As the crowdfunding for my short film continues (all donations welcome!), I’ve also donned my producer’s hat and am quickly discovering just about everything involved with putting the whole operation together.
I say “just about” because my more-than-capable director is handling some of the more technical aspects, but pretty much everything else falls under my jurisdiction.
For someone who hasn’t done this before, I’m taking the approach of “this is something I’m pretty certain needs to be done, so I better take care of that”.
And I am not understating it by saying there is A LOT to take care of.
From all the social media to get word out about the crowdfunding to making lists of props I need to pick up to reaching out to local restaurants about donating food for the shoot (with onscreen credit, natch), every day a few more things get added to the list.
Writing the script is challenging. Producing it is a whole different and much bigger ballgame.
It’s exhausting, and sometimes I feel pulled in multiple directions, constantly wondering if I’m doing a good job. But I will admit on a certain level I’m enjoying it. This is a project I’ve worked on for a long time, so doing everything I can to make sure it all goes smoothly, or at least as close to that as I can get.
And we haven’t even gotten to the post-production part of the conversation. I’m bracing for that one.
As I’ve said to more than a few people involved with the project, I hope they’ll be patient as I stumble my way through all of this. It won’t be pretty, but I’m doing what I can.
And here’s the link to the crowdfunding once again, which also falls under the category of “something that needs to be done”.
Seeing as how 2024 just passed the halfway mark, and taking into account how many drafts I’ve done on the animated fantasy-comedy, it’s safe to say that for now, this script is as solid as it’s going to be.
Naturally, that could change, but I’m quite thrilled with how it’s turned out and don’t want to mess with it any further. It’s a strong writing sample/calling card script and I’m already prepping to enter it in a few contests next year.
So what now?
My initial intent was to go back and revise the sci-fi adventure, but earlier this year I came up with an idea I am absolutely crazy about, and since they say you should work on that which excites you, this one definitely fits that bill.
Far as I can tell, there hasn’t been a story like this before.
I’ve mapped out the plot points and started jotting down the ever-increasing number of ideas for scenes and sequences. The more I work on it, the more ramped up I get about working on it. I’m sure things will change as things develop, but as has often been the case, the core of the story should remain the same.
Ideally, I’ll have a first draft done by December 31st, but also want to take my time in plotting it out. Once that’s set, it’s diving headfirst into pages.
Excitement levels are pretty strong, and doing what I can to keep that going.
Thanks to my ever-expanding network of savvy creative types, I get lots of chances to be on both the giving and receiving ends when it comes to reading scripts.
I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to get exceptionally helpful notes from a lot of really talented folks. All this feedback has somehow managed to influence my writing for the better, and for that I am overflowing with gratitude.
So the least I can do when somebody asks me “Will you read my script?” or “Can I pick your brain about this idea?” is to say “Of course.”* Maybe I can offer up a few scraps of advice that might somehow work to their advantage. If anything, I can at least point out where a fix in spelling or punctuation is needed. For a script, anyway. That counts, right?
*caveat – it’s taken a lot of work spread over a long time for me to build up my network and establish connections, so I don’t mind if somebody I actually know drops me a note with such a request. If our only connection is being connected on social media and we’ve never interacted – at all, you’re little more than a total stranger to me. So heed that one word and be social. It makes a difference.
I had the pleasure of such an experience this week. I’d connected with another Bay Area creative, and we’d been trying for a while to arrange a face-to-face meeting. After much scheduling, cancelling and rescheduling, we finally made it happen.
This person had an idea for a project, wanted to talk about it, and see if I was interested in being involved. I stated at the outset that I had enough work on my own for now, but would be open to giving notes – time permitting.
After the initial introductions and our thumbnail backstories, we focused on their project. I won’t go into specifics or details about it, because those aren’t the important parts.
What was important was:
-this was a story they’d had inside them for a while, and even though they knew it needed A LOT of work, they were still happy with simply having written it all out
-they were totally open and willing to listen to my suggestions. Some they liked, some they didn’t. Totally fine.
But the more we talked, the more the seeds of ideas were planted in their head. Even though a lot of the details we came up with, including possible paths the story could take, ended up being totally different from their original incarnation, it was easy to see that spark of excitement reignite inside them.
Seeing that happen with somebody you’re trying to help is more satisfying than you can possibly imagine.
We parted ways, with them really rarin’ to go and start developing the latest draft. They added that they really appreciated me being so willing to help out.
I just like doing that sort of thing. I never had that kind of person-to-person help when I was starting out, so why not do what I can for others? Granted, the internet and social media didn’t even exist then, so it’s a lot easier now.
I got a few emails from them the next day showing me what they’d come up with since our meeting. Same concept, but a totally new approach (and, in my opinion, provided the opportunity for a lot of new possibilities). This also included a more thorough write-up of “what happened before the story starts”.
Even though it can be tough to read emotion in text, it was easy to see the spark was still burning strong within them. The way they talked about their plans for what comes next, I could tell they were actually looking forward to working on this.
It was nice knowing I had a little something to do with it.
We exchanged a few more emails (mostly me asking questions about story and characters and them providing sufficient answers), and I wrapped up with “Keep me posted.”
Their response: “Definitely. Thanks again. You’re a good dude.”
Maximum Z 