When did you decide you wanted to be a filmmaker?
In high school I did a radio broadcasting class. They had integrated some video stuff into it so I started playing with the medium and learning how to use Final Cut Pro. Me and my friends would make silly music videos and news shows. I started studying English Literature but got bored by it and switched to screenwriting for my undergrad, and then I went to graduate school at Columbia and did directing. In undergrad I had written, acted in and produced a project that my friend directed. I wrote a short script of 10 pages and we made it for $200 – and it ended up going to the Sundance Film Festival.
How did you get the funding to make Electrick Children?
I was originally going to make Electrick Children as a micro–budget film. I started trying to raise $10,000 on Kickstarter and we were going to take out another $10,000 in loans. Then my producer found this amazing investor who gave us $5,000. At Columbia one of our acting professors had invited me and my producer to audition for a movie he was making. Neither of us got the role but my producer had kept in touch with his producer so [when we were working on Electrick Children] she wrote him a quick email saying, “Hi Richard do you want to donate to this?” And he did. It shows it’s worth being personable and asking people very directly for money – even if it’s $5.
I followed up, asking if he wanted to read the script. A few days later I get a phone call from an unknown number. It was someone saying, “You’re going to need lights and you’re going to need talent. I’m so excited about the script.” I was like: “Is this Richard?” He said to me, “I can give you the $20, 000 and you can make this into a micro-budget project or I can come on as a producer and we can make the whole thing”. He independently financed the whole project.
Read the full article on IdeasMag.
