For every 9 rejections....

For every 9 rejections you get 1 positive result.. Sayings like this go around a lot in film school and in independent film because, guess what, you get rejected a lot. Their loss, right? Twenty-third one's a charm? Next time you'll get 'em!
None of them make it easier to swallow.

March 12, 2010

RE: The View From Bellas Luces

Dear Christa Boarini,

Thank you for your submission to IFP’s Documentary Independent Filmmaker Lab. We regret to inform you that your project, The View From Bellas Luces, has not been one selected.

Please be assured that all submitted projects were reviewed by the IFP Lab Screening Committee. This year we had more submissions than ever, and it was a very competitive application process, with numerous strong projects not selected. Final decisions were based on a range of criteria, including the project’s stage of completion at this time and the perceived ability for each project to benefit from the Lab.

Thank you again for your application and interest. We wish you the best of luck on your project and look forward to seeing your work in the future.

Sincerely,

Milton Tabbot, Sr. Director, Programming, IFP

Rose Vincelli, Program Manager, IFP

Just to add to my disappointment is the fact that Mr. Milton Tabbot has known about this documentary since the first time I ever publicly announced that I was taking my short film, A Return on their Sacrifice, and making it a feature that told the story of my mom's kidnapping and Maximon's involvement.
I have seen Mr. Tabbot in event after event after event during the last two years, I have emailed him about my doc, I have asked for advice. Sigh. This is third time I get turned down by an IFp program. Better luck next time, I guess....

I Work All Day So I Can Work All Day

Monday, Jan 18, New York, NY.
Today is a holiday- MLK day. That doesn't really make that much of a difference to me. Not that MLK day is not important, no that's not what I mean. I just mean that weekdays, weekends, holidays... they all are the same to me. I am unemployed at the moment and therefore have no consistent schedule, and yet I always seem to have things to do. Lots of things to do. Where would I even fit in a job if I had one?!

In any case, this Blog is way way overdue. I have been making this film for over two years now! How on earth I fit in film school in between producing and directing it I am not sure. And yet here I am, two years later- I have all my footage, I have explored and changed and mined my story until I found the essence of what I wanted to tell. I got a grant, I have a great crew, I have a website and I just started a blog. Now I spend my days applying to Tribeca All Access, Tribeca Gucci Doc Fund, Chicken & Egg, IFp filmmaker labs, IFp spotlight on Docs, Sundance Doc Fund, ITVS, etc etc etc etc e t c ee tt cc etc.

I pay each time I want to apply to one of these, all for the hopes of getting money because I dont have any and I can hardly afford to pay the application fees. I stay home and do all of this instead of work because I am stuck in a catch 22:
I either get a job and spend most of my time at work in order to get enough money to inch this film forward bit by bit, or I live off my thin savings and scrape the bottom of my bank accounts while I put all my efforts into getting money, so that I can then spend all my time working on my doc, like I already do, but actually move the doc forward, actually not starve, actually pay people. So I work on my doc all day so that I can eventually work on my doc all day. What a conundrum.