With Jobbers I shot every other week, putting back a chunk of my paycheck every week to float the cost of the weekend productions. (It took me a year and a half to finish.) The Jersey Bootleg, I borrowed money for tapes from people as we went along. Meter, i borrowed $200 from my father to pay for the cab fare and was lucky that the movie didn't cost me much more. (In Meter's case, I had the second option of a good script.)
With Jeopardy we were going all the way and raising money to shoot it. Well five months in... I had an investor in my roommate/entrepreneur roommate from college. He had worked steadily and consistently through the years in the adult industry, (running camera and editing,) that by last year he had opened his own post house and was one of the most soughted out camera men slash directors in the business. He had always been sick of it, but who could leave when his company turned in nearly 2 million dollars last year?
That's where I came in. Ryan and I knew we were going to do pictures together. We just didn't know when. Well, with Ryan's business running itself the time was now. Ryan knew I could pull it off and he simply didn't have time to put something together himself. It's funny because he had always wanted me to come back out to LA, work for him and then together out there, make a picture. In fact when I turned down his offer the last time, (due to my wife being half way through college here,) he told me we would never work together again. Well... Here we are a year after the offer, virtually married until January or February where if we make this picture great end up business partners. The fate of our careers in Hollyweird rest on my shoulders and my knowledge of making movies....UGH.
It's funny because for years I have said the same thing, "If I just had a little money I could make a great film."
Well, after blowing a grand of my own money and then 600 of friend, Colin's contribution on Props and Equipment, reality kicked in. Ryan's first check for the escrow account of $1200.00 came. Then all of a sudden I felt the pressure of what was taking place in less than 6 weeks. There was no going back and the fate of this project has the most to gain BUT THE MOST TO LOSE.
It is a totally different ball game when you are trying to plan a film with somebody else's money involved. I'm still getting used to being told what I can and can't do and where I can and can't spend money. It's very daunting but at the same time it kind of really makes you have to think creatively and outside of the box in order to trouble shoot your mandatory needs as opposed to wants. So where you are limited and frustrated when you have no money to shoot a movie, trust me you are just as limited and frustrated when you do got money as well. The only difference is when somebody throws money on the table it makes it easier to actually make the picture but harder to stomach your limitations where as when you have no money you know your limitations up front and there is no having budget your vision or creativity because with no money there are no inhibitions. You got nothing to lose so you just go for it. With money, you are told to go for it... But go for it if the money holds out. You fuck up, you got the rest of your miserably small career to lose.
Here's my budget forecast. We're already over budget and haven't shot a frame yet.
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