Making a movie is EXPENSIVE.
Of course, everything costs money. Especially if you expect quality production. But I didn’t know it’d cost me this much. Once you add the cost of the entire crew and equipment, location costs, costumes, and props, catering for the crew, miscellaneous costs, postproduction, festival fees, and marketing AND multiply that by the number of days you’re shooting, a 3-day short film can run you close to 10-20 thousand dollars (maybe more). When I think about what I originally believed the film was going to cost us I laughed…hard. Boy did I just NOT know anything.
But the cost of a project you believe in should never allow you to give up or remain stagnant in fear. The money for your project is out there. You just have to get to it. Which brings me to point two-
FIND THE MONEY- IT’S OUT THERE
As someone who hates to ask, the last thing I ever expected to do was to launch a GoFundMe campaign. In the beginning, it felt like begging. I noticed however as I dived into the film world how common crowd funding was for filmmakers. In fact, it was almost expected for at least one project of a filmmaker to be funded through family and friends. Armani (my friend, lead actress, and fellow producer) and I created a video to advertise our GoFundMe and promoted our campaign for about 3 months. Every. Single. Day. The film needed to be done and we were left with no choice so the awkwardness that came with the constant promotion eventually went away. Especially once I saw the amount of support I received from people who genuinely championed me. It was an overwhelming great feeling.
Now would I do it again? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Lol. However, I’m glad I did and pushed my pride aside because we were able to raise the funds we needed to get started and it’s such a beautiful moment to go back to when I look back at our origins.
But the biggest thing I learned about funding a project is that there is money out there for you! I’ve spent countless hours on the internet since the launch of K.A.M. researching and applying for grants. I’ve found that these grants and opportunities were hiding in plain sight. I just had to put the work in my portfolio and put myself out there to receive them.
LEARN TO ADAPT
And I’m sure every filmmaker can attest to this. The truth is the script you write will be different from the script you produce and the film you end up seeing. During shooting when we noticed how time was not on our side, our fast-thinking director, Britt Banks, made some quick cuts to the script. It gave me some anxiety seeing my script being revised in real time but ultimately, I knew it was the best decision for the project and I had to trust my director. It worked. We made time while keeping the integrity of the story intact. And we all know time is money (which we didn’t have) so we had to make it work. It’s cool to see the scenes that were once words on my laptop given life on a screen. Some exactly as I had envisioned it and others with a creative twist. But my biggest takeaway is this… you must adapt and compromise. You can’t be married to every word of the script and the vision in your head. I had to learn (and as a very particular person am still learning) when to move with the wind sometimes.
JUST DO IT
NIKE really did their big one with this quote right here!
What is very clear from even one meeting with me is that I am a perfectionist. What is not known is that my sometimes unhealthy obsession with perfectionism has slowed me down from many things. I’ve written several scripts over the past five years (some good, some not-so-good) all with hopes of producing them one day but they ended up finding a permanent home in my laptop collecting tears and dust.
I thought I did not know enough. I did not do enough. I did not have enough- to start.
But over time these became excuses and the scripts piled up as I waited for the perfect moment. But the biggest thing this process has taught me is that there is no perfect time and there may never be. The perfect time is now. And so, what if it’s bad. (It’s not) It could be good. But you will never know if you don’t DO. You can’t get better if you don’t ever start. A wise woman once told me “Its sink or swim baby, and I won’t let you drown!” She didn’t.
I’ve conquered so much fear just by diving into this process and while I made some mistakes, I have learned just as much from them. Because of that, my next project (and there will be another) will be that much better. You must start somewhere and I’m so grateful that I started here.
