My Experience with One Grand Film · One Grand Filmmakers

My Experience with One Grand Film

I had ZERO film-making experience before I joined AJ Rome’s One Grand Film community.

Over an 8 month period of attending weekly Zoom meetings, watching and re-watching all of the OGF videos, asking hundreds of questions, fine tuning a story idea simple enough to film in the OGF format, gathering up a few cast and crew and basically just doing what I had learned I managed to shoot a feature-length film in 5 days. I am currently in post-production and learning that side of the creative process.

If I can do this then truly anyone can make a film with the right guidance and dedication.

I took my first Improv class in early 2021 which then lead me to doing extra and stand-in work for film and television and then acting classes. I was ready to start auditioning for speaking roles but I did not have a reel to submit. I had heard suggestions to “make my own work” to submit. But, I had no idea what that really meant or how to do that. Fast forward to summer of 2023. The film and television communities were deep in the SAG/AFTRA Writer’s Strike. So, my work had slowed down. Mid-July 2023 I happened to catch an Instagram post from my very first acting coach, Dean West. He was promoting One Grand Film and it piqued my interest. I reached out to Dean and he immediately got me set up on a Zoom to talk to him and AJ about OGF. Even though the concept of making my own film felt very foreign to me it also felt very right and Dean and AJ really made it seem possible.

I will admit - it was my severe ignorance as to what I was getting into that allowed me to sign up. If I really knew all of the work that lay ahead I may have rethought my decision! Haha. I actually thought - cool, this class is about 8 weeks so I will have a feature film all done by then. It’s actually embarrassing to type that but I am sharing because I want you to know how I absolutely had no clue what I was doing.

I just said yes.

I also trusted Dean so I assumed I could trust his best friend, AJ.

I’m so glad I trusted both of them.

The learning curve was so steep. But, if I kept my ego out of things and really asked all of the questions I needed to ask and used all of the resources available to me through OGF I started to see a path to making this film.

I spent many many weeks figuring out how to formulate my story idea/story circle to be something that I could shoot simply, cheaply and with a very small cast and crew.

AJ kept pushing me to just set a date and start filming. This scared me to death but I trusted him so I did. I was scheduled to shoot my film in 5 days at the end of Dec 2023 to early Jan 2024. However, about 2 weeks out from shooting I realized I was really not ready and that trying to shoot this film while all of my kids were home from school for the holidays while also trying to use my house as the set was completely unrealistic. Again, I had no idea what I was doing - lesson learned.

We were able to find new dates in March - 3 weekends - and kept the entire cast and crew together which was incredible. It showed the dedication of the folks who had said yes to the project.

We did our first day of filming on a Sunday. It started off rough with big sound issues. The equipment we had hoped to use wasn’t working correctly so we had to move to a different mic system. All of the footage we captured in the first half of the day would have to be reshot due to this sound issue. It was extremely stressful - especially since I was not only the writer, producer and director but also the lead actor!

Our next film dates would be the following Saturday and Sunday. The days in between this first week were spent not only on prepping for the days ahead but also on me trouble shooting the sound situation. It nearly did me in. It’s funny to think back to it now because I know so much more about sound but at the time I was clueless and not sure that I was doing the sound right at all. I had someone as my sound person but this was their first time on a film so they were also learning. I talked to several people that week about the sound and if I was doing it right and honestly had a complete meltdown. But, I pulled it together and was able to shoot the final 4 days with the wireless mic system we ended up going with.

I could go on an on about what the 5 days on set were like. But, I will just say this. I learned SO MUCH. I learned things I could have never learned without actually doing the thing. I had been on huge film sets doing background and stand in work. I had been around A-list actors and renowned directors, DP’s, etc. I had a vague idea of how a set worked. But, it’s the micro details of what it takes to make a film with only a tiny cast and crew that makes everyone have to step up and do multiple jobs. It’s an all hands on deck situation. And, everyone was learning by doing.

I will add that I had been very focused on two words that kept rattling around in my head just before I found OGF - “Creative Collaboration”. I did not fully understand what creative collaboration meant for me until I got into film making. Film is the most collaborative creative experience there is and I cannot wait to do it all over again with all that I have learned so far.

AJ is dedicated to helping you learn the art of film-making. As long as you are willing to listen, ask questions, try and fail and keep trying and just do the work it can be done.

Finally, through the One Grand Film community I have also met other creatives who have been so supportive and have taught me through their experiences. The community aspect of film-making is proving to be extremely important and AJ has created a place for people to come together to share their passion for storytelling through the medium of film and learn and grow and support one another.

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