That is the, theoretical, cornerstone of most indie filmmakers’ foundation. You read a lot about doing something personal or honest, and that if you do that your movie has a shot at being something. But what I see in independent filmmakers is more a desire to tell a story, any story, honest or not. And for me it is that drive to create that brings out the honesty no matter how close the film’s subject matter hews to the creator’s own story.

And so for the filmmaker it quickly becomes about what can I actually do. Because what if your honest personal story that is burning inside you happens to manifest as a script about astronauts headed to Jupiter, and zero gravity plays a heavy roll in the conflicts inside the story? Do you budget the hell out of it and come up with a twenty-five million dollar figure and then take that to Kickstarter as a no name chick with few connections. No, you put that shit in a drawer and write something else.

Usually that something else is a quirky or heavy script. Where all you need to tell the story is a camera, you and maybe four of your friends, in your other friend’s apartment (cause it is the easiest to shoot in) telling some story about the pitfalls of youth or relationships. The kind of film that very well might resonate with an audience, but might also be easily categorized by the facts of how it was made rather than it’s content.

Simply put I don’t want to make that kind of flick. Luckily I have the opportunity to do more. Which leads to the next post.