I reached out to Dan Parris, the Executive Producer and Director of the film Show Me Democracy. I learned that his film actually features the center the organization I work for: St. Louis Graduates High School to College Center.
I sent him a list of questions that I felt would be useful in my process of doing this film such as: As an independent filmmaker, how do you go about garnering support for your projects and how do you know how much to realistically budget for?
He responded promptly with helpful answers and I could tell he put time and thought into his responses and was authentically interested in my inquiry.
Ironically, Dan is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of a 501(c)3 called Continuity whose mission is to expand diversity in media production. Back in May, the org was calling for aspiring filmmakers to apply for their inaugural 10-month media training program. I approached the application with hesitancy then just said, ” what the hell. the most they can tell me is no.” I applied for this program before I began working for the High School to College Center and prior to me ever reaching out to Dan regarding suggestions for Kinloch. It feels promising and of course, I do not believe in coincidences. I made it past the first round of applicants. We will see final results come July.
Thank you again, Dan.