A Little Way In

So we're just a little way into this project so far and a lot has been happening. I've been throwing a lot of ideas around, some good, some bad, that's always the case so I'm trying to focus on the ones we all really like. It's great to have Damien to work with again and Graham Inman who was one of my fellow Associate Producers on the Chris Jones short Gone Fishing (which was Oscar Shortlisted) is aboard. As a start that's a great threesome but right now Damien is talking to some nine or so others who are interested in joining the producer team too so there's more fresh ideas to come flooding in.

One sad thing was that an initial Producer dropped out. And they dropped out still loving the project but the idea of numerous producers was a sticking point and as none of the rest of us really felt the same way about that they chose to bow out, still offering to give us their support in ways they felt they could but just not a full Producer. It may be that others along the way may at some points feel like the multi-producer thing is a 'too many cooks, spoil the broth' situation but for now the rest of us seem to be getting along okay, at least from my perspective. We're not making this film by committee, we're following one vision for the project and that is Damien's very well thought out plan. I think we'll be okay.

All this is going to need some sort of information and ideas management system set up so we don't drown Damien in emails that come from a myriad of people in random dribs and drabs that have no structure. So the three of us have begun looking at ways to do that and playing with software, which takes a bit of time in the first instance but will save us a lot in the long run and may have other uses that will be a great benefit to the project.

Other than that, I've been basically doing what Poducer's do and making lots of lists to begin checking off.

Partly it's to identify what will appeal to backers for the indiegogo campaign and partly to identify people and places that can offer help and support to the production.

Raising finance and particularly crowd funding on sites where you're competeing against a number of different projects is a lot of work and we want to be as well prepared as possible and give this project everything we can to make it fantastic, give it the best chance of being fully financed that we can, and achieve all our ends to make a project all our backers will love and be glad they became part of it.

I'm actually finding myself very engaged with everything. I do a bit every day and I feel really determined and extremely positive the more things that occur to me as I go along. And the great thing about this so far is being part of a team who feel the same.

I'll hold my hands up and admit that I've always kind of disliked Producing films. In fact I loathe and agonise over it, and I've hated the fact that I'm actually quite good at it. In the past I've been willing to throw myself into it for projects I really like or to get my own work made and it has gone well. This time around I'm actually really enjoying myself and enjoying the Producing, and it's making me happy. I think having multiple producers really takes the weight off and spreads it around, ideas either grow or can be easilly discarded with outside input to bounce off, and because I didn't write the film and I'm not directing my mind is much clearer and calmer. I can put laser focus on one task. That is ensuring that Damien gets everything he needs. I'm having a lot of serious fun and that's because it's a serious project that we want to go a serious distance.

Today was good. I'm wearing a smile! :)