Crowd Funding a Year Later: One Success – One Bomb – Part 11

Gary Delfiner, Rob Barabas, David Mandel (blog interviewee),
Aubrey Levy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A year ago we accompanied David Mandel and his partners on the Kickstarter campaign for their feature Mulligan.  Here, a year and one more Kickstarter campaign later, a wrap up.

David: you now have two Kickstarter campaigns under your belt one, the feature Mulligan very successful the other, a documentary Indestructible Baseball on the Isthmus not so. Can you tell us where the big differences were between the two campaigns in terms of preparation, staffing, ask level, execution and leverage with ‘goodies’?

Los Angeles Shoot

Shooting in Cali - our grip

San Diego Shoot

 Shooting in Cali
 

Film Production across a Cultural Spectrum

In May I visited a few production companies in Zurich to rekindle old and start new relationships for Clock Wise Productions. One vignette stands out.

I introduced myself to a commercial production house and sat in the ample kitchen conference table while the Swiss producer smoked and I was wondering if I could open a window without being rude. As I was contemplating that idea, the producer tells a story about shooting a TV commercial in the US, somewhere in the “booneys”.

“A US producer shows up with a little carry-on luggage on wheels containing a laptop, printer and surge protector. She sets everything up in the middle of a wheat field. Every time the client asks for a change or an addition she creates a document, hits print and gives the client that page to sign.” Everybody in the room is in stitches laughing.

I’m sitting there thinking: and, what’s the point of the story? The producer is printing out overage forms; that’s a producer’s job. Are they laughing at the portable office set up or at the fact that US producers make clients sign overage forms for major changes?

I tell the Swiss producer that that would be how I would show up on any set and that that would be expected by my US clients. He takes a pause and nods. Not sure what goes through his head at this point, but if I’d have to guess I’d say: “she’s been in America too long.”

We just do business a bit differently here – and what strikes me as funny is, that Americans are much more organized, paper heavy, to the book than Swiss productions are. You would think the reverse to be true. However, and this is the clincher: you ask a Swiss crew person to do something you walk away and never check in again – you assume it will be done. If an American producer would do that they would be considered reckless. We check, double check, we cross our “t’s” and dot our “i’s” and make sure nothing falls through the cracks. And that’s how I like it frankly.

As a producer I have the word “control freak” written across my forehead (there are less flattering words too) and I’m proud of it. Control freak means, I’m responsible for every detail and I can check in, follow up and go through worst case scenarios until I’m blue in the face and no one thinks I’m nuts. So yes, I’ve been in America too long and that’s because it suits me just fine here.

9 Women can’t Make a Baby in a Month

Techcrunch had this very poignant post yesterday and I had to steal the title. The jest of it is that sometimes too much money is no good. Or that even with all the resources in the world nine women cannot produce a baby in one month – but sometimes it sure feels like we try.

So, even if you DO have your entire budget in the piggy bank, put it into a interest bearing CD and allow yourself to sit on your idea. Of course nobody in the independent film world has their piggy bank stocked.  As you scramble for your budget for the next film remember that the universe is giving you ample time to gestate your next, perfect project. Voila.

When you know too much

Innocence IS bliss. But I knew that already, we all do. Starting a business or a family, shooting a film, or getting involved with that community board: the “had I known” realization. But what about the second time around? What do we hope to do better, different, more efficient, or with more compassion? Or is the first time so daunting that we decide: never again.

I remember my dear brilliant friend in Ireland who is also a filmmaker ask me if I was ready to spend the next two years of my life with my (first) documentary and I bravely said ‘yes’. The conversation in my head was a bit different. That was more along the lines of “yes, BUT…. won’t be full time, have clients, won’t take that long, etc.”

HA! Had I known! But now I DO KNOW. What does that mean for the next project? NEXT PROJECT? Are you kidding me? You’re still knee-deep in this one. Yeah, but this is a chance to get it right this time. Set it up differently from the get go, make sure you align yourself even better with people who do what you don’t do well brilliantly, allocate the budget differently and most of all: PATIENCE. Where does that leave the gut feeling and instincts though? To me, those two are paramount.

So here I am, trying to figure out not only a new awesome topic, angle and story, and something to be passionate about, BUT something where I can align myself NOW with the right people, groups, organizations and causes for three years from now when the film is done. Yikes. But you know me, I have some stuff cooking – I’m just afraid to serve it – pardon the metaphor – the ramifications are now clear beyond finishing the film – that was the easy part, remember. I also have to make sure to get the film OUT into the world. Will the second time be easier, or will it be harder? We shall find out.

People

In filming Abraham’s Children and working in film production for over 20 years I met many wonderful people from different cultures, religions, socio-economic backgrounds, and genders – women, men and everything in-between or ‘aside of’.

I met women who cross-dress as drag kings and question their gender identities, families who lead very devout religious lives and teach their children very diligently and carefully about their traditions and beliefs. I’ve met staunch conservatives, ultra-ultra liberals and some very confused people.

Do I agree with their life styles or believe systems. Some yes, some no. Some I can “see where they come from”, others “I don’t get it”, but I don’t think it’s my place to judge them or anybody else, which doesn’t mean I won’t engage in a discussion to make my opinion known and see if they would consider a change.

But these are people I know one-on-one and I’ve laughed and shared meals with them and they ALL are real people with real-life issues and maybe the only thing we agree on is that the Con Edison bill is really way out of control. And we can take it from there, maybe we find out fast that we don’t agree on much more, but you’d be surprised to find where there is common ground in the most unlikely situations.

What I learned - the abstract stuff continued...

This is something I seem to have to learn over and over again.  I had a teacher once tell me: "if it smells fishy and looks fishy, it is fishy".   Whenever I dismiss my gut feeling I'm in trouble.  Instinct is a fine thing, but you also need to have the guts to follow it.  Right! 

Remember that when making those quick production and slow post production and glacial distribution decisions: instinct and courage.

What I learned - the abstract stuff

What is most important? Other than a budget?

Time: lots a time, to think, read, to 'let it rest', to 'talk it out', let it simmer and tweak it. Or maybe: access. I always hear that access is the single most important thing in doc film making - an unique story and access to that story - personally I would also add relevance to that list. In my experience I would say "access" can be replaced with "stubborn perseverance". It worked in this case. Oh, and a whole truck load of luck.

A really thick skin (best a fur) is essential too -especially after you've finished the darn thing and put it out into the world. There is fine line between good advice and some one's opinion. One you accept and make changes the other you listen to (agreed or not) but leave it at that.

What I learned - 1

As we (that's mostly me and my 250 DVD's of Abraham's Children on the shelve behind me) wait for the film fesetival circuit to kick in, it's hard to think of anything intelligent to blog about that also has relevance to this blog.

So I figured I could start with an inventory of what I learned in the past two years, producing and directing Abraham's Children and share some insight in pre-production, production and post production of a doc feature. In no particular order.