BRAINSTORMING SESSION 03.18.10

Documentary Filmmaking 101, FAQ:  How Do Films Get Made?

One word: Brainstorming.

Not brainstorming during the scripting sessions, nor in editing room, nor in the field when the camera suddenly stops functioning , but brainstorming like the session we had last night inside the Visionalist office, where six  very clever veterans, several of them from Disabled American Veterans (DAV), Chapter 19, gathered to come up with creative ideas to find support for Our Vietnam Generation at this, the most critical juncture in the funding process.

And from our perspective, it doesn’t hurt if your thinking cap (like Richard Smith’s) is actually a beret and happens to be green.

Along with Smith, Wayne Curto, Randy Whitmire, Robert Kakos, Ken Richardson, and our always-reliable reliable ally SSGT Jeff Rector convened for an evening of sushi, wine, tea and ideas—ways of reaching out to Michigan’s business and private infrastructure to garner their support for this remarkable documentary.

Our Vietnam Generation is already guaranteed some mind-blowing segments as we rough cut portions of our trip to Vietnam with Mark and Jennifer Spooner earlier this month, especially the sequences with the children of Hanoi’s Friendship Village.  Mark and Jennifer hand-delivered the drawings and well-wishes of the kids at Children’s Hospital of Michigan, and helped the Vietnamese children prepare their own book to bringback home.

As expected, this great group of guys began to fire off contact information, and as the synergy goes in such sessions, one idea led to another, and these old warriors would not be outdone by one another.  When one mentioned a high-ranking business leader, another would chime in with a higher-ranking official he knew.  This was the old military competitiveness coming to the surface, forty years after most of them served—and it was exactly what we were looking for.

When all was done, two things became clear: 

First, that documentary of this scope, spotlighting, celebrating—and above all, thanking Michigan’s Vietnam veterans for their service deserves to be made, and made on the magnificent scale that we are proposing.

And second, the film will be made.

The only thing left to determine, is which of Michigan’s illustrious businesses and personalities will choose to be a part of bringing it home.