MOVIEMAKER.COM WINTER 2019 53the writers’ group got promoted and their
careers took a whole other path. They went
on to become directors of development and
executives within studios, leaving their craft
behind. That’s not to say one choice is better
than the other. It’s just not what I was meant
to be doing, and I was quickly pushed out of
the system as a result.
It was incredibly painful and scary to
feel left behind like that. But looking back
at it now, those years were fundamental to
building my foundation today. I needed to
work part-time in order to make time for my
own work. I needed to hustle like that to get
prepared for the scrappy way in which my
first two films got made. And I needed to get
fired to learn how to handle rejection.
My advice to people who want to become
moviemakers is this: In the early stages,
separate your money from your career. It’s
likely that no one is going to pay you to do
something you haven’t done before. You need
to build a body of work before you can get
there, and it’s going to take some time. Work-
ing within the industry can be a huge learn-
ing experience and is definitely valuable. But
at a certain point, if you want to be a director,
you have to let go of working for other people
and go direct. I thought that working for
directors and producers would help me get intouch with the right people who could get my
film made. But for me, as long as I was in that
position, I was always seen as the assistant to
so-and-so, not as a moviemaker.
Russo-Young says of her own early career
path: “I once almost took a job working for
a huge Hollywood legend director and then
didn’t take it because it was apparent that
I wouldn’t have time for my own movies on
the side. At that moment in my burgeoning
indie filmmaking career, it was a very tough
decision, but ultimately I put my own work
above everything else.”
So, the question becomes: How can
you make the most money in the shortest
amount of time, so that you can focus on
building your craft? My answer to that was
shooting weddings. It’s got a schlocky repu-
tation, but I have to say, the experience was
awesome. It allowed me to work part-time
and make more money than I was making in
my full-time assistant job. Once Airbnb came
around, that became my bread and butter.
I rented out my place for a full year and
lived out of a suitcase, moving from home
to home in exchange for pet-sitting or tak-
ing friends up on favors. It was during this
time that I created a web series with friends
called Be Here Nowish, acting, directing,
shooting, producing... practicing all the filmskills in two seasons of a show that ended
up getting a lot of traction and jumpstarted
my career.
To quote Suze Orman, “If we aren’t power-
ful with money, we aren’t powerful, period.”
Take care of your livelihood first, then go pur-
sue your dreams with confidence and agency.FINANCING
So, now you’re ready to make your movie.
You’ll need to raise money for it, or find
producers who will. This is a big conun-
drum, but it doesn’t have to be. There are
a million ways to get a film financed. Some
people might have been lucky enough to find
a company, studio, or producer to fund their
picture. That was not the case on my first
two features—I had to find other ways.
I’m going to leave you with this
cliffhanger. In the meantime, share your
thoughts on breaking into the film industry
in 2019 by reaching out to me on Twitter
@_natalialeite_ , or on my website,
natalialeite.com. Stick around: In the next
issue, we’ll continue this conversation as
I interview more moviemakers with new
perspectives on financing, how to get the
right people to see your feature, how to find
representation, what happens if your film is
a flop, and more. MMBARE BONES MOVIEMAKING: LEITE (R) DIRECTS STAR PAZ DE LA HUERTA (L) ON THE SET OF HER 2015 DEBUT INDIE FEATURE, BARETOP LEFT: COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES CLASSICS; TOP RIGHT: COURTESY OF NATALIA LEITE