I've been kind of MIA lately, burning the midnight oil to prep for my indiegogo campaign which I've soft-launched today. Doing crowd funding is such a great concept, but in practice it puts together all of my phobias --taking the stage, asking my friends and family for money, being open about my needs and dreams.  It's all very insomnia making. 

But I am so humbled and blown away by people's generosity. My friend Yuki, who was the first to donate. My friend Diana, who is starting up a business and doesn't have extra piles of cash exactly lying around, third to donate. And of course my friends Liz and Dan, who not only introduced me to my husband Doug, but have seen me in some of my lower points in life -- donated. I feel very undeserving, and also like I have a lot to live up to. It's true what they say, that the crowd funding creates a community, because I feel like I owe it to every person who donates to make every penny count. 

When looking for perks, I remembered Equal Exchange, a great organization that works with local farmers around the world to make organic, fair trade chocolate, coffee, tea, nuts, etc. It's really high quality product, and so I gave them a call thinking I might get a bit of a discount. They did me one better, and are donating chocolate for the campaign!

I mean, it actually tastes even better than it looks, if you can believe it. 

This is all part of what it means to be a documentary filmmaker these days. I thought it was about filming and editing, but so much of the stuff that happens around the outside of that --the fundraising, the relationships, the approaching of scary, famous people, the searching for a photo of yourself that you don't hate to post around the internet --that's just as important. 

I am thinking about doing a podcast about the journey of a first time filmmaker. I don't know, would that be interesting to you?