PRODUCTION NOTES

February 22, 2009

Just recently I was sitting in the car, thinking intensely about the film, wondering what would be the best way to approach people to enable them to feel comfortable and confident about donating to the film. I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to keep asking for donations over and over again. Right then I saw a guy wearing a HUGE sign advertising a sale at a new store. He was dancing and jumping up and down to get people’s attention, so that they would look at his sign. It reminded me of a childhood experience that inspires me in a big way.

Let me relate a childhood memory to you about how I developed a love of films and my first experience as being a producer, as it was. So we’ll begin with: Once a upon time…

…when my mom was having some quiet time to herself and was reading a book, I marched up to her and interrupted her pleasant solitude. My mom looked at me and saw that I was wearing an artist’s beret, and I had my hair in two ponytails with two butterfly clips, wearing a scarf with the ends tied into a bow underneath my upturned chin. I looked at my mom with a look of determination on my face. My mom couldn’t decide whether to smile or respond seriously in kind. I declared to her: “Mom, I’m going to be a director,” and then I marched over to the kitchen and made a big fat pitcher of lemonade. I always used a big tablespoon to scoop out some of the lemonade powder. Ahh..

Oh, those poor people who I forced to drink my lemonade. Oh my… What sweet people they were for putting up with that disgusting drink. Anyway, on my way to the front lawn, I stopped in my room to pick up a piggy bank. I went outside and set up a table and made a sign that read, “Lemonade 25 cents.” You would probably say: “Whoa, that’s expensive!” But hold onto your pants! Hear me out! People came and bought drinks, putting on fake smiles, then after a few hours, fewer and fewer people came to my table. So I had to think and think about how to find a strategy to get people to buy more lemonade. I had an idea. I put a sign on the stand saying: “ON BREAK,” and I went to the playground and told my friends about the lemonade stand. My little friends all marched over to their parents, who were chatting on the side of the playground and insisted that they to go to my booth and buy some lemonade. Some of the children cried, or even threw tantrums! The parents wondered why their kids were making such a big deal over that stupid, oversweetened, killer lemonade. The parents had to say yes to avoid embarassment. I went back home to my stand that was set up in front of my house. There were all the unhappy parents with their happy children waiting on the line. From the window, my mom was surprised to see so many parents in the line. She came outside and stopped one little girl and asked her, “How did Aidan get you to get your mom to buy you lemonade?” The kid said, “She said she would pay me 5 cents if my mom bought me a lemonade.” That’s when my mom knew that I would be a filmmaker.

Now I am grown, here writing to you as an adult who is a filmmaker, asking for donations to raise funds for my film, almost exactly the same way I did it when I was a child. Being a producer involves having patience, and also being pleasant, persistent, and strong. It’s very important that the producer be responsible, organized, and alert to notice problems and be a problem solver at all times. A producer has to understand that it can be difficult for people to understand the producer’s position, and that she has to be persist and even be pushy to keep the money flowing in. Producers are sometimes perceived as be annoying. But the main reason films succeed is because the producer was persistent and uncompromising.

Now you’ve learned about the producer’s role, I would like to stress that all the various types and amounts of support coming in will serve to help push through the “hard steel door” that is blocking access for many to the filmmaking world. Being able to show proof of my skills and my potential will be made possible, in part, with the help of a great group of supporters. This is my earnest goal, and I know it can be achieved. With your contributions and support, opportunities for me will be broadened and the stories that I tell on film will be told through a Deaf filmmaker’s eyes.

The power to create opportunities lies in your hands. May you also have the wisdom and the courage to contribute to this film now so that this powerful story can be filmed.