Bailing Out

By Andy Carpenter

Do you ever feel like you’re stuck in an eddy just upstream from a waterfall, where you ain’t got any business testing the water? 

That is how marketing a movie feels to me; flailing around, trying to keep my feet downstream, doing my best not to panic or go under, all the while thinking to myself, “bail out, bail out!”

They say an honorable captain goes down with the ship, but when you are trying to make a movie, you do not even have a ship – all you start with is an idea. An idea for a film is buoyant, but shoving out into the waters to get it made is another thing altogether. Raising funds is like leaping into the boat with a floatation device anchored only to your own will.

And yet, when you have an idea for a film that you believe in your heart is transformative, you have to keep moving. In my opinion, there are way too many movies that do not move the dial of humanity, and I have no interest in adding to the run of the mill. 

Here in Columbus our collaborative of filmmakers is pushing boundaries on production value (making a movie that looks like it cost way more to make, then it actually did) in a setting where each production, whether one of our films or an out of town production, potentially snags an investor or in-kind donations that someone else might have hoped for. 

This is normal and absolutely reasonable, but Columbus has not figured out how to support productions that, while viable, have a high potential return, with money to invest up front.

Film Columbus has started to make headway here with the very generous and welcome filmmaker grants, and us filmmakers love them for it. But maybe we are at our limit?

It is in this environment where I launched a funding drive for a multi-award winning script, You Were Wrong About the Jellyfish with producer Paul Rowe. We worked with Columbus State University to host a one-off, one of a kind event with our highly talented cast of John Conway, star of my movie, West of the New Kansas, and star of Ten-Day Window directed by Paul Rowe in It Wants Nightmares; Cara Mitsuko, a Los Angeles based actress and producer, and Mila Rose, a future star, also of Ten-Day Window.

The cast completed scene table reads in front of Bo Bartlett’s stunning paintings, which I felt were in spirit with the scenes. A select group of attendees, both local and national, were treated to lovely performances by the actors, and to end the night, an original song written and performed by Mila Rose.

Our group had a fantastic night, having pulled off a unique event looking to raise funds for a project that mostly does not take place in Columbus, while pivotal scenes do take place in Columbus, instead plays out mostly along the Atlantic Coast. My aim is to reach beyond the realm of Columbus, not to get away from what we do not have, but to interact with the larger world and bring our films to another level.

We have achieved some significant milestones in collaboration with Paul Rowe, charting the waters of licensing, streaming, and sales. Our first push was waves of screenwriting awards, then award winning shorts, and now we will be streaming a feature.

I have scripts in development in Georgia and California, which means it is not just us that believe our work should be on the screen. Trey Walker has projects on his own and in collaboration with us, and us with him, as does Zack Collins, and Paul has scripts he is developing. We are all interested to see who will win film grants and make the next wave. These are all hopeful signs of roots growing in the soil.

I am honored to receive recognition at times, but I am not satisfied with where I am. Satisfaction seems like quitting. So, I push my boat into the water and cast a net, throw a rope, and paddle my ass off, like so many of us do. Life ahead looks very uncertain. Our realities appear to be on a wavering horizon of the unknown, dread, and upheaval, whether it be from artificial intelligence issues or climate change or whatever else we plan to screw up around the world.

I want to make a quiet testament to the power of human connection when that is the last thing we have going for us. If we lose that, this boat will sink. Filmmakers all over the world give you chances, a couple of hours at a time to right the boat. If you have an opportunity to toss out a tow line or a sail, it could make all the difference. Which is all I want to do; make a difference.