I wrote and directed my first feature film in 2004. Since then I’ve written, directed and/or produced 12 films, an average of 1.5 films per year. I intend to keep this pace up for the next 40 years, if not longer. What I hope will be different moving forward is that you - the consumers of my films - will instead become active collaborators.

How? Through voting on projects you deem worthy of reaching production, critiquing screenplays before they go into production, backing projects via crowdfunding, gaining behind-the-scenes access to the production process, hosting screenings in your communities...and ways yet-to-be-determined.

The Logic

In February 2012 I noticed that over 355,000 NetFlix subscribers had given one of my films, ARRANGED, an average rating of four out of five stars. This makes the film one of the most loved and watched independent films of 2007. 355,000 viewers – and that’s just a fraction of the millions who’ve enjoyed the film in cinemas, on TV, and via iTunes in the US and abroad.

My (minor) epiphany was simple, and it’s one that draws upon the many films now being financed through crowdfunding mechanisms. If I could get these 355,000 viewers – those who really love the film – to pre-order my next film for $15, I’d have a very workable indie film budget of over five million dollars. Do that over many films, over many years, and together we might build a large, engaged, dynamic and groundbreaking partnership between filmmaker and audience. That’s what I hope we can do together. 

The Problem

NetFlix won’t give me the contact info for all these supportive viewers. So it’s improbable we’ll reach the 355,000+ lovers of my prior films (at least in the short-term).

The Solution

We start on a smaller scale. ARRANGED was shot on a micro budget of $120,000. We delivered it to domestic and international distributors for a total of $140,000. It’s since sold to over forty countries and counting. So let’s start in this ballpark. Let’s set out to raise on the order of $75,000 for the first project, in several stages. And we’ll start with a film that has a strong built-in fan-base. More on that HERE.