Listen to this post:

Some folks have asked how the film is going. I share your enthusiasm! I don’t have much to show for progress at this point, though. So you might be wondering what we’re working on at this point.

A lot of pre-planning goes into a documentary film. Step one is that I am mapping out my goals for the film:

• What points do I want to make or emphasize?
• What types of stories do I want to share?
• What kinds of things do I want to avoid (like lots of talking heads!)?
• What themes will tie together the stories from all the different folks I interview?

Once we have those things down, I will get into artist-recruitment mode, making contact, sending letters, meeting people in person to talk about the film. We have to have folks sign a release to be filmed and make plans for when and where we can interview them.

I have my cinematographers and sound engineer at the ready! That’s one bit of pre-planning I did even before I started raising the money online to start this film. Having them on board early on has been wonderful because I know I can trust them with any artistic ideas I have. Even better, I know they will have many of their own to add because they’re very experienced folks.