How to tap the greatest resource you have to raise money for your film…belief in yourself
By Carole Dean
Three years ago, we started a bi-monthly Film Funding Guidance Class for our fiscally sponsored filmmakers that evolved more ways than we expected. Together, as a group, we learned and now believe that we can use our minds to create our future.
I love this class; it is one of the most exciting events at From the Heart Productions. It is every other Saturday morning. We all feel part of this incredible energy that moves us forward.
We have read and covered many books on the power of your mind in this class. There is a wonderful understanding of how powerful we are and that together we just keep improving ourselves. I want you to join us by reading this information from our recent class.
Faith Funds Films
There was a great Jim Carrey movie back in 2003 called Bruce Almighty. This picture left me with images that I want to share with you. When people prayed or intended for their dreams or for emergency needs, the prayers were shown as yellow Post-Its stickers. Bruce Almighty was faced with thousands of Post-Its each day and he had to try and answer all these prayers.
Don’t you wonder why some prayers are answered and some don’t? It’s amazing the things that I get and amazing the things I don’t get.
We teach filmmakers that they should be intending receipt of the funds they need to make their films. Intentions are powerful and carry the same energy as prayers. Our belief is that your mind is your greatest asset in fund raising. You should have faith in yourself and know in your mind that with your talent and determination, you will get your film funded. Believing in that outcome and knowing you can make it happen, will make it happen.
They call you independent filmmakers because you need that independence to grab an idea and run with it. You should not be required to get an approval from anyone but your potential audience. You need faith in yourself to choose the right project and know you can do it. Faith is the bottom line.
Listening to That Little Voice in Your Head
There is a lot of information on “manifesting” and “The Law of Attraction” available. In our class we have read and studied Lynn McTaggart’s book The Field and two of Dean Raiden’s brilliant books, the Conscious Universe and Real Magic.
Currently we are reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (the over 100-year-old bestselling book that presaged The Secret and inspired Andrew Carnegie). Napoleon Hill says that “when faith and love are blended, they have a way of ‘coloring’ the vibration of thought in such a way that it instantly reaches the subconscious mind, where it is changed into its spiritual equivalent, the only form that induces a response from Infinite Intelligence.”
I love the use of the word coloring the vibration it’s just like the yellow post its in Bruce Almighty but they are now hot pink to alert him that this is very important.
The interesting thing is that all of the books we have read seem to point to several facts that we need to include in our lives to achieve our dreams.
The most important of which is that all of us were born with ESP. Dean Raiden stated, after 30 years of parapsychological research, “We all have natural abilities of ESP or intuition, just believe it and accept it.”
If we do accept that we have a sense of ESP, then that means, I believe, that we are listening to that little voice between our thoughts that is often right. This is when we know something and there is no valid reason for it. If we take Dean’s information and believe it, how can that hurt us?
It’s worth accepting that we do have the ability to make excellent decision when we “feel” into the issue and listen to our inner voice. This is a beginning step to a happier life. And it is a good beginning to get on the fast track to funding. If there are 10 grants to go after, which are the best ones for you?
Why not ESP it? Why not read up on each one and see what hits you as a definite yes. If yes, you must apply as this is perfect for you and your film. Find the ones that clearly match you and your film and that you “feel” are perfect and put 120% of your efforts into those few.
Just Pretend Your Film Already Exists
From studying The Field, we learned information from physicists that the quantum field is the recorder of all things past, present, and future. The quantum field is a vast sea of energy through which we are all connected through our conscious and unconscious thoughts. All our thoughts are recorded to that field.
So, how do we create our future using this knowledge and remembering Jim Carry as Bruce Almighty with thousands of these requests?
One way of creating our future is to focus on what we want intently and keep pretending that it already exists. That causes things in our life to change and opportunities come to us that lead to the future we want.
Pay Yourself First
You must not forget yourself because you as an Independent filmmaker are our greatest asset. Without you we would not know what is happening in the world. Too many important issues are not covered by the news. You are our journalists; you are our Tom Brokaw’s our Edward R Morrow’s.
Some of you are investigative reporters who dig into stories and show us the truth and let us make decisions. We need you and we know for you to survive; you need to make a living. We want you to have a successful career and be able to afford whatever you desire.
To achieve this, it starts with how you see your future and what you want in your future. It starts with how you visualize your new life and how easy it is in this new life to fund your film. Like visualizing how easy it will be to find the right team to support you. These things are truly up to each of us to imagine, to intend, to pray for, to visualize and create.
Make a Movie about Making your Movie
To have the future we want requires time to see the future. It means you need to be able to visualize it and feel it and know what it is like to live in the life you want.
So, how do you do this? You need the faith of Job. You must believe it to achieve it. Keep visualizing your future. Perhaps creating a film with you and your partner as stars in the film. You are using this mental movie to manifest your movie.
In the movie, you are pitching people who are nodding and then writing and handing you a large check. You are opening the mail and shouting with joy at the news of winning a grant. You are busy on Facebook talking to your giant audience about your film. You are connecting with your audience and your super fans who are funding your outreach.
Realize that you have the talent to do it so it is just a matter of creating a mental movie that you can see, experience, and feel the future you want. Include in your movie the emotions of joy, success, happiness, and freedom.
Use Your Emotions When Visualizing Your Success
If we use emotions with our intentions, then we get results faster. Perhaps our emotions can turn these yellow stickers into hot pink where they get immediate attention. Perhaps emotions can benefit us when we create our future. Emotions are strong feelings and putting those strong feelings with the emotions of faith, love and forgiveness can be very powerful.
Neville Goddard taught us that the subconscious believes what the conscious mind tells it. So, it is our job particularly when we go to bed at night is to play the mental movie you created to make your movie! Send this movie information to the subconscious via the conscious.
Then, through your faith in yourself and your confidence that you are living the life in your movie, the universe sends you the opportunities.
By pretending nightly that you are living your dream you can create your future. This is the secret on how to create what you want. And your faith in yourself and your dream all become part of your DNA.
Do Not Feel Helpless, You Are in Control
Napoleon Hill says, “there are millions of people who believe themselves doomed to poverty and failure, because of some strange force over which they believe they have no control. They are the creators of their own misfortunes because of this negative belief which is picked up by the subconscious mind and translated into its physical equivalent.”
So, you can become your greatest enemy when you say things that are opposite or detrimental do what you truly want. Reverend Ike always said, “money has ears!” He is 100% right.
Well, you might say, “Carole how do you handle things when you don’t have any money?” You put your faith and your belief ahead of reality. Know that you were destined to be a filmmaker. You have these extraordinary gifts and you intend to use them and since the majority of you intend to use them for the betterment of mankind, why would you not be able to do this?
Do you really believe the universe would put you on this earth with your many talents and then not support you? No, there definitely is an angel support team for you. You must have the faith to daily assure yourself how important you are to all of us. Your health and your wellbeing are of paramount importance to us. Your faith and belief in yourself become a magnet to you for people, finances, and opportunities. I think this quote is very important to remember.
“You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down”. Mary Pickford
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 hosts the weekly podcast, The Art of Film Funding, interviewing those involved in all aspects of indie film production. Her new class “How to Fund Your Film” is available on Vimeo on Demand. She is also the author of The Art of Film Funding, 2nd Edition: Alternative Financing Concepts. See IMDB for producing credits.
