New York, New York -- I'm comin' back with a to-do list for my Thomas Chapin film project and with the courage that a few weeks ago was at a low ebb.
Why the change in my momentum? That's what MIRACLES do!! They propel you, they move the mountain that seemed insurmountable, they are a gift, and a blessing indeed! They are an answer to prayers, that I trust, moved the Hand of God.
I have my plane ticket, and will leave on Oct. 20 to join editor Laura Corwin who is going to cut my fundraising trailer for the film. Fundraising trailers are a necessity if one is to communicate an idea before there is a film to see. It's how we raise money for our films, it's the preview, it's the showcase to raise support and cash and grant funds.
Laura came referred to me by Thomas' business manager who said I should talk with her after I told him my sense of how to do this film project was to work with an editor as my collaborator, someone who could conceive and help me see the story before I went out with a camera crew and shot all the necessary parts, before I took my footage into the editing room. I've never done a film this way before, and I don't believe it's the traditional way; but for this film it really make sense, or so I was thinking.
My wish was an editor, who could cut a music documentary and make sense of a very colorful and complex story, who worked and lived in New York City, who would be excited about telling a New York story, whose mind and heart could dance with mine.
Laura seems the perfect answer. She's a New Yorker, has cut music videos for years, and has done weighty documentaries as well as a music documentary (on the Rolling Stones). We had arranged to talk once we both got off of production deadlines. The day finally arrived, after 3 months of emails and clearing away our schedules.
We finally met, on Skype. I had sent her this website and my own personal website so she could get up to speed on me and on Thomas. I watched clips of her work that she sent beforehand. Her clips told me I was definitely on the right track. I felt very excited about the possibility!
I had thought about trying her out, about gaging her as a collaborator by letting her cut the fundraising trailer, but I didn't know what she might charge for this. I know what I would charge if a stranger approached me to do this kind of work, and so I was ready to find and pay the $7,000+plus that I figured it would take to hire someone to do a 7-minute trailer.
Our introductions went quickly. And when I posed the possibility that she could cut the fundraising trailer, and before I could say, how much would you charge, she says , "I'll just do it." Imagine my head spinning, my eyes brightening and large with smile, and my heart jumping with joyful and excited "thank you God"s.
She explained that she, like other New York editors and filmmakers, take commercial jobs that pay them well, that pay their bills; then they can help other filmmakers who are doing "passion" projects and help them pro bono, or recoup payment later when distribution and sales deals come in. She and her partner Hugh, a cinematographer, have worked with several filmmakers this way -- A Tibetan filmmaker who is doing a film about Tibetan folk music that young Tibetans are in danger of losing. A Boston filmmaker whose brother was abused by a priest, who wanted to make a film that boldly told the family's story way before anyone would speak up in the then-surfacing Catholic Church scandal.
Then she offered to start right away, before her next commercial job -- shooting and editing a cooking TV show -- begins in November. So I am off to New York soon. She has already begun reviewing my interviews shot in New York in May. See my blog http://www.thomaschapinfilm.com/2/post/2012/06/yes-ive-been-interviewing-who.html
So do you believe in Miracles? As a filmmaker, I have received many. We are not usually flush with money, but if we are good, that is good at what we do, and good to others in mercy and helpfulness, miracles come big and small that allow us to make our films. It's part of the collateral we operate with to do our Good work. It's nothing to take for granted, but there is Goodness and God and Great Work. That, we as artists, blessed with gifts and talents as storytellers, must trust will happen for us as we follow our dreams, passions and hearts. Without money, you can do little except by the Grace of God and the Goodwill of Good people like Laura Corwin.
Why the change in my momentum? That's what MIRACLES do!! They propel you, they move the mountain that seemed insurmountable, they are a gift, and a blessing indeed! They are an answer to prayers, that I trust, moved the Hand of God.
I have my plane ticket, and will leave on Oct. 20 to join editor Laura Corwin who is going to cut my fundraising trailer for the film. Fundraising trailers are a necessity if one is to communicate an idea before there is a film to see. It's how we raise money for our films, it's the preview, it's the showcase to raise support and cash and grant funds.
Laura came referred to me by Thomas' business manager who said I should talk with her after I told him my sense of how to do this film project was to work with an editor as my collaborator, someone who could conceive and help me see the story before I went out with a camera crew and shot all the necessary parts, before I took my footage into the editing room. I've never done a film this way before, and I don't believe it's the traditional way; but for this film it really make sense, or so I was thinking.
My wish was an editor, who could cut a music documentary and make sense of a very colorful and complex story, who worked and lived in New York City, who would be excited about telling a New York story, whose mind and heart could dance with mine.
Laura seems the perfect answer. She's a New Yorker, has cut music videos for years, and has done weighty documentaries as well as a music documentary (on the Rolling Stones). We had arranged to talk once we both got off of production deadlines. The day finally arrived, after 3 months of emails and clearing away our schedules.
We finally met, on Skype. I had sent her this website and my own personal website so she could get up to speed on me and on Thomas. I watched clips of her work that she sent beforehand. Her clips told me I was definitely on the right track. I felt very excited about the possibility!
I had thought about trying her out, about gaging her as a collaborator by letting her cut the fundraising trailer, but I didn't know what she might charge for this. I know what I would charge if a stranger approached me to do this kind of work, and so I was ready to find and pay the $7,000+plus that I figured it would take to hire someone to do a 7-minute trailer.
Our introductions went quickly. And when I posed the possibility that she could cut the fundraising trailer, and before I could say, how much would you charge, she says , "I'll just do it." Imagine my head spinning, my eyes brightening and large with smile, and my heart jumping with joyful and excited "thank you God"s.
She explained that she, like other New York editors and filmmakers, take commercial jobs that pay them well, that pay their bills; then they can help other filmmakers who are doing "passion" projects and help them pro bono, or recoup payment later when distribution and sales deals come in. She and her partner Hugh, a cinematographer, have worked with several filmmakers this way -- A Tibetan filmmaker who is doing a film about Tibetan folk music that young Tibetans are in danger of losing. A Boston filmmaker whose brother was abused by a priest, who wanted to make a film that boldly told the family's story way before anyone would speak up in the then-surfacing Catholic Church scandal.
Then she offered to start right away, before her next commercial job -- shooting and editing a cooking TV show -- begins in November. So I am off to New York soon. She has already begun reviewing my interviews shot in New York in May. See my blog http://www.thomaschapinfilm.com/2/post/2012/06/yes-ive-been-interviewing-who.html
So do you believe in Miracles? As a filmmaker, I have received many. We are not usually flush with money, but if we are good, that is good at what we do, and good to others in mercy and helpfulness, miracles come big and small that allow us to make our films. It's part of the collateral we operate with to do our Good work. It's nothing to take for granted, but there is Goodness and God and Great Work. That, we as artists, blessed with gifts and talents as storytellers, must trust will happen for us as we follow our dreams, passions and hearts. Without money, you can do little except by the Grace of God and the Goodwill of Good people like Laura Corwin.