We made a movie. That makes it sound so easy. But from my point of view, it was. I was surrounded by professionals who knew what they were doing. I stayed out of their way, called “action” and “cut”, gave the occasional note to the cast or to Becky, and watched everyone else work extremely hard.

I needed to find four actors for the photo shoot. As it was for flashbacks, they had to look like younger versions of my lead actors. They had to be union. They had to be available on April 10th. Sound impossible? Read on…

When working on a creative project like this, I become so emotionally invested that it’s hard to be objective. Good news flies me to the stars. Bad news sinks me to the bottom of the ocean. To spare you from the boring details on how each of these events warmed or broke my heart, I’ve decided to make a list. Just the facts, nice and tidy.

A thought on passion. It is such an important part of diving into creative projects. Why else would you commit to something that will take up your time and your energy (and probably your money and sanity) with a low chance of any reward? We had three people who were passionate about making this film. Fantastic.

But while passion is important, it’s only part of what you need.

Filmmaking 101 is a series of articles following film newbie Sarah Gignac as she produces her first short film, Curtains.  Creating something — whether it be art, music, literature, a new company, a product that you want to sell on the interweb to make your million — happens in two distinct phases. In the first you, and your […]