Part 2: MAKING THE MOVIE
I was fortunate to have support from angel investors for my first film. And yes, I know how incredibly lucky it was that this came together easily on the financial side, I’ve seen the fundraising process from many angles (crowd funding, studio films, independent financing with massive strings attached, impossible budgets from streamers). Wherever the money comes from, remember these people (or companies or family members) signed on to support YOU. And frankly, this is the theme of this entire section regarding the creative process. Work with the people who respect and enhance your vision.
BUILDING A TEAM
You start building a career with every relationship you form. My friend and neighbor in Los Angeles, Noah Harmon wrote the music for the film. We cut demo tracks and I shopped the film around, securing financing through my network. I am one of the lucky ones – my community stepped up to believe in me, granting me complete creative control, a kind of trust that doesn’t always happen. I also turned in my budget and application to the Oregon Film fund before shooting, so I knew how much was earmarked and how far my budget needed to stretch before we received the gift of funds from our state film office to help us bring the project home (hahah see what I did there!).
My amazing local Portland crew came together as though it was meant to be. We shot principal photography in 2021 at the height of pandemic protocol and just as the industry contemplated opening up again. The amazing connector people in Oregon, who I new from a previous documentary project about the Hood To Coast Relay came to introduce me to the insanely creative people of the local. Bruce Lawson legitimized MY presence as a first time director by introducing me as a project worth taking seriously, and each addition led me to the amazing crew position filled. Insanely gifted visual storyteller Kevin “Fletch” Fletcher came back to narrative film with NORA. Carrie Jordan, Savannah Gordon, and Michelle Stoyanoff stepped up to head departments and bring me more than I deserved.
YOU DO YOU
Later more than one of my crew members would say to me that they were excited to make something distinctly Oregon and distinctly unique. We created a new fantasy world with hearts wide open, and because we had creative control, each department could truly be a part of making the tiny amount of money I had for them and made the insane images and sounds you see in the film. There is NO WAY a film should be this good at this budget, but people stood behind the story and knew that I respected them as artists and let their ideas be as pivotal as mine to the story. The credits on NORA are a master class in the best of what Oregon has to offer behind the camera. And let me be clear, they deserved far more than I was able to pay them.
Although I brought up some onscreen talent from my two decades in LA, I was able to pull incredible actors from the local market too. I surrounded myself with the most talented people I could find, who also happened to be people I loved to be around for the insane hours we work in our field.
This comes back to my Part 1 post: why ME? Because all these people are choosing to stand behind you and believe in you. If you DON’T have a community that jumps to support you, are you actually ready to make a full feature? Cuz you cannot do this alone.
WHY OREGON
World Class facilities in our backyard? Actually: YES. As I’ve already mentioned, I can tell you from first hand experience, we have some VERY EXCITING professionals working right here in our backyard.
First of all, I MUST SAY, it is not lip service to say that Oregon Film finished this movie. Now, at the time our incentives were 15% for goods and services, and 20% for all payroll paid to local residents. Today, there is almost a competition globally to make these incentives competitive, and Oregon remains a player worth exploring: at the time of writing this being offered at 25% if you fall under the plan’s parameters. Though other places may offer higher percentages, they can take years to see the financials return. Oregon’s fund is set annually through Tax Credits: when you apply, the funds are earmarked, and once you’ve spent what you intended to spend and shown delivery and receipt, I was shocked by the speed of the Audit. (Thanks to Sascha Fix for amazing production account keeping!)
As I continue to shamelessly promote all that Oregon has to offer, we were also able to brilliantly finish the film here. I was thrilled to work with the talents of Eric Stolberg at Digital One on my sound mix, and Ryan Graves at Hibernation Post on my color and all the way through delivery. This meant that post could also count toward my budget and the incentive.
