BIG NEWS! – In late July/early August I received some information that Meals on Wheels Association of America (MOWAA) has agreed to contribute a significant amount of money to allow us to continue telling this story. This couldn’t have come at a better time for us and to help tell the story since we were just standing still, letting grass grow under our feet , while trying to determine where we will go next and how we will negotiate our path.
Let me backtrack a little and tell you what was happening. In making a film like this you inevitably come to the crossroads in your story, a place along the journey where you are faced with some tough decisions. I say “inevitably” because anytime you embark on a journey of great discovery or with any soul-searching your path will lead you to a crossroad. Heck, you may even come to several crossroads where many paths converge forcing you to make a decisions that will change your life or force you to retrace your steps back to that crossroad and choose a different path. However, more times than not, the path you have chosen is the right path or the one you were meant to take and you follow that path until you come to another fork in the road and/or are facing more options.
As you can expect that happened with this film and us. We had shot in Los Angeles, San Francisco/Marin County, Booneville and Orlando. We could have ended our production here and tried to tell a story with what was already shot. But I didn’t think this was enough to tell the story of the seniors we had encountered or, more importantly, the themes we had experienced along the journey. So many other questions started to arise in my mind while making this film that I truly believed we had to find more information, travel to different locations and learn more about America and our seniors. That way, we can tell a thorough and detailed story. I just didn’t believe we would have been doing the best job we possibly could if we ended production then and there. Our dilemma was whether to try and move forward and get more information of just end the story then and there knowing it was not complete.
That’s where the additional money from MOWAA comes in to play. I cannot divulge how generous they were but I will say that it allows for travel to at least three other locations, hotel and airfare costs, hiring of videographers, and all the other costs that are associated with production. It also allows for me to fly an editor out to LA to work on the trailer of this film. As you can imagine this is HUGE and will allow this story to grow organically and not in a way that seems to have an abrupt ending or no real direction for a solution.
I am so thankful to MOWAA for this contribution. But, the best part of their contribution is this… During our talks, I stated that their contribution, while helpful and generous, will in NO WAY shape the overall direction, story or outcome of this film. And, they agreed! That is a classy move from a classy organization. They donated to this production because they believe in the film and what the overall impact this story can have on America.
THANK YOU MOWAA!