Returning to the USA from Europe
I am still amazed at what I did in Europe -- filmed in 5 countries, including under the Eiffel tower in Paris, in Toulon in southern France... in a recording studio in Milan, Italy... in Colgne Germany at the famous Staatgarten, a music club ... and in Amsterdam, Holland where Thomas Chapin played many times from 1990 to 1996. Everything went off without a hitch. 12 new interviews to add to my 35 U.S. interviews. All for NIGHT BIRD SONG, and to help tell the Thomas Chapin story from Europe.

In Cincinnati, for 3 months . . .
I began creating an editing script. With 47 interviews that I wove together on paper, Part 1, Ascending, began to stake shape. I told the story chronologically. It took me 2 months of day in and day out, writing, and weaving to produce 150 pages of story, a chronology that was thrilling but OMG way too long!!  I spent a week cutting it down as best I could, but was only able to cut it down to 132 pages. That's how much story there was!!

Preparing for a Preview in Litchfield, CT in August
The Litchfield Jazz Festival will pay tribute to Thomas Chapin in early August, and they asked me to show something. I promised a 50-min. sneak peak of my work-in-progress. So that's what I have been preparing since Cincinnati. After Litchfield, I will continue editing the film. The second half of it. Yes, we're looking at a two-hour YIKES!!! cut! But it will be later cut down for TV and educational showings. This longer cut will be be for film and jazz festival showings and other showcases. 

Editing Quietly in Belmont, Vermont
Since April, I have been house sitting in the small village of Belmont in Vermont, thanks to a supporter of the arts who is allowing me this space to edit my film. I'll be here til November and hope to finish the editing by then.




NOW, FOR THE NASHVILLE STORY
WHY DID I GO?? 
FILM-COM is one several film markets around the world that happen once a year and is a market for filmmakers who wish to find distribution for their films and perhaps some finishing funds.  This year some 100 film project were there, with execs from TV and film and video gaming.

• It's a very small market in comparison, and therefore more intimate and more accessibility.
  

• Day One -- registration and a VIP reception
  
• Day Two -- panel discussions about financing and distribution, TV movies/series, reality TV shows, documentaries, video gaming, and brutal realities. Industry Gala that night.
  
• Day Three and Four -- New Projects Expo. Execs dropped by our booths and discussed any questions or provided help, or made deals.

HOW DID IT GO??
Honestly, I went there thinking I could make a deal for some finishing funds with a distributor. There were so few distributors present, a big disappointment. So no deal. But even if I had had the opportunity, I don't think I would have made a deal at this points. I realized early, as I talked to execs there, that I would be exchanging control for money, and I didn't feel it was time yet to do that.  Control of your film project is really important when you are in the creating stage. Which is where I am still. Editing my film. What you don't want is someone who gives you money to control you at this stage. It's happened to me before, taking money and losing control. I guess I forgot that lesson!!!

SO WHAT DID I GET?
Lots of encouragement. Lots of affirmation. Lots of confirmation that I am on the right track as I proceed toward the finish line.  Also - - - Important connections

• Panelist and film consultant Seth W. from L.A. who expressed strong interest. "I wanted to help you," he said. He had programmed jazz concerts in college (decades ago) and liked what he saw in my poster and materials. Didn't have time to sit down and watch my trailer, but asked me to email it to him, and we'd go from there. 
• Panelist, producer, writer Joel E. from L.A. sat down and watched my trailer, and said, "I'd watched this!" How can I help, he asked. We discussed a couple things. He felt confident that I would get the funding I need to finish, and was going to help with one connection I need in Hollywood for funding, which he felt positive about. He said my track record spoke for itself.
• A post-production house and producer in Nashville wants to talk about me coming back to Nashville to finish my film. Nashville is a music video capital and known for its great post-production houses.  I am definitely thinking about coming back here to finish my film with David D.'s post-production studio. He talked about a deal we could make and explore to get my film done.
• A Nashville lawyer watched my trailer and loved the music of Thomas Chapin. I gave him a CD, which he later told me he loves. He's going to talk to several clients who may be interested in supporting my film. Bruce R. loves jazz and is himself a musician.
• Another Nashville lawyer stopped by and watched the trailer. We talked copyright issues; he was very helpful
• Panelist and film producer Mathius G. from L.A. affirmed my progress and said I was on the right track with the right strategies. Like many others, he wants to see the finished film.
• A Nashville musician who played sax for 23 years and is now a film producer loved my project and offered to help me finish it. He is an editor and would like to be involved in the final edit. He watched the trailer and grooved to the music of Thomas Chapin. I gave him a CD and we exchanged contact info. I want to talk to him more about helping with the final edit.

1. My sweet connection with Bob Farnsworth of Hummingbird Productions, which specializes in music and film fusions. He's making a sequel to IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Bob and I finally connected after unsuccessfully trying to connect by email before I arrived at Film-Com. By coincidence, or by Divine Connection, we connected the first night I was there following a VIP reception. He saw he waiting for a taxi outside, sitting on a bench, and came over to ask if everything was ok. I said, "I've been looking for you." After that, we connected alot! Because he is so busy producing his own film, he can't offer much help to me at this time. But he's offered to review the cuts of my film and to make helpful suggestions to make it ever better. I believe him! He has produced a lot of famous TV commercials, including the Budweiser Frogs.
   

FInal Thoughts About Nashville
So I didn't make a deal, but I got so much from going to Film-Com. New friends and connections that will help me take the next important steps to finishing the film. Was it worth it? All open doors can be, and I feel this one was indeed worth it.

• Meeting other filmmakers who are making their dreams come true was a great inspiration and a reminder of the honored and in some ways sacred path we walk, especially documentary filmmakers, as we follow our hearts and bring stories to life that can touch others, that can change others.
• I loved Nashville!! I want to go back and work with the people I met who offered their help to finish my film. Much like it is in Hawaii, the people are kind and wanting to be helpful; welcoming spirits, another non-aggressive culture. 
• The panelists I met wanted to be helpful. That counts for a lot. One of them, who works with feature films, wanted to be helpful to documentary filmmakers, though they are not her kind of clients. Ann Marie, a producer from L.A., handed me and the other doc makers a handwritten list of distributors. How generous!! 

Do you believe? Do you feel it in your spirit? How about in your bones? Filmaking is a craft, an art, but it is also a matter of faith.

Forget it, you might say. Those of you who are of science and reason and "just the facts, ma'am."  But I say to you, you gotta have it or forgettaboutit. You will never get a film made.

This project took on a life when I believed. I believed that 15 years after Thomas Chapin died was enough time for him to be forgotten or immortalized. With the making of this film, he will be remembered and celebrated. The moment I made the decision to proceed, the winds began to blow my way. Very importantly, his widow and his family gave the green light. They knew I was right; we have to do this now or the memories, the stories of him will fade. A reason to move forward, yes; but it took believing to begin.

My bones, my body must be aligned with my belief, or I ain't going nowhere. Here's the physical part, the part that moves into action. With the doing, proof is provided that it's not just a pipe dream. And the doing never ends, if you are to make a dream come true.

My first "to do" was the film's website. It went live on the internet in March of 2012 and helped me get the word out, as well as to raise the first monies that year to move forward. Then, a ten-day trip to New York City to research, to gage whether making a film about Thomas Chapin was a worthy one. ("Absolutely!" was the answer I got over and over as I talked with those who knew Thomas well.) A three-month trip back to New York to begin recording interviews. Hours on my computer, building up a social network to help spread the word. By the end of 2012, signing up to launch an online fundraising campaign at Kickstarter.com to raise a chunk of money to start shooting my film by the summer of 2013. As the song goes, Let's get physical. Let's get into physical." (Success! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/290658030/night-bird-song-the-thomas-chapin-story)

Now to the faith part.

Feeling it in my spirit, in my heart I called upon all the forces -- natural, spiritual and physical -- that could help me. God, Jesus, Thomas in the beyond, all the saints of jazz past, all the souls up there in the clouds that could help me, and anyone on Earth that would stand with me. Before launching the Kickstarter campaign, I woke up one morning with a dream. A very important dream that framed my efforts to make this film. I had been researching crowdfunding, so this was on my waking mind. (The dream in a minute.)

By now, most internet-savvy people know what crowdfunding is. For those of you not in the know, here is Wikipedia's definition of it: Crowdfunding (alternately crowd financing, equity crowdfunding, crowd equity, crowd-sourced fundraising) is the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money, usually via the internet  to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations. Kickstarter.com is the premier of all the various kinds of crowdfunding sites.

Back to the dream. I awoke to a voice that said, "It's not crowdfunding, it's cloud funding." Huh??? As I do whenever I remember a dream, I roll it around in my head and ask, what does it mean. Cloud Funding. Hmmm. And my thoughts began to take shape to give meaning to this new phrase.

Here's kind of how my mind fashioned its definition (a definition you won't find in Wikipedia or Webster's). Crowdfunding happens on Earth as you gather your friends, family and all supporting entities to back your campaign. It is an Earth thing. As for, Cloud Funding, it happens "in the clouds" where the Heavens and all that is unknown and mysterious in the Beyond come together to move the Earth and any circumstances, synergies, coincidences, and energetic forces, be they human or otherwise, to assist you. Makes sense to me. I'm one of those "there are no accidents" believers.

I know, some of you think this is all WOO WOO. That's ok, that's why I say this filmaking stuff is a matter of faith. Ya need a little woo woo ta make it happen. I'm not the only creative soul to believe this. Read Sir Edmund Hillary's description below of woo woo. A mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist, in 1953 he conquered the world's highest peak, Mt. Everest.

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness, concerning all acts of initiative [and creation]. There is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.

Whatever you can do or dream, you can begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. --Sir Edmund Hillary

Filmmaking can be like that, if you believe and begin -- All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.

I am still climbing my mountain. Having finished spending that Kickstarter money with which I accomplished my first HD film shoot and a new fundraising trailer, I continue my journey and still look to the Clouds for supernatural, mystical, magical assistance from beyond. On Earth, I tend to my physical work and welcome all the material assistance of well-wishers who WILL that this film be made. The WILL is growing stronger all the time, and with it comes much Earthly good for my project.

As all sorts of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance that I could have never dreamed of still happen to me, filmmaking and the making of this film remains an a wondrous act full of mystery and excitement. It is still requiring faith and help that is beyond this Earth.

There comes a time when you've just have to have a new trailer. The old ones have served you well and have successfully helped you raise some much needed money to keep your film project going. But, in my case, my trailers -- the one on my website for raising awareness, the youtube trailer for promotions, and my kickstarter video/trailer that helped me raise $51,552 -- were all too long in length for my next step --  which is to give potential funders something short and something that WOWs them!

When the editor who was going to cut my film THOMAS CHAPIN, NIGHT BIRD SONG and its next trailer dropped out of the project, I knew it would probably fall on me to cut the new trailer myself.

Cutting it myself was not a problem; I had cut many trailers. The problem was I had never succeeded in creating a trailer for this film under 13 minutes. There seemed to me to be so much story to tell. But I was going to have to try!

I remember pondering for weeks how I was going to accomplish this seemingly impossible task. One night, I decided to Google "how to make a great film trailer."
Up popped a blog by a marketing woman who was writing about exactly that! Inside her blog was the name of a "trailer specialist" who taught workshops on this very thing to documentary filmmakers. CLICK and I was at his website www.billwoolery.com.

I felt excitement as I read through his website, because here was someone who had been doing this for years in Hollywood for feature film trailers. Only now, he focused on helping documentary filmmaker with their trailers. As Bill's website explained, he gotten tired of the Hollywood personalities and found himself drawn to the passions of poor and nearly penniless dreamers who make documentaries because they have a story to tell that pulls their heartstrings and touches their souls. People like me :-).

As I read through his website, not only was I impressed by his credenitials -- trailer creator for some of my favorite Hollywood films, such as E.T., Usual Suspects and Unbearable Lightness of Beings -- but his prices were documentary-friendly. I could actually afford his help!

So I sent off to Bill my existing materials --  my sample of archival footage, a sample of my newly shot Hi-Def footage, my three existing trailers, and some notes about the film and its themes and ideas.

When I heard back from him, he had looked it all over and decided he wanted to help me. He loved my idea, he liked Thomas Chapin a lot, he thought my HD footage was GORGEOUS, and though he was not a jazz fan, he wanted to cut a trailer with music at its center. So we agreed on a price and were off and running.

ABOUT THE PROCESS
I sent Bill an external hard drive with the following:
    -- the three trailers, minus their music beds and on-screen titles. He only wanted the visuals and audio so he could use them to craft the new trailer.
    -- the photo stills, the video materials, and the music used in these three trailers.
    -- a list of key Ideas for my film
    -- new HD footage of interviewees that were important to the film, but also important to show what our new footage looked like.  I had selected for Bill  the new "bites" that I felt were critical to include in this new trailer.

PARAMETERS
It would have to be 6 mins in length. It was to have energy and excitement. It had to WOW. He would delivery up to four versions, tweaking and finessing as we went along.

TIMELINE
We started on September 12. He in Los Angeles, me in New York City, working together via Vimeo.com, an online site for video producers where he could post versions for me to view. The deadline was Oct. 25.

BACK AND FORTH
For Version 1, I let Bill absorb all that I sent him. I wanted to see his take on my story. We talked a lot in this phase, making sure he got my thoughts and I heard his. We both knew the first version would be almost like a shot in the dark, trying to guess what I would like and what might work. I felt I wanted to see what he would do with my material, not tell him what to do as if he were only a pair of hands. No, this was a man who had done this for a very long time and was coming to this with skill and excellence. I had to let him show his stuff. Result? He nailed it on some things and fell short on other things. But I was confident after seeing that cut that we were off to a great start!

And so we kept tweaking and finessing. I was sure that with each version we were getting close to a WOW trailer. And as he continued, there were many exchanges of this visual for that, many additions of this instead of that bite, and making sure the music was working right.

By Version 3, I was feeling we were close to getting it right. For him what was missing was an emotional high point; for me what was missing was a powerfully convincing ending clearly stating the reason to fund me.  These two fixes would set the trailer on solid ground.

To create an emotional high point, I suggested we insert footage of Thomas's last performance where he gets up and plays just days before he passed away. Exchanging B & W photos of the event for video footage was the right call. The power of moving images! It's interesting how the emotional energy of the footage just zaps you and moves you to feelings those still photos just couldn't do as well.

The fix for the ending took a couple of tries. I provided him with more interview quotes to use as summary statements strung together about why Thomas was should be remembered and why the film was important. Latching on to the idea that this was an unfinished story, according to writer Larry Blumenthal whose statement ends the trailer, we felt we had hit the nail on the head. We finally had a strong ending.

FINAL VERSION
By Version 7, we had everything fixed, adjusted, and as Bill said, the trailer now  contained all the needed content for a funder to grasp what I wanted to do in my documentary. The trailer came in just under 6 mins. And we were both very happy with our collaboration. Bill paid me the nicest compliment: "You are my most organized client." And I said, "For your more than fair price, I wanted to make sure you didn't have to work at getting everything ready for you to do your part."

We finished before our deadline, and  had a very pleasing collaboration, and created a WOW!

The new trailer will be posted on this website's home page in the very near future. Come back to view it.

Heard of that surf movie, ENDLESS SUMMER? That's what July felt like to me. Endless shooting. Summer, a hot, humid, July heat wave. When it finally ended, 12 shoot days later. plus 20 interviews and one concert, I was exhausted. I was already exhausted before it all began, and it took three quiet days to myself to catch up on sleep and to shed the weight of all that work to make Round One of the Thomas Chapin film shoots happen.

It was the end, but not THE end. In filmmaking, projects go through phases. Phases end and phases start. Many of them. Until it's finally over. The film is made. And then it's not really the end! There's still the distribution, the film festivals, the premieres, the TV broadcast. It is an Endless Summer of sunsets and sunrises, and who really knows when your film is finally done with you and you can move on.

When I first became a filmmaker, I followed a film guru, an avant filmmaker, who had written a book of prose about the filmmaking process. I was in the process of developing my first film, and James Broughton's SEEING THE LIGHT shaped my process and my life. I had been a moviegoer from childhood; but now, Broughton was calling me into a life quite different from going to the movies or making movies. "I am not talking here about going to the movies; I am talking about making cinema. I am talking about the life of vision. I am talking about cinema as one way of living the life of a poet. I am talking about film as poetry, as philosophy, as metaphysics . . . ." Wow, that is loaded with profundities!

So ever since I understood that I had a calling to make film poetry, I have tried to follow that path. My first film, SIMPLE COURAGE, which told the tragic story of Hawaii's leprosy epidemic and the banishing of some 8,000 Native Hawaiian souls, set my course to be poetic. I deemed I would make poetry, with the power of the story's emotions and with the depth and complexity of the truth, to create filmic alchemy that would transform this story into a soulful window. SIMPLE COURAGE was all that, and at the end of the 5 years and $500,000 it took to make, it won an EMMY. 

I'm very proud of that EMMY. Not bad for my first film! I nailed it, according to the voters who viewed it. It won a Regional EMMY, i.e. broadcast in the San Francisco region (which Hawaii TV is part of). But an EMMY is an EMMY, and let me tell you, they are hard to win!!  Did I thank God in my acceptance speech that award's night? Oh yes. In my heart. What I did say in my speech stopped the room's chatter as I accepted my award. "SIMPLE COURAGE tells the story of ....." That's how I began, and with tragedy in my voice clearly describing this powerful story, I felt the room was moved. The power of story. The power of emotions. The power of film poetry. A film that mattered. The film went on to a national broadcast on PBS and to win many more awards.

9 documentaries later, I still feel called to make film poetry. I ask the Thomas Chapin film every conscious moment, show me your poetry, show me the power of your story.

I can now report that after finishing my first round of shooting that I had an AHA! moment in which the story approach and the storyteller for the film arose. It was like a smack, and Oh My!, for it arose out of holding the question subconsciously, What Do You Want To Be?  It never fails; when you ask and wait, and believe, you will be shown, it does emerge. And then you go with it and see what the path holds. Another EMMY? That's not my goal, but it would be a lovely ending to the filmmaking phase anyway.

One P.S. Trust our instincts. That's part of making poetry. When I started shooting, I had no script. Just a lot of questions, and some themes and ideas and threads. Thomas Chapin said, creating for him was like making mud pies. It is for me too. It's in that "conversation" with the mud that the pie emerges. A beautiful pie with poetry and power, you hope and trust.

        It's July, almost the 4th, a time of celebration.
Ok, that's not a bad opening line.
        I haven't blogged in a while, ever since Kickstarter ended and the prep for filming my film began shortly after a mental break and after transplanting myself again to NYC from the island of Kauai where I had sequestered myself for the 45-day online fundraising campaign. I love that word sequestered, it has many uses these days.

Can you tell I am making this up as I go?  Why? Time is precious now as I begin to shoot my film this month with a to-do list is endless. So I'm writing off the top of my head, it's an improv, something I am learning about working on this film of mine.

In journalism, back in the days of my J-School years, we called it "free writing." Wikipedia defines it as: Free writing is a prewriting technique in which a person writes continuously for a set period of time without regard to spelling, grammar, or topic. It produces raw, often unusable material, but helps writers overcome blocks of apathy and self-criticism. It is used mainly by prose writers and writing teachers. Some writers use the technique to collect initial thoughts and ideas on a topic, often as a preliminary to formal writing.

In jazz, a band free writes with instruments, notes and chords. It's called improvisation. Some improv in jazz is so free, i.e. they go wayyyyyy out with their feelings, thoughts and emotions as they composeon the spot to express something new and fresh. That's what I am learning as I research the Thomas Chapin story. He was a free man, and he loved taking the journey to wherever it led him and his band, and he loved drawing the audience into that journey to give them one helluva ride! 

Well, I hope my improv here is going to draw you in, but I promise it won't be so wild.

The last few months, though, have been a wild ride for me. Packed up again and left Kauai for Jackson Hts, NYC where I am living and working on my film. I'm in the space where Thomas used to live with his wife, my sister Terri. She's a gracious host and good company, especially when I need to take a break and we go out for dinner or to a movie. She understands that I have to be glued to my computer and chair to get all this shoot planning done, so we're even skipping going out on the July 4th so I can keep working. My back hurts, my neck too, not to mention my body aches caused from sitting too long. This, my friends, is the life of a filmmaker on deadline. Nose to the grind, hands on the wheel.  Focus, focus, focus.

Yikes, I have 25 on-camera interviews to do this month, plus attend a big, grand wedding at the Plaza, a black-tie affair that will be a wonderful diversion in between my two shoot periods. The first shoot will be in Hartford, CT where Thomas grew up and later went to jazz school and played the clubs with friends, and where his long-time fans followed his every recording, radio interview, concerts, club gigs, and news articles from the time of his public launch into the Lionel Hampton Band and through the seven years of his own Thomas Chapin Trio. These fans are die-hards, and I loved meeting so many of them when we launched my film's fundraising trailer. 60 of them came out! And they glowed when I asked about their connection to Thomas.

I'll be seeing some of them again on July 8th on our first day of filmming, at the Monday Night Jazz Series at Bushnell Park in downtown Hartford featuring musicians/longtime friends who played with Thomas. They'll be a septet for this concert under band leader Mario Pavone, who was Thomas's bassist and fellow composer for the Trio and for all of those seven years. The band will be playing Thomas' SKY PIECE, on his last recorded CD before he passed. Thomas did it with a flute and his Trio; this will be a Septet version with horns instead. Can't wait to film this and capture it for my documentary.

The days to follow will be on-camera interviews with the Connecticut musicians who played with Thomas, including Mario. These were Thomas' homeboys. I'm sure the stories will be intimate and funny and sad. It was here Thomas played his last concert, a 10-minute flute solo at Cheney Hall when some 60 musicians played for him and a turn-away audience of some 500 fans and curious folks. Thomas died 12 days later; what's not to cry about. He was so beloved in Hartford.

One of the interviews will be with someone who only played with Thomas once, and that was in Hartford. But while Jaimoe of the Allman Brothers' fame, lives in this area, he is a world stage player who began as a drummer with blues man Otis Redding. Jaimoe remembers seeing Thomas for the first time and being wowed by his alto sax playing. He ended up having his gig with Thomas recorded on video, footage that we are now trying to locate. I just love gathering stories like this!

The other shoot will begin in mid-July and go for six days in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Interviewees will be NYC musicians who played with Thomas and jazz writers/critics who followed him. My sister Terri, Thomas brother Ted, educator Larry Ridley, and long-time friend Arthur Kell will share their stories too. 

Yes, it's a vigorous schedule, but I want to keep the momentum up and do as much as I can with the money I raised at Kickstarter back in March. I'm working fast, I'm working hard, to keep my promise to backers to film this summer!! 

One last word. If you ever make a film, don't film in July, the middle of summer in NYC! My big concerns are the heat, air conditioners that work, and city traffic that could tie up my film crew. Other than that, I'm just so happy to get this going. I'll get that massage later when I am done, because I'm going to need it, and I will deserve it!!!

Stephanie, without regard to spelling, grammar,...

Me: Bless me Father, for I almost sinned.
Father Priest: What, my child, brought you so close to that?
Me: I must confess, Father, that I did something that made me curse my friends, doubt myself terribly, and descend into a hell I would never wish on anyone!
Father Priest: You say, "almost sinned." What do you mean?
Me: Well, about half way through this experience, I came to my senses, after a lot of praying and asking God for help. What I came to see, to realize was that what I was doing - a thing called Kickstarter, a fundraising thing -- was actually my Teacher. And so I did not commit the Final Act that would have led me to actually sin -- sin being, falling short of the High Road, of High Hopes and High Dreams.
Father Priest:  Hmmm. A Final Act. And was that?
Me: I didn't pull the plug. I didn't hit the "Cancel" button.

Friends, as someone who was raised a Catholic and now an Episcopalian, I sometimes find it natural to use the imagery and language of my spiritual experiences. Thank you for indulging me.

I happen to start my 45-day Kickstarter campaign to raise $50,000 so that I could shoot my film this summer on the first day of Lent. Now this was a coincidence but no accident. I had set Feb. 13, 2013 as my start day, but not because of Lent -- but because this was the day Thomas Chapin died 15 years ago. Coincidentally, and again not by accident, the Kickstarter fundraiser ended on the last day of Lent, on Easter Weekend. How did I know that what I would be doing would turn out to be a "religious" or spiritual journey fraught with temptations, demons, angels, what felt like the Passion of the Christ sometimes, and have a Happy Easter ending?

I suppose there are many analogies or metaphors to describe doing Kickstarter -- a roller coaster ride, a good dream gone bad, a hard nut to crack, a high-drama opera. Hundreds of creative people like me have done Kickstarter; some have failed, many have succeeded. And I know each person has their tale to tell. Yes, we could write a book!

As I contemplated my tale and how to tell it, this metaphor of a Lenten journey seemed most apropos, because it is indeed what I lived for those 45 days. Lent is supposed to be about sacrificing something you like, giving up something for Lent to focus on God and to deepen spiritually. I hadn't planned this Lent/Kickstarter way, but from day one, the journey would have its lessons.

For the first two weeks of this six-week campaign, I found myself "watching the kettle boil."  With the Kickstarter clock ticking its 45 days away, I found myself obsessing -- wondering who was going to come and back my film, and waiting for so-and-so to come, and wondering why not.

I confess those two weeks, and even the third week, was like being in hell. It was tortuous. It was an emotional and psychological assault on my being. It brought bad and nasty and hostile thoughts to my mind. How God-awful it was to be like this. For those first three weeks, two to three people a day on the average were coming to pledge their support, not multitudes as I had expected. And I was miles away from my $50,000 goal. Yes, I was VERY tempted many times during this phase to push that CANCEL button on my Kickstarter page.

Now this is hard to confess, ok? No one wants to own up to having their self-image brought low, or their petty feelings exposed. Or, for that matter, their selfish hostilities laid bare. But, hey, this was hell, and hell is uuug-ly.

What saved me from falling off that cliff, what kept me going and not pressing CANCEL, was a discipline I started practicing everyday as a Lenten practice. To spend a half hour every morning journaling with ruthless honesty and laying before God my wicked thoughts and wounded feelings. Now, what a good Catholic/Episcopalian I was being :-). No. I didn't do it to be good. I did it because I was desperate for a way through this. And so Kickstarter truly became my Teacher -- teaching me patience, kindness of heart, to put down unkind thoughts, to keep the faith, to still believe even though failure was in my face for most of those 45 days.

By the fourth week, I had turned a corner. Through kind friends who counseled me and prayed for me and listened to me, and through my continued Lenten Mornings, I began to see Kickstarter for what it was. Yes it was an all or nothing deal -- ie., you must raise your whole goal or no one's credit card gets charged and you get nothing. Or you succeed and get the monies pledge -- BUT, it wasn't the end of the world if you didn't succeed. I was taking a shot, that's all, it was only a shot, something worth trying -- to possibly raise $50,000 in 45 days seemed an awesome shot to me! At this stage of the film project, when I have nothing footage-wise to show, It beat writing grants with thousands of others for a small pot of funds we would all be going after, only to find in 6 to 9 months that we didn't get it. That's the way I had been doing it in my 25 years of filmmaking, and Kickstarter present a new way, a possible way of harnessing your social network to support your creative dream. It presented the possibility, with success, of speeding my project along by allowing me to shoot my film this summer and raise bigger funds with bigger funders. That's all it was, a shot. And a worthy one!

With that perspective fully engaged, I went on to face the finish. With only 10 more days to go, with only $26,000 of the $50,000 pledged, It looked like failure, and I knew I was being watched. I could feel it. I was being tagged with "doesn't look like she's going to make it, so why bother pledging." I could smell it in the air as the days had continued with one or two backers coming a day, and with a few days when no one came. I was in the doldrums, and I knew I needed a mighty wind! 

That wind came with 9 days left. With an email to Michael Dorf, one of my well-connected backers who I asked for ideas, this NYC restauranteur who had helped launch Thomas Chapin and his music, hatched a plan to pledge $10,000 and to issue a challenge: "Email everyone and tell them to do the rest; let's get this film done!" And so I went to work, to tweet, email and Facebook his message. And with that the mighty wind blew, with backers increasing their pledges and with new backers coming in with big and small contributions. By the end of the Kickstarter clock on March 30, 11:45 a.m. New York time, we hit $51,552 pledged by 224 backers at an average of $230 each!!!

Kudos to my sister Terri Castillo Chapin, Thomas' widow and keeper of his musical legacy, who in the final hours drove it home while I "napped" exhausted yet resting in the belief that whatever happened in the end would be fine. I had come to acceptance, to detachment, to "letting go and letting God."  Terri, on the other hand, had gone to work, convinced we HAD to succeed. And so we did. She was a gift, an instrument of God, I believe, and of Good Will towards this film.

Yes, Kickstarter was my Teacher. And to evoke another "religious" metaphor to make the lessons concise and perhaps helpful to anyone who would ever attempt Kickstarter, let me put the light and dark sides of Kickstarter in the form of Ten Commandments.

1.  Do not hate thy friends for not backing you. You have no idea why they didn't, and it's best not to judge or think too hard on the why.

2.  Dream big. Dream for what you really need. I really needed $50,000 to shoot my film this summer. Don't be afraid, don't listen to the naysayers. Go for it!

3.  Make this a meaningful journey. Let it be your Teacher. Learn the valuable lessons that come to hone your character.

4.  You can't control everything. Do what you can, work hard, think of everything you can, and know you can't know or do it all. Keep the Faith.

5.  One and one does not equal two. Sometimes it does; but at Kickstarter, you can do all and it still won't add up necessarily. Check your expectations. Release.

6.  Don't watch the kettle boil. Obsessiveness is anathema! Go and do your day, check the clock but don't watch the watch.

7.  Success is good, if you succeed. If not, well, that might be good too. Stay open.

8.  Magic can happen. Keep waving your wand. Don't stop believing.

9.   Keep good company, and be good company. Sometimes the good comes because of the good will you sowed.

10.  There are no accidents, not in the big picture.  Look for the Help, the Hand, the Good God who is Love.

Happy Kickstarter!!

Roosters. They are everywhere on the island of Kauai where I live. For me, they are symbols of risk taking. My grandfather, a cockfighter for 50 years here, grew and groomed, and yes, fought them. They are bold, courageous and ferocious little gladiators, so the cockfighters of the world believe.

Filmmakers are risk takers too. We groom and grow our projects, and yes, put them to the test in a ring of competitive filmmakers. Funding is the ring; lots of us are out there looking for the money to make our films, competing for grants, and trying to find all sorts of ways to get our films made. Today, we still write grants as we did when I first started making documentaries 25 years ago. But there's a new way to raise money today that didn't exist 5 years ago when my last television documentary was made. 

Online fundraising via social networking, social media, social risk taking is now upon us as a viable and new way to find backers for our films. It's called "crowd funding." Many of us now use the tools of the Internet to appeal to our "crowd" -- our fans, our friends, our family, our subcultures. Online communications via websites, emailings, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are strategic musts that no filmmaker today can ignore.

The stories of film projects succeeding using online funding abound at sites such as kickstarter.com and indiegogo.com.  The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, Wired magazine, and other publications watch and write about this phenomena. And how-to's abound as well on the Internet.

So I am jumping in and heading to kickstarter.com to raise the money I need to shoot my Thomas Chapin film. Some filmmakers gather their crowd to fund the whole enchilada, the whole budget for their films, for sometimes as much as $200,000. They have confidence that their crowd will come through, and they work their social networks to shake the money tree.

Others seek a portion of what they need to take them to the next step of their filmmaking process. That will be me. I will only be asking my crowd to back me so that I can get my filmming done. With success at kickstarter.com, I will start shooting this summer! The footage will then allow me to make a new, more polished trailer and show off my film idea to hopefully interest bigger funders who can provide the monies needed for the next phases of making this film.

Being new to raising funds this way, I am testing the waters. Taking a gamble yes, but moderating my risk taking, as they say in the stock market. Modifying risks is still risky, but do the work, set up your social network, and ground yourself with strategies that will assist your efforts, and you might just succeed. 

In crowd sourcing, no one can really tell who will come to fund you and by how much. That's actually going to be part of the fun. If you build it, will they come?  We shall see. I will set a goal, set a date to start and end, and roll the dice of social risktaking.  Good thing the risk-taking gene, the gambler gene is in my DNA. Cockle-doodle-do!!!!!

Watch for more blogs as I head to kickstarter.com on February 13 and take a wild ride.

The hand over her heart say a lot. The  Connecticut fans of Thomas Chapin -- long-timers and die-hards -- came out to a reception to celebrate Thomas' new CD and the showing of my film's new 15 min. trailer. This is the area where Thomas grew up and kept his connections strong until he passed.

It was a love fest, someone said.  And it was. Most of the 60-70 people who came to the Real Art Ways center in Hartford knew Thomas, watched him play many times during his visits back home, and acknowledged, when asked if they wanted to see a film on him, YES!  I was singing to the choir!  And it felt good, as I watched them watch my trailer. It grabbed, it spoke it, it stoked their heart fires for Thomas and their memories of him.  Good job Stephanie!

Yes, when you do a trailer for a film project, you want more than anything to communicate your idea that a film is worth making. My film will be an homage to a jazz great who left us too soon. And making this film about Thomas Chapin presents a way to preserve his memory and to keep his musical legacy alive and a good thing to remember.

December was indeed a hot bed of building the film project's momentum. I mentioned before in an earlier blog that there would be a convergence, there would be synergy, there would be a moment when the new CD, NEVER LET ME GO, and the Thomas Chapin Film Project would together generate PR and good exposure for the film. Well, it happened. The CD got good press in reviews in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Hartford Courant, with a CT radio interview, and in many blogs. It even made the Best of Jazz in 2012 in a few online columns and blogs.  And a few mentioned my film project, for which I was grateful. Riding the coat tails of the new CD release is an honor!

We also kicked off our fundraising campaign to aid the film project in these early days of development and research by selling the CD's at the Hartford reception and at a party in Manhattan, with all the proceeds and donations going toward the film.

Thank you's are in order for allowing me to use the CD as a fundraising tool to CD producers Ted Chapin (Thomas brother) and my sister, Terri Castillo Chapin (widow and the keeper of Thomas' legacy).  With the funds that were raised, we were able to pay some outstanding project bills, including my grant writer, our research transcriber, and our travel expenses for the Hartford trip while setting aside some funds for an upcoming trip to North Carolina where I will visit Thomas' archives at Duke University.  These small steps to keep the film project's momentum going are no small thing.

While in Hartford, Terri and I did an interview with jazz show host Chuck Obuchowsk at public access radio WWUH. The week before I spoke to Jim Siegel about the film project on his podcast Straight, No Chaser (listened to worldwide by some 15,000). 

Yes, December blew hot for the publicity and PR momentum. As we approach January and February, I'll be gearing up for a major push to build more awareness for the film project, and for our buildup to a major fundraising effort on kickstarter.com, a place where artists can raise money for their creative project.

I hope you're running with me. It will be your chance to be part of something very important and very worthy!  If you haven't already, please watch my trailer at https://vimeo.com/55292082.

I came here to NYC to cut a trailer. My film's trailer. Cut. Edit. Create. That's what filmmakers do when they are ....well, either ready to make a film, ready to promote their finished film, or ready to to put it up on the big screen to attract audiences to opening weekend. How many trailers does a filmmaker need? As many as it takes as your film project evolves to keep the money and the market flowing.

When you're just beginning your film project, as I am, what's in order is the creation of a trailer that will help you raise funds, help you communicate the idea of your film before there is anything yet to see. We call this version a "fundraising trailer".  They are tricky to make, and if done right, it will make people who see it say, "I really want to see this film." And it will make potential donors, you hope, open their check books  to begin the flow of cash, to build the momentum of the project.

You should know at this point how much money you need to raise.  I break it down into stages or phases.  Right now, I am in the Development/Research phase, and I've calculated $40,000 is needed to get me through this phase.  $40,000???? For what!!! Yeah, you can expect that reaction when you throw that kind of number out. The reality of filmmaking and fundraising is that you self-fund what you can until the money flows, and that is built into my $40,000 R&D expenses. You find pro-bono help, you find deferred payment help, you put it on a credit card. You still want to quantify it, because you may be able to later when there is money raised to pay yourself back and to pay the others who have been helping you as favors for now.  (In case you are wondering, the $40,000 includes the need for research trips, a grant writer, an editor, a camera person, and paying myself.)

People, in general, have absolutely no idea what it costs to make a film, and that's a conundrum for all filmmakers. It's part of the education that you have to do to remove the shock and open their hearts to a worthy cause. This right here will kill a lot of projects, scare a lot of filmmakers -- especially the first time ones. They will either be stopped because they don't know how to "sell" their idea, or won't have the passion or the "insanity" to go forward "whatever it takes". Yes, I say insanity, because you really have to be a little insane to do these "high wire acts".  You have to be a risk-taker, you must through caution to the wind, have an iron will, and the kind of strong faith that believes it can move mountains.  As I tell my film students when I have the occasion to teach, filmmaking is about obstacles, one after another, and getting past them no matter what so you can finish.

Back to making a trailer.  So I have now spent 6 weeks creating my trailer. It started off needed to be a 7 minute one, and has now ended up 15 minutes long! It's been an exercise in the economy of storytelling.  After the 15 min. version was almost done, I decided to craft a teaser, a 90 second version of the trailer. It was something to put up on Facebook, to send out on Twitter and LinkedIn, to hopefully gain some attention from people who have been seeing and reading my updates but perhaps haven't got a clue what I am trying to do. 

The challenge was to find the premise, or the nugget -- the logline, some call it in Hollywood, or the elevator pitch -- i.e., if you had the good fortune to catch a movie mogul in an elevator and had only 30 secs. to tell him your film's story or premise, could you do it. And so, in Hollywood, these loglines are carried around in the minds of screenwriters ready for that elevator door to open to a mogul. 

Many times I've tried out "loglines" for this film. Many versions came. Understanding your film's story comes in waves, or is like trying on hats to see which on fits. As I worked on the 15 minute trailer, the ideas behind the film began to crystallize. And one morning, the log "rolled" out as I rolled out of bed. And I got up and went to my computer, still in my PJ's, and began to craft the 90 sec tease. It took me the whole day, but by late evening, I had it. And it's proven to be quite effective in capturing some promising reactions to those who have previewed it: "Wow!" "I want to see more!" "I'm intrigued!" and even  "...an hors d'oeurve....yes making people want to stay for dinner". 

Still tweaking the 90 sec, and will post it when I am done for your feedback. The 15 min. version will be posted here soon.