One of many strangest issues I’ve seen over time is how filmmakers speak about beginning. They converse as if momentum arrives at some point by itself — as if confidence, readability, or permission quietly faucets them on the shoulder and says, now.
It doesn’t. Momentum shouldn’t be a sense.
It’s a choice.
When Raindance started within the early ’90s, none of us felt prepared. We didn’t have the language, the frameworks, or the protection nets that exist now. What we had was urgency. For those who wished a profession, you needed to step ahead, visibly, and settle for that you simply may fail in public.
That hasn’t modified. What has modified is how simple it’s to delay.
At this time’s filmmakers have extraordinary instruments, international attain, and on the spot entry to schooling. And but many stay caught — not as a result of they lack expertise, however as a result of they maintain deferring dedication.
“I’m nonetheless creating.”
“I simply want a bit extra analysis.”
“I’ll correctly begin within the new 12 months.”
These aren’t lies.
They’re postponements.
And postponement has a price.
January Doesn’t Create Momentum — December Does
Yearly, January is framed as a starting.
In actuality, it’s a checkpoint.
The filmmakers who arrive in January already shifting made their choices earlier. They dedicated time, cash, and a spotlight whereas others have been nonetheless ready for certainty.
The remainder arrive hopeful, organised, and unchanged.
Hope shouldn’t be a technique.
Construction is.
Momentum isn’t created by ambition. It’s created by friction — by selecting one thing that requires you to indicate up, even when enthusiasm dips.
That’s why Boxing Day issues.
Why Boxing Day Sale Exists at Raindance
This isn’t about urgency for its personal sake.
It’s about interrupting delay.
Boxing Day sits in a uncommon psychological house. The 12 months is ending, however the subsequent one hasn’t began but. The noise is decrease. The choice is clearer. You’ll be able to see, very plainly, what you probably did — and didn’t — transfer ahead this 12 months.
Sure, there’s a suggestion:
However the low cost shouldn’t be the purpose.
The purpose is dedication.
If price is the one factor holding you again, filmmaking will at all times really feel simply out of attain. Each movie calls for funding — not simply cash, however vitality, time, and status.
The actual query shouldn’t be “Is that this price it?”
It’s “Am I ready to behave with out certainty?”
Membership as a Line You Cross
Raindance membership has by no means been about entry alone.
It’s about self-selection.
Individuals who be a part of aren’t essentially extra gifted. They’ve merely determined to cease orbiting the work and step inside it. That selection adjustments behaviour. It adjustments who you converse to, what you prioritise, and the way severely you’re taking your individual ambitions.
Membership doesn’t create seriousness.
It reveals it.
And that’s why members obtain the deepest reductions — not as a reward, however as reinforcement of a choice already made.
How Momentum Really Builds
Over three a long time, I’ve seen the identical sample repeat:
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Individuals resolve earlier than they really feel prepared
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They put one thing at stake
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They present up imperfectly
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They regulate, reasonably than retreat
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They maintain going
Confidence arrives later.
These ready to really feel “certain” hardly ever begin. These keen to maneuver whereas not sure practically at all times progress.
That is as true now because it was in 1993.
A Quiet Reality
For those who shut this and assume, “I’ll come again to it,” nothing unhealthy will occur instantly.
That’s why ready feels innocent.
However careers aren’t misplaced in moments. They fade in increments, one deferred determination at a time.
This Boxing Day Sale is solely a mirror.
An invite to decide on momentum whereas the trail remains to be seen.
If that is your second:
No stress.
No hype.
Only a determination.
See you on the set…

Picture Credit score: Bertie Watson
I based Raindance Movie Pageant in 1993 as a result of the British movie business was closed, well mannered, and congratulating itself whereas shutting new filmmakers out.
I co-founded the British Unbiased Movie Awards in 1998 as a result of British indie movie deserved greater than a shrug, a pat on the top, and a Tuesday night time screening.
Raindance didn’t begin as a model.It began as a insurrection — movie coaching with out gatekeepers, a pageant with out permission, and a neighborhood constructed by filmmakers who weren’t ready to be invited in.
Later, we took it international — Toronto, Vancouver, New York, LA, Berlin, Brussels — as a result of impartial movie doesn’t belong to 1 metropolis, one class, or one accent.
I’ve produced 700+ brief movies and 7 options, together with Lethal Virtues (2014) and ALICE, which received the SXSW Grand Jury Prize (2019) — not as a result of somebody “found” us, however as a result of the work earned its place.
I’ve written three books utilized by filmmakers worldwide as a result of too many programs taught compliance as a substitute of survival.
In 2009, I used to be awarded a PhD for companies to movie schooling — ironic, given that almost all of my profession has been about tearing down the foundations that schooling insisted you observe.
I don’t imagine in ready for permission.I imagine in making work, constructing methods, and forcing the business to catch up.
Specialties:Unbiased Movie (the actual form) · Producing · Writing · Movie Schooling · Festivals · Breaking Damaged Programs
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