While writing Huffington Post to support and bring shine to other filmmakers ( A Lady Must Live, Millie and The Young Lords) I was learning about crowd funding too. Last month I attended a workshop on at IFP Media Center in Brooklyn with John Trigonis and Kristen Konwitz from Indiegogo Film. Thanks to the talented actors at Intar Theatre where scenes from the screenplay were read weekly. Backstage gave me access to post casting notices.This month I launched a crowd funding campaign "Minister of Self Defense". "Minister of Self Defense" is a feature film project about Huey P. Newton of The Black Panther Party. As New York took to the streets in protest of the Eric Garner grand jury verdict ( I can't breathe!) I have been working on a three year journey to bring Huey's activism against police brutality in the 1960's to the big screen.This is the first step in a journey to make a feature film that can't be made without the people who want to see a timely slice of American History. The funds raised will go towards the production of a short film from four pages of the script in which Huey is confronted by Representative Mulford on the Black Panther patrols, 2nd Amendment rights, and the laws of open carry. This is a powerful scene from the feature length script (approximate 90 pages). The short film shoot will be a SAG indie production with the best actors, director and craftsmen in the film business to make a quality film. I think a grassroots ride or die activist like Newton would love an independently financed film.
