Last month we brought you an interview with filmmaker Maya Glick about her plan to film and star in a fan film centered on Ororo Munroe, a.k.a. Storm of the X-Men. Thanks to the generous contributions of fellow fans, Maya is ready to get the camera rolling on Rain! I caught up with her after her Kickstarter campaign ended fully funded.
1. First of all, congratulations on getting the funding for Rain! Did you do anything to celebrate?
Thank you! It was smack in the middle of Thanksgiving weekend so there was already a lot going on and I get a little shell-shocked by social gatherings and holiday events. I guess the first way I ‘celebrated’ was just by taking a couple days off work and hiding out so I could stabilize my brain after all the madness of fundraising and holidazing was over. The Kickstarter campaign was a LOT more stressful than I ever realized it could be…a LOT. And it was a pretty tight squeeze up until the very end there. I wept like a baby when it hit the goal number.
One thing I have done that’s sort of a celebration is a “pay it forward” thing I’ve got going. I am so humbled and amazed by all the support, especially because it’s the holidays and people are strapped as it is, so I felt like I should do something to honor everyone’s generosity. There were 207 backers altogether on the Kickstarter, so I’m going to try to do 207 acts of kindness over the next few weeks. I started with 14 lunch bags to hand out to the homeless folks I see around town, so that’s 14 down, 193 to go! I’ll probably make some cookies and take them to firefighters, more lunch bags, stuff like that. That’s my celebration. There’s no way I could have gotten to this point on my own, so celebrating myself would seem crazy selfish. Also I don’t know if it has really hit me yet that this is actually happening. It probably won’t hit me til I’m in costume on set. The director will say “Action!” and I’ll be like, “Wait…what? REALLY?!”
2. What is the first thing you’re going to focus on to make this film?
So far it has been a lot of stuff like reformatting the scrip, and meetings and phone calls. Nothing is really going to start happening ’til all the funds go through and apparently that takes a couple weeks, so there’s some downtime. But the script is done, and everybody I have in mind for the cast is on standby waiting for the green light. I am looking very forward to working out some fight scenes after class at the dojo. Choreographing fight scenes is like learning dance moves. It’s pretty easy to spot a badly rehearsed fight scene and I’ve got three of them in this little short, so I gotta get to work on those!
3. Last month during the fundraising campaign, you mentioned a film crew ready to help make Rain a reality. How did they react when they found out your goal was reached?
Well, as it turned out I didn’t actually raise as much as that particular crew was hoping I would. Ten grand is a lot of money, but not very much when you’re making a film…especially one with visual effects. I think what I wrote is a lot more ambitious than I realized. I talk to people and they’re into it, and then they see my script and they go, “Yeah, we’re gonna need more money for this.” So I had to start the hunt again, which has actually turned out to be a great thing. It has given me the opportunity to dig deeper into Austin’s film talent and find some folks who are even more psyched to be a part of the project. Basically, I am asking people who are way out of my league to be involved based mostly on the fact that it’s a unique project that will be fun as hell to work on and be a part of. But people still need to pay the bills and their crew. Some of the people I have reached out to get about ten grand a DAY for the stuff they shoot, and I’m asking them to do my whole project for that. So I have had to find people who dig it for the labor of love that it is and are willing to get on board for less than they normally might get, or at least help me figure out how to get the absolute most out of whatever budget I have. I’m pretty sure I have found the perfect director and production crew this time. Still in the process of meetings and more meetings and emails and phone calls and negotiations and whatnot.
4. I saw a mention of Honeychild Coleman as a musical contributor to Rain, so of course I had to go and check her out. She’s got a very nifty mix of sounds. Jazzy yet psychedelic. Old-timey yet modern. Epic yet contained. How do you foresee her sound combined with your film?
Actually, the bulk of the music is being done by a guy named Luqman Brown. He’ll be doing the actual score and composing the music. Honeychild will be lending vocals and probably some instrumentation to one of the tracks, so it isn’t necessarily her sound as you would find it elsewhere. I just absolutely love the sound of her voice: it’s dreamy and haunting but rich and soulful, and it’s going to layer beautifully over dark, heavy orchestration. She has done a lot of different styles, and my favorite of her many musical expressions is when she just rocks out. The music I made when I had a band and the music I love is heavy, dirty, kinda sex-driven rock music, so if anything, that will be the sound that influences the tone of the film. Luqman has an extensive background in many different styles as well, primarily rock, but he has recently been doing professional scoring for film and theater. Also, he knows me really well; they both do. Luq and Honeychild are like family to me, so they will know how to rock it the way I need it to be rocked. I was a musician before any of this film stuff ever popped up, so it is crucial to me that the music is exactly right, and they will get it right for sure.
5. Do you have anything you’d like to say to those who helped you get this movie funded? What about any detractors you may have had?
Of the 2100 people on Rain‘s FB page, there was literally only one person saying “This isn’t gonna happen”, and of course it was just some bored teenager with too much Internet time. Detractors are out there for sure; I’ve seen some interesting comments on other pages, namely people criticizing the little homemade teaser clip I made for the Kickstarter page. Some people didn’t seem to understand that I couldn’t make a better clip on my own which was why Kickstarter was happening in the first place. But a couple critics don’t matter a bit, not when so many, many people have your back. Originally this little project was just going to be a homemade little thing I did for myself, but when I saw how important just the idea of it was so many other people, I knew I had to make it bigger and badder and powerfully special. The only reason I can do that is because of all the support. I know it is impossible to please everyone, but I can promise that my entire heart is going into this little film and my heart is on fire right now. A lot of people gave a LOT of hard-earned cash, especially in those final hours. Some people gave so much at the last minute it actually made me a uncomfortable. I am fueled and inspired by everyone else’s energy and enthusiasm for this thing as well as my own. There aren’t words to express my gratitude for all the support, so the best I can do is make this as awesome as is superhumanly possible. And I will. I promise I will.
I think I speak for a lot of people when I say we have faith in you and your crew to deliver on that promise, Maya. We’re all looking forward to seeing Storm get the recognition and love that she deserves.
About Reporter Michelle Lawhorn:
Michelle, a.k.a. Stormraven, is what can only be described as an eclectic nerd. Her interests and expertise range from Doctor Who to Lord of the Rings, cosplay to comics, and Bollywood to opera to name just a few. When not raving about her “fandoms”, she can be found working on projects as an Associate Editor at Haven Publishing and adding to her ever-growing list of Things to Cosplay. She can currently be found searching for more material to feed her newfound obsession with Star Wars.
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