Making a feature is no small task. Not that I never thought it was of course, but the last 2 months have really put into perspective what kind of project I've thrown myself into. I know God is in it though so that gives me comfort. He's opened so many doors lately that I can't even list them all. My biggest worry at the moment however is finding my two main actors. David & Steven Corwin are the father and son the story revolves around and the Lord has yet to bring me the right people to play the parts. The movie doesn't work without the right people in those roles so that has me a bit worried but God is sovereign, he'll bring the people in his time. That I'm learning to deal with :)
I've gotten in contact with some pretty great people lately in terms of the crew and cast though. Lots of emails for people interested in roles from out of state but its tough to keep track of everyone. I want to fill all the roles I can locally for complications sake. I really would love to fill all the roles at my own church but we have a smaller congregation and our choices are extremely limited. Even more limited is the ability to find someone who can be there everyday of the schedule to fill a crew position.
I do have some pretty exciting news though amongst all the craziness. Ben Mcleod who was the 2nd AC on
Facing The Giants, and 1st AC on
Fireproof has been in contact me the last few weeks about being the camera operator on Standing Firm. This floored me because his first message to me came only moments after I had prayed that I would find a crew member who loves the Lord that could work on this with me. Literally the mailbox dinged and I found a Facebook message from him. I had added him as a friend and added him to our Facebook group for the film. I'm glad he is interested and I'm very excited to have him work on this if he's able. Certain complications could prevent that but I'm praying that everything works out.
The website has also exploded quite a bit since launch. I have added lots of new features and things that hopefully people will use to spread the word and get folks interested. I have emailed every local pastor I can find to make them aware of what's happening locally with this film, as well as emailed some odd folks around the country and internet Christian websites so we'll see if I even get anything back from that.
Funding is also an issue right now. I met with a local small business developer last Tuesday to chat about possible fundraising options. I'm hoping we find the right person who will believe in the project and the cause and give a personal donation. The online donation button doesn't seem to be doing anything at all so I think thats our best option. Our current budget is $20,000 but that is strictly equipment so the budget is full. That 20k is personally funded not from investors or donations. We have some breathing room but still, we have to find more funding to finish the project if it is to be completed solely by us. Our actual plan at the moment is to get the film shot, edited, and done as far as we can and get it into the hands of someone who wants to invest in finishing it or picking it up. So we plan to send out press kits with a film in its current state to a few places after that point to see if anyone bites. Its worth a shot right? Regardless to get the film completed, on DVD shrink-wrapped and all, music score and all, my best guess is 35k+ so we need to raise some funds somehow. God is in control however and there are loads of things just kinda idle that God would open the gate for at any moment. My Producer Kevin Michael has 4 pieces of land he is trying to sell and he has yet to get a bite on those. So all of you out there in cyberspace, be praying that the Lord would bring forth someone to even buy one of them.
Other than all that stuff being on my mind, I'm trying to actually prepare the things I need to get the film shot. Breaking down the script, sorting things out, getting storyboards done, attempting to begin scheduling at least a draft of some kind. I'll probably change it completely but at least it will give me an idea of how things might go. I have NO IDEA what our shooting ratio will be or how fast we'll be able to move so its all best guess. Along with the 4 day schedule per week I have figured out that to fill my Media Director position at
NFBC (my church), I'll have to fit 40hrs in 3 days from Sun-Tues. So basically 2 months of my summer I'll be 7 days a week, 24hrs a day, running and gunning. I'm sure we'll find break days in the schedule somewhere b/c things will go wrong but there is no other way to get this done. I know God gave me this movie to make though so I'm doing it no matter what. BUT I WILL NEED PRAYER from all of you out there to give me the focus and strength to get it going and keep it going through the shooting schedule.
I think when you read this it sounds crazy what we are doing but I know this is what I'm supposed to do. I want to reach other for Jesus, plain and simple. I want to do it with films because I think thats what I've been called to do. Pray for our project that all that I posted (and stuff that I forgot to mention) pulls through and that God opens the doors to help this project move forward and into completion. Lots of things I don't know how to do, how to solve, where to start, etc.
God Bless,
Kyle Prohaska
Writer/Director/Exec. Producer
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