A Wonderful Stroke of Luck

70 Backers. Over $6,000 raised. A huge responce on Facebook and Twitter. Nothing but positivity, well wishes, good vibes, support and belief in this project from start to finish. Unfortunately, financially, it wasn't enough, and we did not meet our goal. So, I'm sad to say, One Day in December will not be happening. But, as the Dali Lama said, "Remember that sometimes not getting what you want can be a wonderful stroke of luck."

And I'm seeing it as that, luck, and a chance to seize the opportunity, the time, the energy, momentum, the support system we've built and everything I've learned about these characters and this story, and go for the big one - 10 Days in December! Our feature film. 

10 Days in December - Starts Now!

The plan always was to go for the feature, and I had started writing it, but we decided, giving our schedule and time frame right now, that a short proof-of-concept would be more manageable, and aid us in the long run. But it wasn't to be. Now, we could try again in the new year. I've had the experience before, with Derelict, where coming up to Christmas people are just more careful with their money, and I relaunched in March and the campaign was successful the second time round. But I don't want to put anymore time and energy into a short, when the real goal is, and always has been, the feature film.

That's not to say the short would have been, or was, a waste of time. I learned a great deal about the story by doing this. I learned how to write it, which I was struggling with in the original draft. I also gathered a fantastic central cast, which I will now grow, there are many more characters in the feature that did not appear in this version. I'm looking forward to casting the Mother and the Brother, I already have some ideas of who I would like to cast. 

We've also built a community around the film, the 70 bakers, all the people on Facebook and Twitter who liked, shared and retweeted, there was a hugely positive reaction. Now with an army of supporters, we can move forward on solid ground, with an audience and community already growing around the film! And I can't wait for you guys to see this film, One Day was special, for sure, but 10 Days is 10 times more special! There's so much more the story, the characters and indeed Ireland. More musical moments too. And much more family and friends, which are such a large part of the story.

We're starting now, there isn't going to be a break. I'm not taking time off till the new year, because there simply isn't time. I want to shoot this film, and shoot it as soon as possible. Today is Day One on 10 Days in December, and I'm hoping everyone who has been with us so far will stick with us for the big one. It's going to be a much larger undertaking, it will require a bigger cast, crew, budget and more time. Which means, we'll all be coming back to Ireland for a month or more at some point in the not too distant future.

I may not crowdfund this time, I don't know yet, I'll need a lot more money than we asked for on the short, and it takes so much time and effort that I find it actually takes away from the time needed for the film itself. I had hoped to do more script work, storyboarding and pre-production on One Day than I got to do because I was so preoccupied with the Kickstarter campaign. I don't want that to happen again. So even if I do a campaign, it will be much further away from the shoot than this was.

Meantime, please stick with us for 10 Days in December. Things will be quiet for a while, but I'll ticking away in the background working on the script. I might do some work on I Am Ireland in the meantime, which hasn't gone away, just needs a new approach I think. But for now, the main project and goal in 10 Days in December, and I'll be working on that from here on out. I'm excited about it, this is the one we've been waiting for, it's going to be great!

So again, thank you to everyone who got behind One Day in December, for you financial support and for you moral support, it was extremely encouraging, especially having been away from making films for so long. I wondered if there was a point in going back, if anyone would care, but you've shown me you do and you care about this story. I can't wait to show it to you.