New year, who dis?

Well, kids, it’s hard to believe, but 2019 is already here. We got off to a terrific start with Parkway of Broken Dreams in 2018, but 2019 is the year where the real magic happens (like, a finished film, ideally).

One of our favorite resource websites for documentary filmmaking, Desktop Documentaries, sent out a friendly email newsletter yesterday suggesting “three simple steps” to help set a path for success in 2019. Even though the prompt was for personal goal-setting purposes, we figured it would be a great starting point for a blog post to share with all of you instead!

1. Reflect

So, with the previous year in the rear view, what did we accomplish in 2018?

• Registered name and concept for Parkway of Broken Dreams with the Writers Guild of America
• Launched website and social media accounts
• Shot 16 (!) sit-down interviews
• Edited and debuted official teaser trailer that’s had more than 5,000 views
• Ran a successful crowdfunding campaign that raised $13,000 and built a community of more than 500 followers
• Earned local media appearances online, in print, and on the radio

2. Take Inventory

What assets do we already have in place to make finishing and distributing this film a success?

• A solid outline based on the Las Vegas Weekly article that inspired this film and a timeline of the era covered in the documentary
• As mentioned above, a growing community of supporters, including 500+ followers on Seed&Spark, 260+ on Facebook, and 160 on Instagram – not only fans, but contributors and donors as well
• A mini-studio’s worth of gear, including our trusty HD Canon Vixia, our recently acquired 4K Panasonic GH4, LED lights, lavalier and shotgun mics, reflectors, and plenty of light stands
• A new digital editing workstation (thanks to our campaign backers)
• In addition to the hours of interview footage noted above, dozens of hours of archival footage donated by generous collaborators, as well as plenty of new footage of Maryland Parkway
• Money in the bank to pay for pending taxes, legal fees, and travel costs

3. Visioning

So, what’s our No. 1 goal for Parkway of Broken Dreams in 2019? Completing a feature-length edit to submit to film festivals.

What’s it going to take to achieve that goal? A whole lot of things. To get real specific:

• Finish transcribing all existing interviews. We’re about halfway done with this, so this should be finished by mid-January (when we have a few more interviews scheduled to shoot)
• Create a narrative map using the interview transcripts overlaid with the existing outline and timeline. This will bring us into February.
• Cut a rough edit of the film following that narrative map with existing interviews and B-roll footage. This is going to be the longest, hardest part, but hopefully the homework put into the transcripts (with time codes) and mapping will make editing go faster than it has been. That said, April is likely the earliest this will be finished.
• Do a gap analysis on the rough edit. What pieces of the story are missing? What footage do we still need to capture or gather?
• Source or shoot additional footage or interviews as needed. This could take a few weeks, or it could take a few months depending on availability and scheduling.
• Complete a second edit, layering in new footage, musical cues, titles, and transitions. Assuming acquiring any new assets doesn’t take several months, this will take us to July at the earliest.
• Screen the rough cut for a select audience to get feedback. This includes Seed&Spark backers who opted for early access.
• Make revisions based on feedback. Hopefully it’s not a lot of work and can be done by August.

That puts us almost into the fall for film festival submissions. It seems so far away, but it’ll be less than a year from when we launched the crowdfunding campaign to help pay for the film’s production, and we all know how fast a year can go by!

Now that we’ve looked back, assessed where we’re at, and made a plan to move forward, all that’s left to do is do the work. That’s the easy part, right?