“It’s always darkest before the dawn.”
– Spanish proverb

I thought making movies in Hollywood was hard. You sell a story, hire a writer, deliver a script and then, you wait. I loathe waiting. Patience is definitely not in my DNA.

It took over two years for my first TV movie to go from selling it to CBS to getting on the air. Lots of hurry up and wait until you get that green light. And that’s if you’re lucky enough to see your project through to production. Most projects never make it past the development phase.

When I made my own film – Beer Wars – there was no committee, just me, myself and I. It was way harder to do it on my own (no multi million dollar budget, 60 person crew and production trailer). But at least there was no delay because someone had to run an idea up the flagpole.

As an independent filmmaker, I was dependent on other people: their schedules, their issues. Since I didn’t have a big budget or the cachet (first time filmmaker) I often had to wait if I wanted to hire a particular cinematographer or editor. It was worth it in the end but it presented a different kind of hell.

With StashWall, it’s been a similar process. Since I can’t afford to hire a team of experts, I’m often at the mercy of my (freelancer) team’s schedule. Ideal? No. Fun? No. But necessary, absolutely. Because as with any creative project, the end result is what matters. Ultimately audiences, viewers, and users judge the product. First impressions count and in order to hook them, there has to be something special there. And to get to there, you need to deliver quality. And that can only be done by surrounding yourself with the right people. So I wait. Not so patiently to get to the next stage. When I have a full-time team working on my vision.