I just had a conversation with another filmmaker friend of mine who is in the midst of launching her own Kickstarter campaign for documentary film. She asked me to give her some pointers and I said the important thing is that you have to have faith in your project and be willing for it to be the first thing you see in the morning and the last thing at night. Your project needs to be something that you'll not only fight for, but also do some good old-fashioned begging for.
I keep thinking of that as I drag my butt out of bed on this gorgeous Saturday morning in Alameda and plop down in front of the computer again. I'm not gonna lie, it's hard to keep it up creatively when you have a pregnant wife, a wee person on the way, a new full time day job to prepare for the wee person, family commitments, and friends that make up a happy, vibrant life needs your attention as well. But all I have to do is rev up the final cut pro and start attacking the last rough cut and I remember why this film helps me keep the faith.
Right now, we are prepping the rough cut for our screening soiree tomorrow night. I'm putting in a temp track and testing the cut, doing basic color correction because you never really screen a rough for anyone who isn't actually working on the film. I can't help but think ahead of how amazing it will be to finish the actual sound work with a professional post crew.
One of the most exciting parts of finishing a film is the sound design and remix. We have this amazing opportunity to work with EJ up at Skywalker Ranch and hopefully have a subsidy from them to use their mixing theaters and possibly use their theater to have the screening benefits next year. Only catch: we need raise more money because that kind of amazing opportunity can't come for free.
Someone asked me if we could just finish the film ourselves and I said yeah, we could. That's what we planned to do. But using the creative juices of one of the top sound designers and have the backing of a place like Skywalker Ranch is going to take the film to a whole other level of production value. With better festival visibility, the story will reach more people and then we CAN attract people like Geena Davis and her institute to partner for our screening benefits next year and raise more money for the victims of domestic violence.
So, I keep the faith. I'll open my office door so I feel the cool fall air while I edit. I'll keep writing those emails, asking people for any money they can spare. Because I realize that the time I put in now can do so much more than I ever imagined when I first read this script. And it can actually help other children, like our baby on the way, to lead a better life. To have a chance.
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