Well what a mission that was. I just applied for the escalator grant. Man that took some paper work but actually it felt pretty good to do it all. It gave me a bit more insight as to what’s involved on a big scale. The grant is for $250k. This is $150k more than the make my movie grant but with this comes some restrictions and control as its through the film commission. They require all people to be paid and things go through the proper channels. Naturally I want all to be paid but with a low budget movie sometimes the only way to make it is to wheel and deal and ask favours. But hey. $250k is still heaps to me and with this I know I could do everything I need to and more. So just to prove it I put my budget in at $60k less than the full amount. Which gives them a lot of leeway to play with.
The hardest part of this was finding a producer to partner up with. Luckily I found one at the last minute. A very onto it dude called Graeme Cash who helped me with all the technical details with the promise that if we got in he would make the movie with me. We will see, but I am pretty confident. The people I spoke to at the nzfc said they all new of my movie and this sounded like the perfect place for me to apply. I know I have given them much more than the average person would and I do not like to leave anything unfinished. Fingers crossed now.