Stop Being Stuck and Live Your Pupose in Filmmaking

Stop Being Stuck and Live Your Purpose in Filmmaking

I spend all day every working day talking to independent filmmakers. A majority of them are STUCK.  They are stuck making shorts and don’t know how to make the shift to making features.  They are stuck writing grants that they never get. They are stuck trying to sell a feature script that no one is reading. They are stuck with an almost finished feature that they can’t get out of post.  They are stuck speaking to investors who express interest in their films and then disappear.  They are stuck with a finished feature and have no idea how to sell it. 

Over the years, I have met filmmakers shopping the same script for over 20 years. I have met filmmakers who have told me they are afraid of dying with their story untold.  I have heard filmmakers crying with frustration at being stuck unable to tell their stories.  

And yet, when I present them with the offer to work with me they say: “Oh, I don’t have any money.”  “I’m having a hard month.” “I have other priorities.”  So which is it?  Am I stuck and need help? Or am I just content to stay stuck? Hmmmmm?

My purpose on this earth is to serve independent filmmakers to create sustainable careers in the film industry, by raising the money they need to make films that make the world a better place.  

How did I discover my purpose?

As a child, I experienced violence.  In fact, I was subject to several violent attacks when I was a teenager and entering young womanhood.  Once, I was strangled to such an extent that I thought I was going to die.  After I graduated from college, I was threatened with being drugged, kidnapped and killed. I lived in hiding from my family for a year, and never made the mistake of letting slip to any of my friends and family where I was living.  

All of these experiences lead to my living a life of slaving away as a workaholic in the arts - cinema in particular - and as a capital campaign fundraiser for nonprofits.  I loved my work - and I was very good at it - but I always felt as though I were somehow wandering in the desert. Lost. Unable to find my way.  I was successful in my career, but something was wrong.  Something was missing.

When I became too sick to work, I spent 7 years in bed, from migraines and chronic fatigue.  When you hear about my upbringing, this chronic illness stuff perhaps makes sense.  But a couple of times during those years, I heard a very clear Voice telling me I was supposed to be working with filmmakers. “Nooooooooooo! No! Anything but that! I already tried that and failed so no!”  It took me years of losing absolutely everything in my life to be willing to do a little work here and there to help filmmakers (my favorite people.)  I was so afraid of pursuing my calling and unable to believe I could support myself if I did that work again. But eventually, I had to accept that I had been put on the planet to experience having my voice entirely silenced, so that I could help filmmakers find their voice.

Little by little, I started to work as a coach.  I thought my work was to help filmmakers complete their films, and the first name of my business was “Project Completion.” (Sexy, right?) Eventually, I realized that it was my Superpower of fundraising that filmmakers really need, and well, here I am.

For most of the filmmakers who work with me, they too have discovered their purpose and it’s to make films. Sometimes it’s to tell their own stories. Sometimes it’s to deliver a specific message. Sometimes it’s to elevate a particular character or type of person.  Sometimes it’s to help viewers find faith. It’s always to find their voice and deliver that message through the medium of film.

Filmmaking is hard.  Running a business is hard.  What I see every day is that the filmmakers who work with me are motivated by that Purpose.  It is that Purpose that has them push past their fears, actually invest in their own careers, and take the leap into learning fundraising. It’s never easy. But frankly, once you’re working in your Purpose, there is no other way.