Making this one properly

I never really felt comfortable asking people for money to make my films. So I always tried to find the money myself. I sold cameras, photography equipment, musical instruments, whatever I could sell to get enough money to make something. And I made the films, but obviously there were always limits. I would have something in my head and then, at some point, I had to compromise.

This time feels different. It’s the first time I’ve made a proper outline, written a complete screenplay and worked on a storyboard. I’m studying screenwriting, lighting, cinematography, color grading. Basically I’m trying to understand and control as much as I can before we shoot. And I believe in this story enough that, for the first time, I decided to ask other people to put money into it.

The first person I asked was an old friend who really loves movies. I told him the story and he liked it enough to say yes. Then today I had dinner with another old friend. We ended up talking about the film for about two hours. He asked me a lot of questions and had some really good ideas about a few scenes. What I liked was that he never tried to change my film into his film. He just made me look at a couple of things differently. And he decided to put a pretty substantial amount of money into the film too.

Then I asked my father. I don’t think I’ve ever asked him for something like this before. I told him what I was doing and he said he wanted to be part of it too. He even told me he didn’t care about making any money back, which was very sweet, but I told him no. Everyone who puts money into the film will have a proper contract and everyone will get their share if the film ever makes any money. And I’m definitely not optimistic enough to assume that it will. So now I have another problem: pressure.

Before, if I fucked something up, it was my money. Now there are other people who believe enough in this thing to put their own money into it. That makes me a little anxious, but maybe that’s good. It means I have one more reason to work harder and give this film everything I have.

I think the thing I’m learning from all of this is simply not to be afraid to ask people for support. If they can see that you really believe in what you’re making, sometimes they actually want to be part of it. Now I just have to make the fucking film.