A Little History Lesson...

It was back in 2023 when Sandra Isabel Correia and I met during the November Write Club. We encouraged each other with our project targets and in December we kept in touch, supporting each other in our ventures.

During that chilly December, the Universe whispered in my ear, that maybe Sandra could help me resurrect my Producer career and work on my feature film, Seeing Rachel. Towards the end of that month, I wrote to Sandra asking if she’d be open to a proposal from me.

She said yes!

And so...in early January, I asked her if she’d like to use her business expertise to help get the film moving toward production. A little to-and-fro occurred with the film’s Producer, Ben Richards about what capacity she would be representing us. He agreed that Sandra should inform those she approached, that she was the Executive Producer.

Ben had been with me in the early days when I dissolved my previous production company and he’d said to me some 7 years ago that he was going nowhere and that he was passionate about making this film.

We Had The Script. What We Needed Was A Strategy...

We knew we had ‘something’ with Seeing Rachel; it was different from the usual fare when it comes to representing human trafficking on the big screen. We had the script, but what we needed was a strategy.

I, at this point, saw myself as a writer-director (there’s that hyphenate thing again RB!), but I had little business knowledge and know-how. What I needed was someone who had that acumen, and here was Sandra, an award-winning businesswoman from Lisbon, Portugal. Well, when she came on board it became clear what we needed to do.

We have already written one Stage 32 Blog article together- The Writer as an Entrepreneur Part 1, which you can read HERE.

And the conclusion was that there were three potential ways to raise the finance for our film, sell it to a producer, find equity finance, or lastly, find sponsorship money.

Sandra and I then embarked on long conversations about how to locate this finance. I live in Bristol (UK) and Sandra is in Lisbon, Portugal. Fortunately, we are in the same time zone, so yes, no late-night or early-morning calls!

Around April time, we embarked on the development of the Seeing Rachel YouTube Channel, having decided that part of our finance strategy would be to adopt a UK and a US charity, working in the human rights field, with a particular interest in human trafficking. (This would mean holding a charity event in each country). We would interview their CEOs and this would then raise our credibility in this field. It is so important to do this, as charities may be wary about a filmmaker sensationalizing the subject matter.

The Things We Learnt From This...

Whilst the demographic for the focus of our film was female – aged 18-35 and male – aged 45+ (people who in the main, connect with this subject), the demographic was totally flipped. Most viewers to the channel were male...and I was the problem!

Lesson: Know your audience and present your film with that in mind.

From this revelation, we began to promote Sandra’s voice to the women who really care about human trafficking and developed a series of soundbites, aptly named Sandra’s Soundbites.

Because they are ‘Shorts’ we could release them as Reels on Instagram, where they had greater success than the YT Channel.

I knew the CEO of a charity that works with the survivors of sex trafficking. The charity is Unseen UK and the CEO is Andrew Wallis. I had supported them with a charity premiere.

Lesson: You never know when your previous connections will become vital to your future projects.

He agreed to be interviewed for our fledgling channel and you can see the interview HERE.

We also had clips edited from the interview, again with the view of releasing them on Instagram.

Sandra has connections with business people in Europe and the US, as well as members of the United Nations, so she is developing a strategy to bring them to the project, looking to interview them on the channel. This again, goes to developing our credibility with potential supporters and sponsors.

And Then The Penny Dropped...

All the while, Sandra concluded that we needed to stop waiting for other people to greenlight us. She told me that I needed to take control of my career. It’s something that RB has repeatedly spoken about and it really resonated with me, but how was I to do that?

It was then that I realized, that I needed to step up and become a writer-director-producer (extending the hyphenate); that I needed a clear brand for myself as someone who worked from a commitment to social responsibility.

I also had to form a business and so a few months ago I started to develop it. It’s called International Imaginists Ltd and I’ve been working with a designer-web developer and publicist. The latter comes from a long-term relationship with Colse Leung, which has become short-handed because he seems to be able to unpack some of my more abstract ideas into wonderful designs and concept soundbites.

He designed the website for my novel “0w1:believe” and is a brilliant testimony to his talents.

Lesson: It pays to find someone that you trust. Maintain your relationships with such people and discover the joy of working in shorthand with them. It’s a real bonus and makes your work less lonely and more exciting.

We will shortly release the new International Imaginists website (international-imaginists.com) and I’ll post something about it in one of the appropriate lounges.

The Story So Far...

So, where has all this activity got us? Well as Sandra keeps telling me, it’s small steps to success. The initial blog article led us to this point.

Lesson: On Stage32: Network. Network. Network.

We have learned that sponsorship is possible for Seeing Rachel and this was reinforced by a Stage 32 Webinar that I watched by Rick Davis of LOHAS, who works with social impact entertainment projects and accessing Donor Advised Funds. You can find this same webinar HERE.

At every step along the way, Sandra has been there to guide and encourage me, and for that I’m really thankful. Stage32 has, of course, played a role in bringing us together and also educating me, as I step back into the role of Producer. I cannot begin to tell you how blessed I feel to be a part of this community.

Footnote...

In the past year, I’ve attended the Tribeca-Lisbon Film Festival, where I met Robert De Niro and also the Focus.London Tradeshow, where I met our very own Sam Sokolow and held a number of meetings with various companies and commissions from Europe and beyond.

It was at Tribeca-Lisbon that I realized that for Seeing Rachel and beyond, I had to think about developing international co-productions and tap into the potential for tax incentives.

Some may state that we still haven’t taken Seeing Rachel into production, despite all this activity. Well yes, I’m under no illusion that everything that has occurred makes me a successful filmmaker!

But...it has changed me and imbued me with an entrepreneurial spirit.

Under Sandra’s mentoring I have seen quite a personal transformation from someone who was hiding as a ‘limited hyphenate’ and not wanting to extend the hyphen anymore. We are also working from scratch on these projects; both personal and professional. These things always take time; you have to have both patience and resilience.

All of my talents, since the dissolution of my previous production company, have been nurtured by Stage 32. I realize the reflex to lurk in this community – I used to do it - but if you want to break that habit, then you have to put yourself out there to get things made. Small steps to success, after all!

But there is more work to be done if I no longer want to remain an anonymous talent.

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