Team Members' Other Work

Working Towards Sustainability: Why I Keep Crowdfunding & Making Short Films

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In high school, I sold candy to my classmates in order to raise enough money to buy a Canon GL2 and an iMac to make a movie. My school had just gone on a health kick and removed the vending machines, so I spotted an opportunity. I would come into school with a briefcase filled with candy I bought at Costco and attempt to empty it by the end of each day. My mom was a single parent who, at the time, worked three jobs. She wasn't in a financial position to just give me the things I wanted.

There was a boy in my class who also aspired to make movies. I remember having a conversation with him where he said that a Canon GL2 was “pretty cool” but he was going to ask his parents to buy him the XL2 (a step up from my desired model) along with a new Macbook. He generally paid little attention to me and my filmmaking efforts, but I secretly used him for motivation. I channeled what could have been seething jealousy into a point of pride - I was going to get there through my own determination and hard work. I kind of like to think of this experience as my first foray into the inequalities of the industry that my love for filmmaking requires me to be apart of, and how I learned to create opportunities for myself and fully embrace the effort to do so. It was also sort of a test run of what would eventually become my main method of funding content; crowdfunding. The students at my school were generally more well- off, and didn't necessarily understand why I needed to be selling candy in order to buy a camera and computer. Most were pulling for me, though, because they felt invested in my success. I won them over with my passion for what I wanted to create, and they participated in my endeavor. It took almost a year, but I did eventually get that camera and iMac.

Cut to 10 years later, here I am trying to do pretty much the same thing with every project I make. I have a lot of privilege that many of my peers don't and wouldn’t want to paint myself as the ultimate underdog. But I know that I am not the filmmaker the industry champions. I’m a woman. I’m a minority. I was the first in my family to graduate college. Before going to school for film and networking with other filmmakers, I had no access to or understanding of how the industry actually works. And even though I did have the privilege to study film, I didn't go to a top film school that granted me any connections to money or gatekeepers. But I never really wanted that. I don't love the industry that makes movies. I love making movies. I love storytelling and being able to reach people. I love mixing genres and breaking formulas. I love making people laugh. I love scaring people in a way that makes them think and evolve. I love portraying individuals who aren’t represented in the mainstream (like my multi-ethnic self who saw no one like me on a screen growing up). I don’t want to make superhero spectacles or Oscar bait regurgitations. I wouldn't have any interest in being a Sundance “success story,” even if I had the level of privilege that actually made that path realistic. What does interest me is telling unique stories that matter and making creative content that allows me to connect with people who crave it. So that’s how I approach my career. That’s the goal. In order to do this though, I have to be able to reach people with that content, and that's definitely a challenge. Taking this a step further, it’s not just about reaching people with each project but about being able to use that reach to make the next project and the next and the next. This is where social media has come in. Without social media, I’d have no career, at least not a sustainable one. It’s how I’ve mapped out a path for myself that allows me to knock down doors. Being able to jump into conversations and reach out into the world to pull people in, that’s where it’s at for me. However, it’s not just about gaining relationships with audiences, it’s about maintaining them.

People often ask me why I still make short films after having made a feature and a successful web series. I love features - I’m currently working on my second. I love series - I hope to create many. But I also love shorts (so much so, I created a monthly screening series devoted to them). A lot of people think of shorts as a means to get to making features. I think they’re totally different entities. Often, filmmakers make the mistake of trying to cram feature length stories into shorts; but truly effective shorts work best as just that - short. I have so many stories I want to tell and some simply make sense in short form. And though society and the industry may place more value on features, that doesn't mean that I'm not going to continue telling the stories I feel need to be told in the form that suits them best.

So yeah, I make a lot of shorts. I put out two or three a year, and always for free. Currently, the only thing I'm charging for of my work is my first feature film. I sometimes get questions about why I put out so much content just to give it away for free. It may seem counterproductive to sustainability. But I’m looking at the long game here. This is a marathon for me, not just a quest to get to some finish line. I’ll never be done telling stories or making films, so I need to look at each project as building a stronger foundation for the next. I've learned what works for me; the momentum that I've built with my audience is made of planting seeds for future bloom. In order for crowdfunding my projects to be sustainable and for me to keep coming back with more ambitious campaigns, I need to be able to build my crowd between those campaigns. I believe the work put into content creation is worth paying for and that viewers should view film watching as consuming a product with monetary value, but I also believe in being realistic about the way people view art, film in particular, and meeting people where they’re at to pull them forward. It's hard to ask people to fund a project before it exists and then to also pay to watch it after it does. So my method to satisfy my desire to make shorts and tell stories on a regular basis is to offer a lot and be strategic about when and how I make an ask.

Between crowdfunding campaigns I've been able to show my audience the progress I've made as an artist and make them feel part of that growth by producing content on my own dime. I've been able to do that by keeping costs extremely low for shorts through bartering skills with fellow filmmakers and generally trying to be super community-focused. That activity between crowdfunding campaigns has allowed me to come back every couple of years and get a film funded outside my own pocket through many of the same but also a lot of new followers and supporters. In my last campaign, I was able to build payment for my own work on the project into the campaign goal, which is where I think this becomes truly sustainable. But it’s all about the baby steps in a very uphill battle. Every time I release a short, I’m building my audience and engaging them enough to bring them along on my journey. Those people do eventually pay for my content, but in indirect ways. Yes in terms of contributing to my campaigns, but also in sharing my free content that leads traffic to my feature rental. It’s all a circle. That’s ultimately what I’m doing on a regular basis, maintaining and building a circle where everything is working in tandem to create sustainability for me as a filmmaker, not just for each project. It’s not happening overnight, but it’s happening.

In two days, I’ll be launching a crowdfunding campaign for the fourth time; for my second feature, “About a Donkey.” I’d be lying if I said I'm crowdfunding again only out of choice and not also out of necessity. I still don't have access to people with money that could become investors. I still come from and work in humble means. The people I care to tell stories with and about are still undervalued and underrepresented by the industry. Despite this, I honestly believe that even if I could get the funds in more “traditional” ways, I’d still choose this route - even if just for some of the budget. The inclusion of the audience in the filmmaking experience — the feeling that we’re all creating something from scratch and inviting the audience to be part of that creativity is something I truly love. It’s what makes all the hard work worth it. I hope you’ll join us on February 1st in bringing "About a Donkey" to life.

Artists in Action Forum Recap

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After the recent Presidential election, I (Christina) was feeling a need to take action and contextualize my role as an artist in the coming battle against the normalization of hate in our country. I decided the best thing I could do right now would be to use my reach as a leader in the NY film community to create a space where local artists could get together face to face and really brainstorm ways we can use our individual and collective voices to make a difference. I reached out to Nicole Solomon and Sean Mannion of 4MileCircus about this idea, and they really brought it to life - helping organize the event itself and lend their voices to getting the conversation started. Ultimately, we wanted to create an organized but open forum for any artists to share their ideas and offer opportunities to collaborate for the cause.

Overall, we discussed the importance of representation and creating space for marginalized individuals to tell their own stories. We touched on making public commitments to inclusivity and holding each other accountable. For instance, in terms of freelancing, we discussed the power of saying no and of asking questions, and having expectations out of collaborators. That discussion largely revolved around defining your own line -- setting a personal standard and being transparent about that. There was discussion of union organizing, like if Trump were to be on the Jimmy Fallon show again, if the camera crew refused to work, that episode wouldn't happen. That branched off into exploring how we can use our collective power in big and small ways. And we ended talking quite a bit about various outreach opportunities going on.

Below is a video recap of some of the conversation. It was two hours that we turned into 12 minutes. We want to offer a look into what was discussed but also highlight the importance of being in the room and actually showing up, so we won't be releasing the full video.

We'd like to thank everyone who was able to make it and participate in the discussion. We tried to include a snippet from everyone who spoke. Unfortunately, two people weren't caught on camera due to our camera cutting out. We apologize to them. One person who is a union member discussed the importance of who you hire in your crew and making hard commitments to have diverse team members who can rise in their department. Another person spoke about partnering with organizations on an educational level. An example that came up was IndieWorks alum, Foster Care Film project.

Shout-out to CongestedCat team members Kelsey & Ryan for shooting the video and taking notes, and collaborator Kimberly Drew Whiten for editing it. And thank you again to everyone who's taking part in this fight.

If anyone who couldn't make it would like to be added to the listserv for updates about future gatherings or relevant projects that attendees are working on, please send us a message.