Patrick asks if I’m gonna have a breakdown if I don’t get the grant. He wants to be prepared. I tell him I have a plan B…a plan C…even a plan Z. I have been working on alternative plans, but I’d still like to believe that I might just get the grant. It’s gonna be pretty embarrassing here and in the TC update if I don’t get it.
A few days ago I applied for Brit Docs funding. That again is just a long shot, but it’s like the lottery. If you don’t apply, you can’t win, so you might as well apply.
A few weeks ago, there was an article in the Guradian about patrons of the arts. I started to research them as well. I’m sure that every artist and their grandmother have tried to contact these people, but it got me to thinking about researching other patrons.
It seems like I spend more time researching funding, writing proposals for funding, begging for funding, etc. than I do making films. But, I guess that’s part of making films, so I might as well embrace it and be as creative as I can with it. Still, I wish I had a producer who was interested in this sort of thing. I am interested in it and have some good ideas about where to get funding, but it’s just all of the work to put those ideas into action. That’s what I’m having trouble balancing with the other aspects of filmmaking. It’s all about balancing on the tiniest of high wires. But, throw your heart over the bar, and your body will follow.
Yesterday I looked at the footage of Mark at the office during the first trip. I was trying to think about telling a story. I think this scene has a lot of exposition in it. And…well, I’m thinking that it’s a challenge with all the scenes. Here we set up Mark as a businessman…we set up his relationship with Nick and Todd, we set up that he is a “proselytizer of decadence.” We set up that he does a lot of admin work in his role as CEO. We set you that he struggles with the language. It’s all set up and no drama. Is that OK? I guess it’s OK if we get into the drama soon after. But where is the drama?
I think I should just focus on getting all of the sequences together. Bernard says “character-driven means that the action of the film emerges from the wants and needs of the character.” When Mark is in front of the camera, he wants to be the center of attention. He wants to tell the best and most interesting story.
