NO. Absolutely not.

But I thought about this question tonight and thought it was worthy of being a blog post. (You tell me?)

Tonight I was asked (in so many words) if I would do what others wanted of me in terms of filmmaking so that I could eventually make the films I want to make. To put it in film jargon, would I be okay without having final cut initially? (Final cut is the cut you see when you go see a finished film…)

It’s a very smart question. And I wanted to answer it honestly.

I know in my heart and mind, the answer is unequivocally NO, but why? I didn’t want to just spew out “No! I’m an artist and have my integrity!” That’s generic and meaningless. The question though, (which you would think I would be asked more but honestly, I’ve found most people don’t want to talk to someone going after a high-reaching dream, especially a woman in a male-dominated field, so I’m actually not asked about my career choice very often at all…) is important and made me think.

As an independent filmmaker, I’ve been fighting an upward battle for almost ten years now so I am no newbie to understanding how this industry works. I’ve worked on a wide span of things and got a taste of the industry after I graduated college and I soon learned that I didn’t want to play any games of who knows whom and what big trend is the next to follow. I just wanted to make the films I believed should be made.

A lot easier said than done.

If you’ve seen any of my short film collection, you’ll likely know I tell humanistic stories which I hope others can relate too and learn from and use as an instigator toward making them think about their own life.

That is WHY I do what I do.

If I were to make a film that didn’t allow me the final say, it wouldn’t be the humanistic story I wanted to tell and therefore, I don’t want to be a part of it.

For me, it’s as simple as that.

I don’t want to be famous. I want to tell visual cinematic stories.

And I really hope to reach my audience….

Tonight though, I was put to the test. I was asked point blank – would I make something if I didn’t have control over it?

I don’t know if this person knew how much I needed to be asked this question, but I did.

It felt like someone was paying attention to what I was doing and in a weird way, understood the choice we independent filmmakers have to make.

I’m up against the formidable challenge that is getting a feature film made but would I want to make this film if it wasn’t my vision?

NO.

(Get ready, Driving Your Mind the film is coming…)