I ran into an aspiring filmmaker recently at a party. We worked together on a big budget feature a few years ago. He was working one of those jobs many aspiring filmmakers work to get by. An assistant kind of gig. The kind of job where you can learn a hell of a lot, actually take home some decent pay, maybe put away enough for a downpayment, but definitely not the sort of job that gives you any downtime in which to nurture your own pet projects.
At the time, he'd shown me a script he was working on for a short. I thought it was pretty fantastic. A kind of sci fi thriller thing. The kind of thing that I wish I could do but know I just don't have in my DNA so it makes me admire it in others all the more.
I asked him about the project. I even remembered his main character's name.
He said he'd been too busy working on a bunch of big budget features, working his way up the production ladder. That he hoped to find some time maybe next summer to take a couple months off and shoot. That is, if, he could manage to raise the money.
What's your budget, I asked, knowing that's a question you just don't ask.
Well... he hemmed and hawed. I hope I can make it for under 100K.
My jaw nearly dropped to the floor. For that, you could shoot a digital feature, I said.
Yeah, but I want to shoot on film.
I wasn't sure whether to admire his sticking to his principles or whether to pity his complete inability to see the forest for the trees. In 4+ years, a project that literally could be shot, edited and sent out to festivals in 90 days easy, given the right producer, had languished in exactly the same place.
And the thing is, his script is good. Ordinarily, I encourage folks eager to shoot their first short to wait, to slow down, to rework the script. Make it better. But his script was finished four years ago.
I think sometimes the hardest thing for us is finding the courage to just go for it. To look at that 17-page script and budget it at 10K, instead of 100 and start calling friends and friends of friends and our dentist to just get cracking.
Wouldn't it be nice if there was a courage drug? I'd be first in line at the pharmacy!
