A personal perspective from Lea-Ann W. Berst – Pioneers in Skirts® Producer & Writer
I am a bit surprised at the dreams I’ve been having when I sleep. They’ve been intense and seem to be a parallel representation of what I experience during the day.
Yeah, you don’t need to tell me — I need to chill.
Recently I dreamt I was attending college to learn about a subject that was foreign to me. I felt anxious about fitting in and passing the classes. In my dream, I didn’t have the money to afford college and found myself stressed out over scholarship application deadlines and the fear of being denied.
Sleepy me wakes into a world where part of my day has me swimming in a foreign filmmaking world. Even though Pioneers in Skirts is my second documentary film, I’m a business person who strives to improve upon my filmmaker skills.
But my most disturbing dream/real-life parallel is the fear of rejection. It is so very real. By day, I have gradually become numb from the grant rejection notices and non-replies from the people I’ve contacted.
By night, well…I suppose I’m not as numb as I thought.
We’ve done what we can to finish the film:
- applied for grants
- ran a Kickstarter campaign
- traded favors
- reached far outside our comfort zone and asked for individual contributions
- approached organizations about sponsoring the film.
All we can do is keep at it. We won’t give up.
We aren’t alone.
We’re competing with an abundance of filmmakers telling impact stories through the documentary medium. Their stories matter too. Movies are a great way to help change the world.
I certainly don’t envy documentary film grantors. It must be an impossible job of choosing who to award funds to.
We’re much more than passionate about the purpose of this film, we’re obsessed –
Ashley and I know that we have a solid story with strategies for women and men looking to see our culture and work environments change for the better.
We are absolutely obsessed about finishing Pioneers in Skirts so that it will be seen and make a positive impact. THIS I dream about. Day and night.
