It has been about a week since I worked my last day of full-time employment at the warm comfortable confines of a major network affiliate. My decision to give up a steady paycheck and complacency to pursue the wonders and uncertainty of producing an independent documentary in Nepal was not an easy one. I am not naturally a spontaneous person; on the contrary, I am fond of having a plan. In fact, planning is what I am good at, so the idea of going to a third world nation on my own sort of takes me out of my comfort zone. But comfort can be overrated.
Personally, this is a big step, for the most part I have worked for commercial television stations or big corporations since I have graduated from film school, but it is time to try something outside the soul-crushing world of commercial television.
I’ll be working with the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization in Kathmandu to document the plight of children soldiers who were involved in the recent civil war between the Maoist and the Nepali Government. I will be in Nepal from the end of September to the beginning of December.
I have been able to put together a small crew, including a videographer, research director, director of fundraising, and a technical director who has put together the websites for the new production company that we created for the project (http://www.adventureproductionpictures.com/) and this project.
In the mean time, I am working as a freelance editor for editing children’s educational programming. The work can be a bit grueling, but the hours are flexible, it pays well, and it will help me fund the start-up costs associated with all the HD equipment needed for Nepal.
Besides freelance, I will be spending the next month organizing the shooting schedule, fund raising and writing grants to finance the post-production end of the documentary. So far, I have been in contact with a Nepali national, Rohit Karki, he is our associate producer/translator on the project. He and I are working on getting a grant from Nation Geographic to benefit underrepresented groups.
If you are interested in finding out more about the documentary you can go to (http://nepaldocumentary.com/).
Best Regards,
Bob
Imagine being abducted when you were 13 years old, forced to fight a war you didn't believe in, beaten, worked to exhaustion and threatened with death if you didn't comply. This is what has been taking place for more than a decade in Nepal as Maoist insurgents aim to overthrow their government; but war is just the beginning, find out what happens once these children try to return home....
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