During the Summer of 2018, we were in the midst of fine-tuning every moment of our film, Pioneers in Skirts. We were focused on every detail – all the way from someone’s title card to a shot that may be just a little too shaky. So, when Vince Gonzales, owner of VinPix Studios, called to offer his creative ideas for helping us raise our film-finishing & launch funds, we immediately said ‘yes!’
Vince had been following the progress of Pioneers in Skirts over the years, since our days of working at USC together, and had the idea of creating a t-shirt design and selling them to help us raise money. ALL of the profits would go to the film.
Sounds like a magical idea, right? And it was! No plot twist here!
It was, however, no easy task. We worked for a few months with Vince and his graphic artist fine-tuning the Pioneer for Change design. It was important to us that the design could stand on its own – that everyone could get the message without having to know the film. We wanted it to feel powerful, too.
After searching for a U.S. based printer/distributor, in late November 2018, we beta-tested a batch of t-shirts to make sure the quality was great.
We then promoted the launch of our online store! Our friends and family were the first to order shirts (thank you!) and sent photos of their ‘cheesin’ faces :).
AND THEN Vince came calling again – let’s do a photoshoot! Again, no plot twist here. Just genuine support. Not only did Vince donate the Pioneer for Change design to the film, he now wanted to help us promote the many different ways a person can feel like change-makers while wearing the shirts.
We said YES! and immediately knew our theme: the crew of Pioneers!
We made a call out to people who worked on set with us as we filmed Pioneers in Skirts and luckily they said ‘yes.’ You must understand…most people who work on set behind the camera…filmmakers choose behind the camera for a reason. So, thank you again to our crew!
And, now *drumroll please* here are some of the photos captured that day along with some behind-the-scenes (BTS) videos of how we made those photos a reality:
BTS video: cinematographer Liz Yarwood. Her husband, Scott, used their daughter as incentive for Liz to smile for the camera.
It worked!
Liz and Scott cheesed it up for us! Their daughter, Rose, was a natural. :)
BTS video: Justine Patrick PA’d (production assistant) on set during our Hollywood Roundtable shoot.
Here’s me filming in the background…then I got yelled at…
Justine is shown here keeping everyone on schedule with her clipboard and Pioneer cardholder for her phone.
BTS video: director Becca Louisell and composer Jordan Balagot with her sweet, sweet guitar.
Becca knows how to handle a camera on set, but wow – I think she just found her side job as a model! (smize ladies!)
Thank you to the crew that just keeps on giving!
I hope this entices you into checking out our shirts in our fundraising store!
And for Vince, THANK YOU! You are so appreciated.
We could never do this without people like him stepping forward.
