Watch as I make a NonDē short film

This is what happens when you mix a movement, a rejection, and a terracotta pot.

The pot in question.

Let’s start with the terracotta pot…

I went to the garden centre of a big box hardware store recently. When I got up to the cash, one of the pots I wanted didn’t have a price tag on it.

I offered to go back and grab another, but the teenaged cashier looked at me with a conspiratorial smile:

“It’s fine.”

I wasn’t sure what she meant.

“You’re free to go”.

I stood there staring between her and the unscanned pot, unsure how to proceed. This interaction went against my 40 years’ of retail-shopping experience.

But she just kept on smiling.

I haven’t stopped thinking about this interaction since because it made me wonder: Could a behemoth system like capitalism be torn down by bold individuals, one terracotta pot at a time?

Now let’s add a movement…

If you’re a FilmStacker, you’re probably up to speed on

Ted Hope

’s non-dependent (NonDē) filmmaking movement, which is in response to the collapsing Hollywood and indie filmmaking systems. Many better-versed filmmakers have written about this movement, so I won’t attempt to write a living history of it here.

It seems to have started, at least on Substack, with Ted’s 2023 post:

How To Make Sure You Are Ready For The Coming Sh*tstorm

NonDē continues to develop in the FilmStack discourse, all the way up to Ted’s post last week in which he began writing and assembling a non-dependent manifesto.

What is NonDē for?

Putting NonDē’s theories into practice earlier this month,

Ellis J. Sutton

and

Taylor Lewis

started

The Label

, which is not just a newsletter, but a community with eyes on galvanizing the movement.

As they put it themselves in their post Welcome to THE LABEL:

“NonDē is not a genre, not a budget level, not a vibe. It’s a rallying cry. A recognition that a rising tide could lift all boats, but right now, there is no tide. Just disconnected creators floating in open water, trying to stay seen, funded, and fed.”

Just like the teenager at the big box store, these kinds of bold actions are evidence that the system will be toppled by visionaries working from the inside.

Simply being a filmmaker today means being part of a revolution.

I don’t know how you all feel, but I have live wires humming just below the surface when I think about the film landscape we could sow if we worked together to plant it.

One of the points of Ted’s NonDē manifesto (which is a work-in-progress, much like the movement itself) is:

“NonDē prioritizes process over product. Hollywood and corporate is product. NonDē is process. It is an ongoing discussion with all of your life and loves.”

It got me thinking about that tired old adage: The journey is the destination.

The fun part of making movies is, well, making movies. Sure, it’s great to see your project on the big or small screen, it’s fantastic to win awards and get well-earned back pattings. But the real reason why we’re all in this is because we love the making of movies.

Building a new system from the ground up means constantly evolving and learning as we go. There’s nothing to fuck up because there is no plan, just a set of principles to guide us. It’s happening right now. In this very post, even!

As

Jon Stahl

puts it in his inaugural episode of his podcast “What’s Wrong with Hollywood”:

“We’re gonna be learning in real-time. It’s all happening now and we’ll figure it out”.

NonDē for me is just that: learning in real-time. But it’s not just learning, it’s also sharing in-real time.

One aspect of the film industry that I have always hated is the gatekeeping and the refusal to share knowledge and lift each other up. It’s a me-first environment that just fundamentally does not jive with my personality. That’s exactly why I started this Substack back in January: To share everything I’ve learned so far and help out people who love making movies too.

I guess, like a lot of you wonderful FilmStackers, I’m already living what

Sam Widdoes

outlined in his post Creators Vs. Keepers:

“This is the Creator approach: sharing the process, building in public, inviting collaboration and connection throughout the journey.”

But even in my specialty area of TV movie writing, I’m not permitted to share everything because of the contracts I sign. At least in that area of my life, I’m not allowed to share all that I feel the urge to reveal.

Finally, add $38,960 rejected dollars

I just recently got rejected for a government grant for my directorial debut, a short film I wrote called SWATHE, which will star Andrea Pavlovic (IN A VIOLENT NATURE) and Ci Hang Ma (SCHOOL SPIRITS).

Since another element of NonDē is embracing innovation and encouraging experimentation, I realized how I’m going to contribute to this movement.

I will be sharing the entire process of making this short film in real-time.

(And yes, I had to triple check with my agent if I’m “allowed” to do this… I guess transforming into a girl handing out free pots takes a lot of unlearning too!).

Over the next… however long it takes… I’m going to be sharing my exact process, down to the last raw detail, of making a short and directing for film for the first time.

I’m talking fundraising, getting collaborators on board, finding new ways to save costs (and no, that does NOT include asking people to work for free: artists should ALWAYS be paid), making mistakes, learning to direct, shooting the movie, post-production, marketing the film and, my favourite: finding alternative ways to reach audiences in person, beyond film festivals.

You know why I can do all this? Because I have complete control over this project and its destiny. Isn’t that thrilling?

It aligns perfectly with another of the manifesto’s decrees:

Filmmakers are the ultimate owners of their work and the proceeds thereof, and as such, NonDē adheres to an Artist Bill Of Rights — particularly the right of artists to share in the results — be it profit or data or derivative rights — of their creative labor. NonDē encourages this to become the law of the land.

This is our future. We’re shaping it right now. And we can do whatever the hell we want.

Now, whatever your terracotta pot is in your filmmaking, get out there and hand it out!

Sooo… What’s next for my NonDē filmmaking adventure?

In my next post, I’ll be doing something everyone in this industry will advise you NOT to ever ever do: I’m publicly sharing the entire script of SWATHE, the short film I’m making, before I make it.

Stay tuned!