Building the Perfect Parachute
by Kris Holodak
Isn't being a writer great? We get to create characters and stories, and we can do anything we want because it all lives in a tidy little cinema in our minds. It's comfortable there; the story is perfect there. But no one else gets to enjoy it.
Cape Cod Ripe for Ghost Story About Walking Path of Change
I have a story, Enid's Wall, that is perfect in my mind. But that's not enough anymore. I want to share it. I need to share it. I need to make it.
It is scary, standing at the precipice ready to leap off with only a parachute I stitched together myself. But here is what I know: if I wait for someone else to invite me into the club, to buy my script, to make my film, then I will wait a long, long time. And if I do find a way to float to the top of the million other scripts in the pool, in the end the story would likely turn out not to be my film anymore.
So I set about finding the people who could help me stitch the best parachute - my mentors and peer groups at Stowe Story Labs; my two local writers' groups; and my colleagues at Marquette University, where I am a professor in digital media. I made my story as strong as it could be and I have jumped off the cliff.
I am making the film now. We are in development. We have built the budget, successfully applied to Stowe Story Labs for fiscal sponsorship, and are finishing a crowdfunding campaign at Seed&Spark on November 7. (You can see the trailer to the film and donate here.)
People ask me if the journey has been difficult. I say yes, but this story is worth it. It is about a woman late in life moving to a new place and figuring out how to belong there, or not. Walking a path of change is a journey I have navigated more times than I can count. I feel her story in my bones.
As a mentor said recently, I am building a rocket ship and flying to the moon. It is going to be an amazing adventure and everyone is welcome to come along for the ride.
Kristin Holodak
Writer/Director Kristin Holodak has been drawn to image making ever since she was a child and begged her dad to let her hold the family camera while on vacation, sneaking a picture after being explicitly told not to touch any of the buttons. Currently, she is a professor of digital media at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Prior to that, she spent fifteen years creating productions for clients such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, while at the same time, creating her own art in the form of short films. She has written and directed 8 films, and worked in various capacities on several others — winning jury prizes and audience awards at festivals around the country. She holds an MFA in film production. This will be her first feature film.
