Falling Forward | Sick and Tired of Hurrying Up And Wait
I’m sitting here trying to think of yet another creative way to get the word out about my fundraising campaign after spending the past week submitting to 15+ grants.
And there are still more to go, because apparently fall is ✨ grant season ✨.
You’d think grants would get easier after you’ve done a few. And yes, technically they do. Except every grant has a different mission, different priorities, different questions, and a different word count in which they’d like you to explain your entire existence.
So you take essentially the same story and customize it 15 different ways.
If I eventually fade into oblivion in the film industry, please know that I have apparently developed a very promising second career as a professional grant writer.
Meanwhile, I’m doing my other favorite activity: Hurrying up and waiting.
I’m terrible at waiting, which is probably why I became a 1st AD. Give me 75 problems happening simultaneously? GREAT. Let’s solve them. Ask me to sit quietly and wait for information I cannot control?
Absolutely not.
Today, the thing I’m waiting for is a pretty big one: my video appointment that should determine the next phase of my cancer treatment.
My deep-down hope is that radiation did such an incredible job on the remaining 10% of Tumi that my doctor says, “You know what? Never mind about chemo.”
PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING AWESOME.
I am very tired of this process. But I’ll know the verdict in a few hours. In the meantime, life and filmmaking keeps moving.
I have a meeting with my mentee about her first short film, and every time we talk, she seems to discover another filmmaking lesson that I already knew was coming:
“Oh. This is harder than I thought.”
“Oh. This costs more than I thought.”
“Oh. Maybe I need to scale this down.”
WELCOME TO FILMMAKING! 😂
The funny thing is, this is also the part I love. After more than a decade of making films without enough money, time, people, equipment, or resources, creative problem-solving has become one of my greatest strengths.
Can’t afford it? Borrow it.
Can’t borrow it? Build it.
Can’t build it? Rewrite it.
Can’t rewrite it? Figure out some weird fourth option nobody has thought of yet.
Which brings me back to Tumi & Me.
I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has donated, shared the campaign, sent encouragement, or supported me directly.
Right now we’ve raised:
❤️ $720 through Indiegogo
❤️ $2,950 in direct donations
That puts us at $3,670, less than $500 away from $4K!
And there are less than THREE DAYS LEFT in the crowdfunding campaign.
So, all you stragglers who have been thinking, “Oh yeah, I should donate to Christine’s weird claymation brain tumor movie…”
THIS IS YOUR REMINDER. 😂
If we can get to a minimum of $5,000, I can greenlight the next phase and FINISH THIS THING.
And once we greenlight, here’s what happens:
🎬 BUILD THE STOP-MOTION STUDIO
We’re creating a home stop-motion setup for Kellie, our soon-to-be claymation expert. That means finding a used camera, figuring out lighting, getting our black backdrop and remaining materials, and investing in Dragonframe or comparable stop-motion software.
Side note: Does anyone have Dragonframe we can use? Asking for two filmmakers who enjoy not spending money when borrowing is an option.
🎪 BUILD THE CLIMAX
We need to create the production design for our big surreal Vaudeville/circus-inspired climax.
Our strategy is essentially:
What do we already own?
What can we borrow?
What can we recycle?
What can someone donate?
And, perhaps most importantly…
DOES ANYONE HAVE A RED EMBELLISHED THRONE?!
Because filmmaking.
And despite all my complaining about how tired I am, we’ve actually already accomplished a lot:
🎙️ Recorded all of Tumi the Tumor’s voice-over with EJ Friedman in my extremely prestigious professional recording facility—also known as my closet.
🎵 Received the first soundtrack sample from composer Nick Longoria and sent notes.
🎬 Started assembling the scenes we’ve already shot.
📱 Made approximately one million social media posts asking people to notice this crowdfunding campaign.
And yes, I am tired.
Tired of fundraising. Tired of applications. Tired of cancer appointments. Tired of waiting. Tired of asking people for things.
But underneath all of that, I’m also incredibly grateful. Because people have shown up.
People have donated. Shared. Volunteered. Offered equipment. Offered time. Sent messages. Encouraged me to keep going. And every single person helping us make this film is becoming part of its story.
It takes a village to make a film.
So please keep donating and sharing for these final TWO DAYS.
Let’s get to $5K and greenlight Tumi & Me.
And I’ll keep you all posted on today’s chemo verdict. Fingers crossed for the most boring medical update imaginable. ❤️