The Toils Of Independent Film
So this year I decided to send Super 8 to Cannes. I'll probably get rejected again, because I've been putting it off for a month, and it's usually better to send a film early. They might have already selected all their short films.
It's been one year now since I decided to make a feature film. In March of 2006 I thought I was going to start filming a few months later. It's proven to be a really long journey so far: From coming up with one idea, and trashing it in favor of a new one, twice, I talked to people who tried to impose themselves as a producer and showed it to their own pseudo-focus-group, I've re-written, I've auditioned, I've made contacts, I've lost actors' interest, I've made short films, I've screened them for two local film festivals, come up with ideas, fantasized about film festivals and self-distribution, I've begged, I've searched for a "real" job, I took time off school, I've come up with ten different plans, I've thought of ways to attract investors, I've thried raising my own money... I've gone through all of this in a year's time, and I'm still coming up with ideas.
I talked to my friend Micah, who is the SGA president at school, and she's going to help me arrange a screening of my short films at school, angling it towards showing BC talent. I want to do that and sell tickets. I want to take the money and rent more theaters and have more screneigns, until I have enough money for the feature. I had this idea of self-distributing my own feature, which includes renting and booking theatres myself and taking it on a tour. It was mostly a theory, until today, when I read an article in Filmmaker Maggazine about the director of Head Trauma doing exactly what I thought of doing. He even used the same camera I am. I've never seen the movie, but the fact that he self-distributed it by taking it on tour and renting out theaters made me feel better about doing it myself. I've decided to call my production company "Underground Films". It seems fitting to me.
It's been 7 months since I last re-wrote Seeing Red, and a full year since I got started (unless you count the 8 months prior when I first came up with the idea) and I've since written three drafts of Next Exit (which I intend to make first) as well as come up with several other feature film ideas, and now I'm about to write a new draft with new ideas now. I'm starting from scratch. But I'm still going to wait to make it, if I ever get the chance. It's the most amout of time I've ever spent writing anything, and I'm going to take as much time possible refining it. It's been a long, tiring process, but I'm going to keep fighting the good fight for art and expression.
It's been one year now since I decided to make a feature film. In March of 2006 I thought I was going to start filming a few months later. It's proven to be a really long journey so far: From coming up with one idea, and trashing it in favor of a new one, twice, I talked to people who tried to impose themselves as a producer and showed it to their own pseudo-focus-group, I've re-written, I've auditioned, I've made contacts, I've lost actors' interest, I've made short films, I've screened them for two local film festivals, come up with ideas, fantasized about film festivals and self-distribution, I've begged, I've searched for a "real" job, I took time off school, I've come up with ten different plans, I've thought of ways to attract investors, I've thried raising my own money... I've gone through all of this in a year's time, and I'm still coming up with ideas.
I talked to my friend Micah, who is the SGA president at school, and she's going to help me arrange a screening of my short films at school, angling it towards showing BC talent. I want to do that and sell tickets. I want to take the money and rent more theaters and have more screneigns, until I have enough money for the feature. I had this idea of self-distributing my own feature, which includes renting and booking theatres myself and taking it on a tour. It was mostly a theory, until today, when I read an article in Filmmaker Maggazine about the director of Head Trauma doing exactly what I thought of doing. He even used the same camera I am. I've never seen the movie, but the fact that he self-distributed it by taking it on tour and renting out theaters made me feel better about doing it myself. I've decided to call my production company "Underground Films". It seems fitting to me.
It's been 7 months since I last re-wrote Seeing Red, and a full year since I got started (unless you count the 8 months prior when I first came up with the idea) and I've since written three drafts of Next Exit (which I intend to make first) as well as come up with several other feature film ideas, and now I'm about to write a new draft with new ideas now. I'm starting from scratch. But I'm still going to wait to make it, if I ever get the chance. It's the most amout of time I've ever spent writing anything, and I'm going to take as much time possible refining it. It's been a long, tiring process, but I'm going to keep fighting the good fight for art and expression.