I don’t know about you, but I had a really good summer. So good that I allowed myself to go into complete denial about ever coming back to school. Several of my friends spent their summers hanging around Providence – working, doing research, taking summer classes – to which I say, how guys, how?? Part of the beauty of being on break from school is being on break from school. Not just the classes, but the campus!! And the people! And just, like, the general vibes!! Why would you choose to stay in a place where you have to put up with the constant reminder of another year looming in the horizon when you can escape and pretend like school never even existed. That’s what I did, and it was the best decision I could have made this summer, for mental health reasons.
That’s also why when a friend of mine asked me if I’d want to work on a film she’d be producing this year, I immediately said yes. This project would be happening during school, and as far as I was concerned, school was never coming, so this project would be happening approximately never. Who cares what I commit myself to? None of it’s real!
But guess what you guys. Guess where I am right now. Guess what’s in session as we speak. If you said school, congrats on your A+ sleuthing powers! Here is a trenchcoat and a fedora, go solve some murders.
Anyway. We got back to school (unfortunately), and I realized this film was a real thing that was really happening that I would really be involved with. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am super excited about this. I love making films, and I love the rest of the crew, and I especially love that I was asked to do this because that means someone out there appreciates my presence and my friendship and my work ethic and wants me around and believes I have something to offer, which is something I frequently get nervous about.
The only problem is that before we can officially get started on production, we have to make sure we have the money for production. And as we are all hella broke college kids, there’s only one way to do that – take it from other people.
In earlier times, what we’re doing would have probably been referred to as “street begging.” But since we have the internet now, we are fortunate enough to be able to use the term “crowdfunding.”
Like I said, I’m super pumped for this film, but in order for it to be a thing, we have to convince people to help us pay for it, and you guys. I am the worst at asking people for money. Because I know I hate giving people money. Even with this, a thing that I really care about and really want to see happening, I made an anonymous contribution, realized I should probably give more, and made another anonymous contribution. I’ll probably end up making more contributions in the coming weeks. Why couldn’t I have paid that total amount in the first place? Because I’m a super stingy motherfucker, that’s why! And I know that asking people for money when I personally am hesitant to contribute makes me a giant hypocrite, and I don’t want to be.
But I did it anyway. I asked the people for the money. The results? Most people ignored me and I was like “Fair enough, you do you.” Some contributed and I was grateful. Some contributed way too much and I was grateful but also like “WOAH, why?” and felt a little guilty, like I had conned them or something. But the cool thing is, my discomfort at putting myself out there did not cause the sky to collapse or the world to stop rotating on its axis, which is basically what I was expecting. Yay, anticlimactic endings!
Anyway. Now that you know how much I hate doing this…… let me tell you about this project I’m trying to raise money for.
Image via.
