certificate. CHECK. Old passport. CHECK. New pictures? I went right across the street to Walgreens and took them. Everything that I could physically do – I did. The first time I stopped and let myself rest was when I put my head on my pillow to finally get some sleep.
Only, instead of ZZZZZ’s flooding my room, there were tears. Lots of tears.
Hey, I’m sure Indy cried once or twice too, right? No…? Maybe they’re just saving those shots for the Director’s Cut…
The fact is, I felt like my heart was ripped out by Mola Ram himself, but I wouldn’t slip into a volcano of doom. Instead, I wiped off my tears, took a sigh of relief, and allowed myself to slip off to sleep.
The next day, I grabbed myself by the shankara stones and walked into the passport agency (escorted by security of course) and believe it or not, within four hours, I, Danny Mannina, was issued a brand effin new passport! Almost totally unheard of, right then and there, after reviewing my case (and making me wait for what seemed like years), they printed me a new passport. Within moments, I was finally on a flight to Kenya, gazing out the window with that nice cold JD in hand.
I thwarted the vortexing embrace of fear by concentrating on the solution, and ultimately, I actualized on my dream.
Needless to say, I arrived in Kenya and more crazy adventures ensued – but at that point I felt like I could overcome anything – long ago, I had overcome the odds of having grown up in one of the most economically depressed areas in the United States, later, I had overcome the odds of getting selected to work for several competitive companies, and now, I had overcome the odds of leaving those potentially fruitful opportunities (someday, after I was done making coffee), and charting my own quest into the sunset of the African savannah. Hell, I even overcame my fear of heights as I traversed a terrifyingly shaky suspension bridge over a deadly gorge (see above pic). It became clear that determination is truly everything.
And the environment where we filmed was so inspiring. We shot at Kitengela Glass, a fairytale-like forested oasis hidden away on the African plain – all made from recycled trash. Its founder, Nani Croze–no stranger to obstacles herself–braved just about every rotten thing that could be thrown in a person’s path, but she always came out on top, filling her life and all those around her with magic and hope for a better way to exist on this amazing plaent of ours.
I can’t wait to share her story with the entire world—she’s truly a pioneer.
While this whole particular adventure that I’m outlining seems totally frenetic, I did have an opportunity to relax and quietly reflect on both the above events surrounding the shoot and my life as a whole. While on a break, I found myself at the edge of that same gorge that I somehow walked across, with Nani’s mosaic glass pool behind me, and her towering sea monster fountain spewing water in the background. As a light air was blowing through, I just took a deep breath and sighed.
My heart was totally filled.
My head-space felt balanced. Not just because the shoot was complete, but because I persevered. I had made it this far without letting fear win out. I didn’t let obstacles overcome me. And that feeling of accomplishment certainly opens up a slippery-slope of dream-making and fulfillment.
Right then and there I decided that I was going to make my company a reality and use my films as a wonderfully bright, happy, and immersive vehicle to excite people to discover the best parts of themselves and the opportunity-filled world around them.
That personally, living in the status quo wasn’t going to be enough for me.
And that revelation was gonna be okay, because I’m willing to put every ounce of my soul energy on the line to stay true to myself and what I feel is important.
The fact is, like Indiana Jones, I know that I’ll once again find myself in compromising situations, but as I remove fear as a component, I’ll always ride off to a brighter sunset—even while fighting the evil Nazi-like TSA.* 
Thanks for joining my adventure,
Danny
P.S.
Though I’m re-launching an all-new redesigned site after New Year’s, be sure to check out www.explorecinemap.com where you can watch an HD video trailer of “Glass Life” – you know, the documentary I finally got to produce in Kenya .
*For sensitive readers… I’m simply making a metaphorical reference to the Indy stories here – I know that the woefully underpaid TSA workers are just doing their jobs.
P.P.S.
Note from Ash: If you’re in the process of cajoling some Indiana Jones-like cajones yourself, you might want to check out the package of 23 of your most sought-after eBooks on digital & creative entrepreneurship & blogging being sold at a wild discount of $97 (valued at $1,053) until Thursday only. They’re collecting money to build two wells in Ethiopia–something Dan & I both support. Click here to go see how to take advantage.
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