MARCH MADNESS, Burn Out and Bounce Backs
MARCH 2026: March always seems to arrive like a roller coaster. The city begins to thaw, the light changes, and suddenly everything feels like it needs attention at once. At Noonlight™ this time of year usually turns into a mix of reflection, spring cleaning, reorganizing systems, and planning the rest of the year ahead. Schedules get pulled apart and rebuilt. Calendars get filled in. We begin asking the bigger questions that shape the next season of work.
Producer Robert Peregil and director Vero recently sat down together at the studio table to review the foundation of what we are building. The conversation was simple but important. Where can we build from? Where can we expand? How can we bring in more client work while still developing conceptual photography and documentary projects? Just as important, where can we protect time to rest so burnout does not quietly creep into the process? We’re booked and busy!
Vero in her office in NYC prepping lights and gear for a little test shoot.
This is a little baby doll that a child left at the side of the pool at the LA hotel I stayed at.
Planning the year ahead meant mapping out the calendar for 2026 all the way to the final quarter. Fashion week coverage, documentary production windows, studio collaborations, editorial shoots, and the quiet weeks needed to reset between it all. It was a necessary exercise in perspective. When you see the whole year laid out in front of you, it becomes easier to understand where the pressure points live and where opportunity can grow.
But the middle of March carried a different energy altogether.
Miscommunication, sudden travel, airplane anxiety, and the pressure of pitching a film while trying to earn money pushed me into autopilot. The mission was simple. Get to Los Angeles. Pitch the film. Then get back to New York City where life feels grounded again. For a while that autopilot was necessary. Sometimes the only way through chaos is to keep moving and not stop long enough to feel every emotion passing through your body. As a one hundred percent disabled veteran, anxiety can be powerful and crippling. There was a time when flying meant excitement. California meant sunshine, pools, margaritas, and big conversations about taking over the world with new ideas.
These days the experience feels different. The body and mind do not always cooperate, but the heart still knows the work must be done. Documentary filmmaking is not just a profession, it is a purpose. After returning to New York it took a few days for the anxiety and travel fatigue to settle before the focus came back. Distractions were cut out, noise was pushed aside, and the work resumed. The spring equinox arrived like a reset, a moment to step back into leadership and move the studio forward. There are documentaries to develop, fashion week coverage to prepare, investors to meet, and a studio to maintain with discipline and reliability. Momentum returns quickly when the purpose is clear.
‘Everything I touch turns to gold.” Shout out to Knives Monroe.
