I create documentary projects for one simple reason: it’s my way to make sense out of a very confusing world. Well, that and I want to make the world a better place for my kids and for everyone. Even if it’s only something I can do in small ways, it always feels worth the effort.
After doing this conservation doc work for the last 10 years I have learned a lot. Sometimes I have to write for one simple reason: it’s my way to make sense out of how complex the narrative is. That allows me to narrow things down, to figure out what the narrative arc for the movie should be.
Today I am writing because of money. I normally make my projects for free. It’s very rare that I have any other funds to work with besides my own paltry sums. Which is absurd.
Scenario: zero budget filmmaker tries to make an impactful movie for free about a polluting industry that has tens of millions of dollars in their greenwashing budgets. And I do this while working for a living.
There are reasons for working for “free”
-it means no donated funds with creative strings attached
-total creative freedom
-I don’t waste my time begging for $$ to make the movie when I should or could be creating the movie
The number of excellent movies that are not made because they don’t get fully funded would really surprise people. But there is also a supposition in the filmmaker world that if you don’t have a budget and don’t have the fancy mics, crew, expensive cameras, and can’t pay top dollar for sound and color grading…then you have no business making a movie. I saw this trend early on, in 2015 and I steered away from it. I have proven that you can make an impactful movie as an all volunteer effort.
So I began this movie with that same intention. About two months ago, a crazy thing happened. Someone representing a Foundation offered me a fairly large sum of money to help me make this movie. It was a game changer. I needed a fiscal sponsor though. I found one. Soon, the check was on the way. Suddenly I could schedule interviews without worrying about gas money or grocery money. I could rest easy knowing I could pay my rent and afford to work on the movie nearly full time. It was, in a word “everything”. Knowing the money was coming allowed me to relax and focus entirely on the creative without worrying about going broke.
A few days ago, through no fault of their own, the fiscal sponsor had to pull out of the agreement. It was totally understandable. Even though I cannot go into the details, I can say that we are all still on the best of terms. It was just one of those situations that can happen now and then. What it meant for me though is that I had retooled my entire approach to the film. I had let those helping me for free know that I was going to be able to pay them. I had lined up a lot of interviews and was making travel plans further afield that would help me tell a bigger story, that I never would have considered before without this financial offer.
Anyway…I am just sitting here realizing how it all hit me today. Feeling pretty stuck. Worried about how I will now afford the travel I have booked. And wondering how to pivot and scale back on everything.
Now I have these competing realities.
- The Foundation’s offer is still on the table but it means taking the time try to find a new fiscal sponsor so that the check can be accepted and put to good use.
- Spending time to find that fiscal sponsor could net zero results…and then I would have blown precious time that I need to spend on research, interviews, creative output.
Now that the weather is turning and now that the movie needs to be done by September 1st…it’s 100% GO time. I don’t have the time to spend on a possible lost cause.
I guess what I am realizing is that I have my answer. It’s really the process of elimination. I can’t do everything. I can’t do the full time job of chasing funds and the full time job of creating a video series + podcast series + making a feature length movie by September 1.
I just have to go through the difficult process of retooling what I can and cannot do, now that I am back to an all volunteer effort.
Everything will still happen. It will just happen differently. These things happen.
I will say though, that if anyone reading this knows of a non profit that might want to be a fiscal sponsor for this Iowa centric project, then let them know about my project.
I don’t have the time or go go juice to follow leads sent to me at this point. But if a non profit takes notice and wants to help then I’d love to hear from some…or just one right one!
Onwards and upwards, for the prairie. Time to get back to work. I have an interview with someone I have been trying to get into the same room with since August of 2025 that I need to jet off to…and in the next 1. 5 weeks I have 8 more interviews lined up. And I have my day job lol.
I am so damn busy lol.
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