How Kickstarter Gave Us The Kick We Needed!
I can’t believe it’s been three years since we began our campaign to tell a story. Nobody tells you what a long haul it will be. To tell you the truth, if they did, I wouldn’t believe them.
It all started with my sister and I wanting to make a movie because hey, she was a filmmaker and we were both writers and actors. But it was more than that; we were tired of auditioning for other people’s stories we couldn’t get behind. So …
- Write a script you believe in. That seemed easy enough. We began telling a story about violence, violence carried down from generations.
We worked on the script to get it as good as possible. We liked it; it was arty, interesting with female leads and so much visual poetry. And then life happened…my sister who was pregnant at the time started having pain. Secret’s Of An Unborn Child now called (Somebody’s Mother)was a story was about a woman trying to have a baby, and she was full of fear, her sister on the other hand(my character), had a child and felt trapped by motherhood and abandons her son. All the fear and violence in them manifests from a violence engendered in them. - Take what life gives you. My sister ended up losing the baby. We were devastated. Art seemed superfluous. Did it make sense to make a film? Could art help? We went back to our script. She meditated and a voice said, it was important to share the journey of loss. We had a script sitting in a draw that we worked on for a year. Could we still tell that story? As a writer, I feel like stories write themselves, I’m just lucky to be in the room pushing the keys. So I stepped aside and let her lead. What does she need to say to get off the couch, out of doctors office and back in her life again?
- Rewrite your story. That seemed like the best thing to do. Now, this was a story that had to be told. That begged to be written. But instead of violence, it was about fear and loss. We worked on exploring the pain of loss, how uncomfortable we all are with around it. This helped her heal… A tiny bit.
- Giving birth to a film, not a child. It was time to say ok; this is the story life handed us. How do we make it relevant? How do you create characters that audiences don’t shy away from? We don’t. We couldn’t. Grief is not a pretty package, and nobody knows what the hell to do it. We went there, we had no other choice, this is where Gabriela lived, and chances are there were thousands of women left in the same room asking, “How do I get out of here?” Somehow, by witnessing each other, we can hope not to feel so alone?
- Get Backed. It was time to see if we could be backed! It turned out so many people cared. Not just because this was a real and sad story that really happened, but Gabriela Tollman was a beautiful filmmaker. The images were raw, startling. She went in sideways, in a female way, through the birth canal, through blood and guts.
- Kickstarter kicked our ass!We created a Kickstarter campaign that was honest. We had a wonderful composer and DP! I felt sure people would be backing something that would potentially feel was not indulgent crap. We put it out there, and nothing happened. This is everyone’s fear. Put out your biggest fear, dream, wish… And Nothing. I thought it would be easy. Just a wee-bit. It wasn’t. We had to beg, day after day and to every friend, relative and Jewish doctor.
- Begging. The begging did not cease. I cried some days. My poor husband felt bad and was the first big backer. My brother jumped in, but then suddenly strangers who thought teaser was beautiful jumped in.
8.Stay In The Ring. And after a grueling 30 days of begging, we had 223 backers and raised $32,228. Not just our Jewish gynecologist but some real life angels came out of the ether who thought this looked like a beautiful film. We were beside ourselves with joy. Getting your ass kicked pays off sometimes. There were days when Gabriela said to me “I can’t, I can’t it’s too personal, too raw, you do it. And I did, I said, “You take a break, I’ll drive so and so crazy today! But then, get back in the ring with me.”
What did I learn from Kickstarter? Sometimes when things are rough, you just have to keep reminding yourself why…why…why…Why the hell do I have to do this? Tell this story, make this happen? The answer was so clear. I couldn’t not.
9. Because YOU have to. This story had to be told. The pushing keeps on…just like giving birth. Here’s this gooey baby all cleaned up and ready to go into the world. The teeth are coming out, the diapers dirty, yet there’s so much beauty, the sweet milk smell, the babble with the gods. We gave birth to this, and we have to keep nurturing it and help make its way into the world.
10. LET GO AND PUSH. So here we are. Letting go, and pushing at the same time. Coming into the world is not easy, but it’s what we have to do. We have no choice, same as putting your art/yourself out there. You have to.
Somebody’s Mother had it’s World Premiere at Cinequest Film Festival March 2016. Thank you Cinequest for delivering us into the world so sweetly.
Indie Rights will distribute the film. Somebody’s Mother will play in Los Angeles at the Arena Theatre October 20–27 2017.
http://arenascreen.com/calendar/
https://www.facebook.com/SomebodysMotherfilm/
watch the trailer: https://goo.gl/K51z
