Too Many Hats Can Weigh You Down

One of the toughest things about juggling tons of different roles while making an independent film is being able to mentally separate duties and responsibilities. If you're just staring into the closet, looking at all the hats you'll eventually have to wear, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. The strongest impulse is to curl up into a little ball and get nothing done.

As the writer of Nitecrawlers, there are certain benchmarks that I need to hit in order to keep pushing our timeline forward. Once the wheels get going, it's crucial to keep moving; if you stop to worry about the myriad unknowns that pop up during the production of a feature film, you risk the wheels all coming off the cart.

One of my greatest strengths as a producer is also one of my greatest weaknesses as a writer. I'm incredibly business-minded and process-oriented (I'm currently wrapping up my MBA). The screenwriting process of an independent film is, for me, unbearably complicated by the fears of future business and legal quandaries. It's all too easy to sit down, write a page, and then think, "Well, wait...how are we going to handle funding for this film? Aren't there SEC rules for soliciting investors? Don't we need Private Placement Memorandums?"...and on and on into tangential hell.

These and other mental roadblocks have been stalling the re-write process for the past month or two. If I'm constantly worrying, I can't devote the unadulterated attention to refining our (great) script and concept. That's why Mike and I decided to take the financial plunge and attend Suzanne Lyons' Indie Film Producing workshop out in LA in mid-March. For those not in the know, Suzanne is a successful indie film producer who has made several horror films under the SAG Ultra-Low contract (and received distribution through companies like LionsGate and Sony Screen Gems).

I'm hoping the workshop will accomplish several things. First, Suzanne's knowledge should help illuminate many of the process and "which should we do first?" questions that I have about our new film endeavor, freeing my mind to focus on refining and locking the script. Second, the cost (roughly $600, plus flight, hotel and car) will serve to help convince Mike and I that we're truly committed to this new project and venture.

- K