Imagine having the power to shape your own destiny as an indie filmmaker using just two simple words
by Carole Dean
Neville Goddard, a visionary author who penned fourteen influential books on the power of the mind, believed that our thoughts are the architects of our reality. His teachings, still relevant today, offer profound insights that can empower filmmakers to build the confidence needed to secure funding and bring your creative visions to life.
In our recent Film Funding Guidance Class for our fiscally sponsored filmmakers, we explored the transformative power of the words “I AM.”
These words hold the key to manifesting your desires. They are not just words but powerful affirmations that can elevate your consciousness and influence your filmmaking journey.
The Power of the “I Am” Factor in Creating Your Future
As “light beings,” a concept often found in ancient texts, we are vessels of consciousness. Goddard teaches that “all things, when they are admitted, are manifested by the light: for everything that is made manifest is light.” This light, this consciousness, is the essence of who we are, capable of manifesting our dreams across various levels of reality.
Neville writes that there is “no one that is not all that is; for consciousness though expressed in an infinite series of levels is not divisional. There is no real separation or gap in consciousness. I AM cannot be divided. I may be a rich man, a poor man, a beggar man or a thief, but the center of my being remains the same regardless of the concept I hold of myself. There is only one I AM manifesting, and I AM that I AM.
“We are each individually part of a greater whole. All of us are one yet we are self.
“I AM Is this self-definition of the absolute. The foundation on which everything rests, I AM is the 1st cause substance. I AM is a self-definition of the universal being.
“I AM is the feeling of permanent awareness. The very center of consciousness is the feeling of I AM.
“I may forget who I am, where I am or what I am. I AM is that which is ever the same. This great discovery of cause reveals that good or bad, man is the arbitrator of his own fate, and that it is his concept of himself that determines the world in which he lives. His concept of himself is his reactions to life.”
In other words, if you are unsure about your ability to raise the money for your film, the I AM factor, the power of the words, will allow you to capture anything. You can achieve the confidence that you need to acquire the money and produce the film.
Neville continues with, “I AM is that reality to which whatever happens, we must turn for an explanation of the phenomena of life. It is I AM’s concept of self that determines the form and location of its existence.”
You are creating yourself. You’re setting your limitations; you are the one responsible for creating your future.
Pretend Your Future Has Happened
What do you see for your future? This is what you are attracting. Do you see a future?
This is one of your many gifts, the ability to create the future you want. I know you want a lot of things. But the universe works on visions and belief systems. It’s your job to see yourself in the future and get into that consciousness.
Pretend it has happened and live like you would if your vision was real. How would you feel? What would you say and how would you think if you were at the filmmaking height of Scorsese or Spielberg?
When you think, I can’t do that, stop and ask yourself why can’t you do that? Where is the restriction? Whatever the restriction is you can overcome that. You might find it’s something you got from your childhood that no longer serves you.
You determine your future with your thoughts. Your thoughts are things, they are bundles of energy waiting to manifest. Watch your thoughts and do not limit yourself. Once you realize how powerful your mind is, then you realize that the magic power words to bring you into the state of consciousness to achieve your goals are the two words I AM.
In stating those words, you come to the center of your being, you are aware of your consciousness. In that state of realization, you can then form the future you want.
Raising Money for Your Film Requires No Doubts
Start with the simple statement: I am confident. With confidence you will move into a stronger, higher vibration and people will feel your confidence.
You will emit an energy that allays all fears. Your confidence will convince people you can achieve your goal. Your “being” lets them know you are honest and truthful. That you absolutely know you are successful.
Raising money requires that you have 100% confidence in yourself and your film. To raise money and to produce films, you can have no doubt about the success of your film.
The I AM principle is to take you to the center of your being, so you are in an all-knowing state of consciousness. You recognize that you are alive and your power to create. You realize that you came here with goals and strong intent to achieve in this lifetime.
When you realize the God-given talents you have, you realize that to reach this goal you need to take control of your life. Bring yourself into a state of knowing that you are a talented creator. You were given these gifts to use to nurture and support your fellow human beings.
I AM is that reality to which, whatever happens, we must turn for an explanation of the phenomena of life. It is the I AM concept of self that determines the form we wish to create.
Neville wrote “That which it will not affirm as true of itself cannot awaken in this world.”
In other words, if you can’t state what you want clearly you will not bring it into this world; you cannot awaken it.
Creating a Vision of the Future You Want
You must identify your desire, feel it, know it, in every cell in your body. Your desire is your future.
Express it in the I AM statement if you want it to appear in your life. You have this power; it is up to you.
Your concept of yourself such as, “I am strong, I am secure, I am loved” — determines the world in which you live. When you say “I am a woman, I am a father, I am an American,” you are not defining different I AM’s. You are defining different concepts or arrangements of the one I AM.
When you know that consciousness is the one and only reality this knowledge can strengthen itself to be something good, bad, or indifferent. You are in control. You are free from the tyranny of second causes; free from the belief that there are causes outside of your own mind that can affect your life.
THIS IS POWERFUL INFORMATION. YOU CAN CREATE YOUR FUTURE.
It is in the state of consciousness that you find the explanation of the phenomena of life. Meaning you recognize your control of yourself, THROUGH the words I AM. Your concept of yourself being what it is, everything in the world is possible when you take up the mantle and the recognition of your power through your creative power words I AM.
Remember that I AM is infinite. You are infinite. The I AM takes you to the consciousness that survives throughout all time. You may come into this life in a body, and you leave the body when you cross over. This consciousness is who you are, this is the I AM.
Making Your Confidence Part of Your DNA
You are the creator of your fate; you are the manifestor. You are the one that can bring joy, prosperity, enlightenment to people through your life’s work. Be who you truly are. Empower people through your consciousness through your ability to support and nurture your fellow man.
The most important aspect of fundraising is the pitch. You must have 1000% confidence in the fact that you can raise the money and can make the film. This is where the I AM can sincerely benefit you.
Say to yourself “I am confident I can raise my budget” and believe it. You might have to say this ten times a day for months to get that confidence into your DNA. But, if that’s what it takes, that’s what you want to do because you must carry that confidence in your body.
People of money recognize and feel your energy. If it has the slightest bit of disbelief, they will recognize this as insecurity and not invest or donate to your film. Think about this.
What can you create for your own personal needs with the words I AM that can take you to the level of confidence that you need to make and fund your film?
Neville teaches that if you are sick, you say I AM healthy. If you are poor, you say I AM wealthy.
Your job is to create what you want and to use your consciousness to achieve your goals. You want to realize your unlimited personal power.
Manifesting your Filmmaking Future
This begins when you have a clearly defined vision of what you want to achieve. You’ve been given the ability to turn your life around at any point.
Neville says, “The changes that take place in your life because of your changed concept of yourself always appear to be unenlightened to be the result, not of a change of your consciousness, but of chance, other cause, or circumstance. Do not believe this.
“Because the fate governing your life is the fate determined by your own concepts, your own assumptions; for an assumption, though false, if persisted in, will harden into fact.”
Many of us are working on assumptions that may be holding us back. Perhaps we created belief patterns around things that were our parent’s beliefs and assumptions. When you find yourself making a choice based on an assumption, check and see is that true for you in this day and time? Is that your feeling? Do you believe this?
To achieve your goal, you must remove limitations. These could be ones acquired early in life through difficult experiences or by taking on incorrect information. One great way to determine fact from fiction is to ask yourself, has this ever been done before? And if it has? How did they do it? If it’s been done before then you know it’s possible.
When you know what you aspire to have others have achieved, this alone should be a green light to you to recognize that it is possible. If he/she, did it then I can do it is what you want to believe. This knowledge should give you confidence. You need confidence to use the power words I AM. When you say these words, you are making a statement to the universe that this is who you are.
You want to use these words to create this reality.
I AM confident I can produce profitable films. I AM confident I can direct movies. I AM confident of my limitless future.
Using your consciousness and the I AM statements are the first part of your ability to move into your new consciousness. Now you must realize that the ideal, the goal you seek will not manifest or be realized by you until you have imagined that you are already living that goal. This is where daydreaming becomes an asset to you.
Turning Daydreams into Reality
When we were children, we daydreamed all the time. Did you ever see things on television you wanted? Did you pretend you had it, and you saw yourselves playing with it?
This daydreaming is part of our natural ability to manifest. Think back about your first bicycle and how you saw yourself riding it and then on a special occasion, you were given what you wanted. This has happened to you before, so you know this is real.
You saw something you wanted, you pretend you had it and you manifested it into your reality. You got what you wanted with your mind. Daydreaming is a major asset to creatives. It allows you to visualize and live in the future you want. Please give yourself daydreaming time each day.
I think we came in with this ability to manifest and somewhere in our lives we lost our magic. School can sometimes take confidence away from you.
Whatever happened in your life matters not for you can change it once you put your mind on the vision you want to achieve.
Neville says, “all transformation is based upon suggestion, and this can work only when you lay yourself completely open to an influence. You must abandon yourself to the ideal for complete abandonment of self to the goal is how to unite you to your new self.”
“To reach a higher level of being, you must assume a higher concept of yourself. If you cannot imagine yourself as other than what you are then you remain as you are.
If you believe that you are the person you want to be, that’s who you will become.
Perhaps that is an award-winning filmmaker or an award-winning director. Perhaps an award-winning first-time producer or an award-winning editor. All of these are available.
Recognizing that you are a conscious being and using your consciousness along with the power words I AM to shore up your confidence and then using daydreaming of you living your new life will insure you will achieve this new life.
Carole Dean is president and founder of From the Heart Productions; a 501(c)3 non-
profit that offers the Roy W. Dean Film Grants and fiscal sponsorship for independent filmmakers.
She is creator and instructor of Learn Producing: The Ultimate Course for Indie Film Production. Essential classes for indie filmmakers on how to produce their films.
She hosts the weekly podcast, The Art of Film Funding, interviewing those involved in all aspects of indie film production. She is also the author of The Art of Film Funding, 2nd Edition: Alternative Financing Concepts. See IMDB for producing credits
