How Not to Do It

Fascinating, wince-inducing article in The Guardian this morning - about how a first time producer spent several million on a piece of work that, after struggles including his lead actress' hair going on fire, and his lead actor refusing to die properly on screen, may (or may not) see the light of day next April. City trader Robert Fucilla wanted to be famous, so scraped the cash together to get a movie made - an endeavour that deserves to be applauded, no matter what the outcome - it's HARD to make a film; and we the family of 'The Insatiable Moon' have discovered, one of the hardest aspects is getting finance for a project that might seem unconventional. Now, to me, a person who read and has been in love with the novel for the past 12 years, the story of a homeless Maori with serious mental health difficulties who believes he is the second son of God and labours under the conviction that his Father has called him to impregnate a disillusioned housewife so that she can give birth to the future of the human race, well that is of course PERFECT material for a film. Not unconventional at all...

Alas, people who say they know how these things work aren't always so sure; and so our little film has had to struggle to surface in the same waters that disproportionately soak bigger films with bigger budgets. But, as we enter the fourth week of production, I'm glad to say that we're swimming upstream, and doing just fine. Last Friday's shooting schedule was tweaked due to some of the heaviest rain I've ever seen (note to self: make sure you get the right bus next time; you know, the one that doesn't leave you ten minutes walk from where you need to be, in the middle of a torrential downpour and without an umbrella); but in a swift and deft decision our director and crew moved to an indoor location and got some lovely work done. Today we're shooting in a house, and so there will be significantly fewer people on set than when we were shooting scenes of a public gathering last week. The sense of family and relaxed relationships mingles with a commitment to professionalism that deserves to be compared to far larger scale productions. Reading the article about Mr Fucilla's film, which appears to land in the middle ground between a labour of love and a folie de grandeur makes what's happening here in Ponsonby seem both more exciting and more challenging: it's HARD to make a film, and so we wish Mr Fucilla well, and hope some of the goodwill being expressed on the set of 'The Insatiable Moon' will somehow transfer to anyone struggling to get their movie made today, wherever in the world they may be.