by Keidra Chaney
A couple of months ago, TLF wrote about a fan-film project focused on Storm from the X-Men, Rain. We decided to catch up with Maya Glick, the creator/star of the film.
TLF: Can you give us an update on production? Have you started shooting yet?
Maya: There have been months and months and months of pre-production. So much goes on to prepare for something like this, I had no idea.I guess when people think about making a film, you pretty much just imagine rehearsing your lines a couple times and then filming. Sounds pretty simple.
Yeah… no. There’s location scouting, costuming, building the crew,collecting resources, script revisions and on and on… and in our case all of this has taken so much longer because we really don’t have the kind of money that we should to pull off the kind of production we have in mind. So we’ve had to be creative to figure out how to get things done at all on such a tight budget… which is what ultimately led us to this second Kickstarter campaign. The little bit of filming we have done so far has been test filming, and you can see a bit of it in the video on the Kickstarter page. Legit filming should take place in August.
At this point we’re waiting to see if the fundraiser is successful or not to know how much of it we actually CAN film. In the meantime, things are getting done. I recently heard some of the music that was made for us by my good friend in Harlem, New York, Luqman Brown. He’s amazing and the music he’s coming up with for the story is f**ing epic. Also, we just had our official auditions last weekend so we’ll finally have a full cast very soon. And some time this week I’m supposed to start rehearsing fight choreography. All the pieces are starting to come together, we just need to make sure we have the budget to pull it off.
TLF: Any challenges or changes in the script or the production since you started the project?
Maya: The script has definitely developed and evolved over the past several months, but the heart of the story remains the same. I’m lucky to be working with brilliant co-directors Zane Rutledge and Jeff Stolhand who also happen to be writing partners, and they have been working with me to help tighten up the story and tweak things here and there to improve pacing. I was terrified originally at the idea of someone else making changes to something I created, it’s very personal and scary… but Zane and Jeff are pros and the loved the story as it was, so their adjustments didn’t change anything, they only smoothed things out.
As far as challenges, again I have to point back to budget… or lack of it. Most of the people who have seen my script say it should be about a $50,000 production… and after the first Kickstarter we had about $8900. So we’re trying one more time to add to that pile so we don’t have to cut it down to nothing or lose any of the story. It’s going to be really awesome when it’s done, I’ve had glimpses of that already… but it turns out that awesome is expensive!
TLF: How can people see the film when it’s finished?
Maya: People who want digital downloads or DVD’s can get them by contributing to the fundraiser … otherwise it’s not the kind of thing that will be distributed. It will just be available to view for free on Vimeo or YouTube. So folks who think it’s worth it to pay for a film like this are welcome to help out now!
TLF: What scene or element of the film are you most excited to share with people who have been following/supporting the project for awhile?
Maya: Hard to say… it’s all so dear to my heart. [It] sounds corny but this story really is my baby. I love it dearly. The whole story and the passion behind it come directly out of my very raw heart, so I am just anxious out of my brain to get the whole thing out there and shared with the world. It will be a fun and cool thing, yeah, but I also think it will have a positive impact in one way or another, if only because it fills a giant empty space where a lot of people have never had the chance to see themselves represented.
I’m having the opportunity to share my voice in an arena where people like me don’t really get a voice. There are no other fierce women of color in badass superhero or action roles. But it’s much more than badass action. It’s not all “Yeah I kick ass and everything is awesome!”There is an intense amount of pain and darkness and struggle represented in the film as well.I think the whole thing is going to surprise people in a lot of great ways. I am already a fan of my own fan film… I cannot WAIT to share it, but even more I can’t f**ing wait to SEE it!