[Archive - Thriving Filmmaker]

Dear ambitious, passionate, and hard working filmmaker,

I see you. You're not alone.

You desperately hope to craft emotionally compelling and powerful films that make a meaningful impact in the world, but you feel drained by the creative process and also want to be able to pay your rent and go on a real vacation once in a while.

This course is designed to help you strategically lay the foundation for your financially thriving career, one where you craft stories you’re proud, earn a living from diversified income, and cultivate an audience you can take with you from project to project.

You’ll go from vaguely wishing...

“...I hope this works out…I’ll just put it out there...I’ll just (only) apply to Sundance and see what happens...”

To strategically crafting a viable plan…

“I’m super excited to make a film about [something you're passionate about]! But first, I’m going to test my idea before I spend (more!) years/time/energy on it {you’ll learn how in this course}. In the meantime, I’m going to strategically build an audience, during pre-production {you'll learn this, too}.”

By the end of this 4-week course, you will have:

• A rock solid vision of the film career that brings you the most joy, and is aligned with your artistic purpose (be it as a director, editor, impact producer, or other film professional)
• A clear outline of your career priorities, which will enable you to proactively craft a thriving body of work
• The skills to confidently manage your time and set boundaries, in order to avoid burnout and prioritize making time for the work (and people!) you love
• Insight into how successful documentary filmmakers pay themselves, set up their operations, fund their films, and build careers over decades
• Templates, tools, resources, and insights for making money with *both* new models of funding and distributions (like crowdfunding, niche-distribution, and direct audience) and traditional models that are still very relevant today (like grant funding, the festival route, and licensing)
• The starting point for your funding & distribution strategy (with templates and worksheets to guide you)
• The tools and resources to freelance for freedom, not for free
• The skills to negotiate confidently and pitch effectively
• The framework for setting up an automated stress-free personal budget
• and a ton more--templates, email scripts, tools. You'll have lifetime access to the course and recordings so you can always refer back to the lessons, templates, and tools whenever you need them, throughout your creative career.
• All for less than a weekend lens rental! #win!

But, to be clear, your success won’t happen overnight. However, if you’re willing to take 10-15 minutes per day, Monday-Friday, to do a simple daily “easy thriving task” then you’ll make a ton of progress 4 weeks from now.

Also, this course is NOT about the nuts and bolts of making a film and the craft of storytelling. It's not a film making class. It's an encouraging and easy film business class. If you’re ready and hungry to work on your career rather than in your career, then this is for you.

If it doesn’t live up to your expectations, I’ll gladly give you 100% of your money back. Simple as that.

Here’s to your thriving career!
Ani Mercedes
Founder & Impact Producer, Looky Looky Pictures
"Gate Opener" & Educator, Thriving Filmmaker (In a industry full of gatekeepers, I aim to be a gate opener for you!)