I’m working on a short film called When the Crow Calls with my writing partner Divija Mohan. The film is a 15-minute short based on Divija’s life and the loss of her father.
In case you haven’t checked out my producing page, here’s why I feel so drawn to this project: Many immigrant parents (including both of ours) believe they shouldn’t discuss mental health or difficult issues because they prioritize being strong and saving face. They fear being called crazy or unstable, and some reject the benefits of therapy based on an idea that it is a “western indulgence.” We want to show something relatable to immigrants and the children of immigrants while being true and honest to Divija’s personal experience of losing a parent, and to reduce stigma and discrimination in the community around mental health.
This week we’ve been really focused on locking down a director and finding corporate sponsorship funding. I think we’ve been able to do 1/2 of these so far, so not bad?
Divija and I spent the last couple of weeks interviewing various directors for this project. It’s been a lot of Google Hangouts and online introductions. For us, it was important to find a director who identifies as a South-Asian woman because we feel like that person would have the best perspective to be able to tell this story. I actually went to Mandy and created a director posting, and I cannot tell you how many white dudes applied! I’m not sure why they feel like they are the best fit to tell a story like this, but I am sad to say I’m not too surprised.
Fortunately, we ended up finding a great candidate from SAWIE, a South Asian group for women in entertainment, which Divija is a part of. She not only fits our criteria we were looking for, but is also a very experienced director who’s been through the festival circuit many times and has personally lost a parent and resonates greatly with our film. Nothing like a good old-fashioned Facebook post to move a project along (maybe I should stop protesting Facebook at some point and re-join…)! This director also introduced us to an amazing cinematographer as well, which we are hoping to get on board next! If we can secure both of them on the project, we’ll have a 5/5 women-led team: the exact type of project I’d love to produce and on our way to a ReFrame stamp for sure!
For funding, we are still chugging along. We’ve raised $2.5k so far which is the bare minimum we’ll need to produce this, and everyone will need to work for free (15 pages, 3-days of photography). I’d love to get to $5k in the budget so we could actually pay people – how novel – and have been emailing mental health organizations & therapy-driven companies for sponsorship. Mental health non-profits have been amazing to hear from for script feedback, screenings, and marketing ideas, but unfortunately have a lack of funding (especially during the pandemic) to support us. I followed up with the for-profit companies I reached out to today, so hopefully someone will be having a nice Friday and respond to us for a chat!
Up for next week:
- Follow-up with for-profit companies on funding (give them calls – eek!)
- Do a final “sell” for our director and cinematographer to get them on board with a signed deal memo
- Nail down calendar dates for principal photography
- Work through director notes for script development
- Start the casting process: post breakdowns next week and schedule auditions early the week following
- My Body to Love project: check in with editor and see how post-production is coming; get a date we can expect a rough cut
We really lucked out with this Facebook group to find this director for our project. How have you found great directors for your project in the past? I’d love to learn about more resources to connect!
Have you received corporate sponsorship for film funding before? If so, how did you do it / what was your experience?
