The last few days, I've been marveling at how challenging it can be to produce a film. It’s a long and complicated process to be sure.

It all starts so innocently. Jabbes came to me right after the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and asked me to Exec Produce his film. I asked him what that meant. “If you could just get a couple of 3CCD cameras, I can return to Zambia this summer and shoot the first feature film in my country. I’m working from a play by a famous Zambian playwright.”

Thinking it will be awfully hard to do it by himself, I say, “Maybe I could come with you and help out. Maybe Jeanette (the other faculty member) would come, too. And, maybe a couple of students.” I think this is a good solution. Christy Beckman reminds me that Innovative Project Grants are due soon. So I decide to write a grant that allows me to take four students and two faculty members to Zambia to help Jabbes make his film.

Why four students and two faculty members? There is a limit to how much you can ask for, so I decide to figure out what I could get for that top amount. Four and two. Not a large crew but better than just handing him two cameras and sending him alone. I start to get supportive emails from citizens in Zambia. We hear the film projects have been presented to the Vice President of the nation.

So, then, I decide it would be better if we had a bit bigger crew. More hands for better lighting, more hands for better sound management. On top of that, it would make the documentary even better to have more students in Zambia. It would create more points of conflict and more drama.

Then, opportunities for education appear. The University of Lusaka and the Evelyn Hone Technical College might like to partner with Mesa Community College to create an ongoing educational exchange. More money, more flights. More interesting documentary footage, more connection.

So, that’s what I think of producing. Whatever you get in terms of money, actors, educators and equipment, you always find that you need and want more. That’s the producing game. More, more, more, more, more.