Guest Post by Siobhan Devine
Making an independent film takes a village, and that’s pretty much the only part that everyone likes to talk about; that two days or three weeks of crazy madness and bliss where you’re actually shooting the movie. But what about the very beginning of the process, when you’re alone, trying to write, raise money, and persuade people to do things, and give you things for free? Or at the very end of a shoot, when the cast and crew all move on to other shows and it’s just you doing post-production, business and legal, marketing, publicity, and of course the dreaded festival entries?
As filmmakers we often feel like we have to do it all: write, produce, and direct. That model might work for some people who have few responsibilities and no life, but what about the rest of us? Women have unique challenges and barriers facing us as we try and make movies, even beyond the innate sexism in the business. As a mother of two I still have to feed my children and take care of them. So the question became: how was I ever going to make a feature film by myself?
After years of struggling I found the answer — it’s called a filmmaking partner.
Roslyn Muir and I met in 2011 in line waiting to pitch our respective short films at a competition called Crazy8s. We had both arrived early, so after we’d registered, we went for coffee and learned that we had a lot in common. We are both mothers, and we were both trying to make that elusive first feature film. Roslyn is a writer and I am a director so we decided that if neither of us was successful in the competition, we would make a short film anyway together.
Having made that pact, we were committed to each other, and so when we didn’t win we simply had to make a film. We decided to make a short film called “OMG.” We raised over $3,500 and begged, borrowed, and possibly even stole to make it. “OMG” did really well; it opened the Palm Springs ShortFest and went on to screen at dozens of festivals around the world.
Through this process, Roslyn and I found we had some complementary skills and actually kind of liked each other. The main things we did for one another were that we spurred each other on to do our work, helped to meet deadlines, brainstormed to solve problems, and shared the work load according to which of us needed to parent the most at any given time. We also realized that we were able to talk about the film all the time without either of us getting bored.
Four years later we are on the festival circuit with our feature film “The Birdwatcher.” The film is the story of a terminally ill single mother who goes on a quest to find her birth mother in crazy hope that she can leave her children with her. We premiered the film to a sold out house at the Whistler Film Festival and we are now thrilled to be bringing the film to Los Angeles for its U.S. premiere at Dances With Films.
“The Birdwatcher” was born out of this amazingly successful partnership Roslyn and I built through making our short film. She wrote the film, I directed it, we both produced it. Including myself and Roslyn, all of the producers of the “The Birdwatcher” are women, as are the editor, composer, casting agent, production designer, and three of the five members of the ensemble cast.
The main point I want to make here is that Roslyn and I made this film together from the beginning to the end. Every step of the way I had someone to talk to, bounce ideas off, and help me do some of those things I am really bad at — including the dreaded festival applications.
“The Birdwatcher” screens on Thursday, June 9 at 9:30pm at the Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased here.
Siobhan Devine is an award winning film and television director who lives in Vancouver, Canada. You can find information about her first feature “The Birdwatcher” on Twitter and Facebook.
