The Home of Steven Barnes
Author, Teacher, Screenwriter


Friday, July 19, 2013

DANGER WORD is fully funded! Learn How!

You now know that at the last minute, we created a miracle and our DANGER WORD film is fully funded.   Now that we’re certain this is 100% real, I’m prepared to “break down” what happened and share it with you.  This will take a few days, so please bear with me. 

Two most important things: the overview of the Hero’s Journey and

The “Secret Formula” from “The Science of Getting Rich” : Goals X Faith X Constant Action X Gratitude = Results.   I added one more piece: a commitment to “Mutual Benefit and Welfare.”
I think that this covers what happened.  Note that “Faith” can be faith in a higher power, your companions, OR simple faith in your own potential.   We need not go to a supernatural or metaphysical level, not at all.    Nor do you need to depend on luck.   Or outside agency.

On Friday July 12th our production team: Tananarive Due, Zainab Ali, Luchina Fisher and I had a critical telephone conversation.    While fund-raising for pre-production (planning and organization) and production (filming itself: equipment, actors, crew, location expenses, travel, etc.) had gone very well indeed using a combination of Facebook and Paypal, when we shifted to Indiegogo we got LARGER average donations, but less overall.   Attributing this to “donor fatigue” we realized that, with three weeks left to go on the campaign and less than 2000.00 raised out of a total of 12,500.00 budgeted for post production (sound, color correction, editing, pick-up shots, titles, general polish) there was a real potential problem.

My position was that the most important thing I could do is take the long view.   And that required the Hero’s Journey, which details not only the general path but specific steps.

1) We had a specific goal

2) Had accepted the presence of fear and uncertainty

3) Had committed to act

4) Had broken down the tasks into individual components and begun performing them on schedule.

5) Had defined the skills and resources necessary to accomplish this, and gathered together the allies necessary to “fill in the gaps” in our individual skills and interests.  For instance, I’m sure I COULD direct, but have little experience or interest in doing so.  Better by far to find someone with the experience and enthusiasm for that critical aspect of our project.  Luchina fit that bill beautifully.

6) We had charged forward, until we met an apparently unmovable obstacle.   The fund-raising seemed to be THE THING.

7) We were dealing with the greatest moment of fear and doubt—what the @#$$ were we going to do?   THIS IS WHERE WE WERE.  “The Dark Night of the Soul.”

8) I knew that the way across this gap is “The Leap of Faith.”

9) I knew that if we took it, and had taken all the other steps properly, we optimized our chance to Confront the challenge and succeed.

10) And the last step would be “the student becomes the teacher”—in other words, I am committed to sharing everything that we learn along the way.   If I failed, I would fail PUBLICLY.   If I succeeded, I would succeed PUBLICLY.     The goal was to leave a trail of bread crumbs so that others could see what we did, how we did it, and share it all openly and honestly.  Therefore, I had a basis to believe that MY success was also a victory for the community.  And if my project was worthy, and positive, then I am trying to bring greater order, greater light into the world…and again, the idea is that when you commit to adding value to the world, the world will respond. That’s the theory.  Now it was time to put it into practice.
But…exactly how?  This phone call could be make or break for our project.   Good things “fall apart” all the time.
What to do?  How to do it?
Stay tuned!

Steve

I will be going into this whole process over the next week or so, but the  “Diamond Hour” radio show on which this entire process was first discussed, while I was still “gobsmacked” with the miracle of this is now part of our “Seven Dollars or FREE” program, and available at:
http://store.payloadz.com/go?id=1778527


3 comments:

Shady_Grady said...

Congratulations Steve. Glad to hear it.

motorcitymystic said...

The Science of Getting Rich is one if my favorite books. I particularly love the chapter on "Gratitude". I really like the formula you have here.
Allo

motorcitymystic said...
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