The Main Ingredient In Producing Your Film:

PASSION

Yep. Forget funding. Unless you have the passion to get your project on its feet, you'll never get the funding. And should you fall short of your funding goals, passion is what will help you 'beg, borrow, or steal' to WILL your creation into being. You simply must be persistent. Face it, if you walk away from the project for six months and it still gnaws at your subconscious to be let out, you have to continue.

We've all seen the stories of filmmakers maxing out credit cards to get a film completed. I am not one to recommend that route to anyone. These days you at least have a fighting chance with those cheap camcorders I ranted about last month. I'm not taking back anything I said then. In fact, I'm confirming it: if there's no other way of getting the story on tape, by all means go ahead and do it yourself. This way, at the very least, you can show something around that may generate a sympathetic wallet to help you along. It may take years, but that's better than never happening at all.

Take my doc Wings Across the Sahara. This project started with a meeting at the National Air & Space Museum in January of 2001. With no money, a few favors, and a bunch of frequent flyer miles, I was able to cajole a good chunk of interviews out of two or so days of taping. Lucky for me since at least one major interview and two other characters that appear in the film have since passed away.

In the interim, funding has been impossible to obtain. A few folks have pitched in with minor donations - which is fine - but I could use a whole lot more to get this done. The delay might actually have helped the project since I now have a name narrator on board and two major players in the story have surfaced. My goal is to get these men on tape before it is too late.

Passion.

Unless you are a filmmaker, nobody will understand it. Surely, my wife doesn't (and don't call her 'Shirley'). She's heard it all before and is long past getting enthusiastic about any new developments on the film. Just don't spend the grocery money, dear.

My colleagues in the industry give me that knowing nod and a smile.

My friends shake their heads and ask how I can keep going.

It's the story. It's THEIR story. Someone needs to tell it. Providence has chosen me to do it. I can't fail them after all this time and effort. The money has been scarce, but in the long run passion has kept the project going. In the end, passion will get it done.

Maybe then will the ghosts of these fine men leave me...