Welcome to One Grand Filmmakers 👋 🎉 In this community, I'll show you how I turned a $1,000 feature film into 3 more features, a full-time career in filmmaking, and relationships with the biggest names and platforms in the industry. But first... Please, introduce yourself :) (EXTRA CREDIT: Like 5 other posts, and welcome other filmmakers to the community as well!) Let's goooooo! 🚀

The Investorless Feature Film Course is Live Inside the Community Alright, filmmakers — this is the big one. The full Investorless Feature Film course (aka The Indie Film Flywheel) is now live in the Classroom tab. If you’ve been serious about making your first feature — without waiting for permission, investors, or “someday” — this is the step-by-step roadmap you’ve been looking for. Why you should take it (right now): 🎯 Clarity: Learn the only replicable career strategy that works for actors, writers, and directors — making a small, personal feature with the resources you already have. 🔥 Speed: Cut years of trial-and-error and get from idea → finished film faster than you thought possible. 📈 Momentum: Build a career flywheel where every film fuels the next — bigger audience, better collaborators, and more opportunities each time. 🚫 No Fundraising Required: Avoid the endless investor hunt. This approach is designed to keep you creating now, not waiting. 🤝 Collaboration: Learn how to attract the right collaborators without begging or chasing — and why the right people will want to work with you. 💡 Proven Examples: See how filmmakers like Greta Gerwig, Christopher Nolan, Robert Rodriguez, and Sean Baker used this exact principle to break into the industry. Plus, there’s a $500 reward if you finish in 5 days. This isn’t just a gimmick. I want to keep this community lean and full of action-takers. If you finish on time, you’ll unlock a filmmaking tool I’ve only shared with my private clients. This course is $1, but will be sold online for $47. Just to find filmmakers that are serious. 👉 Go to the Classroom tab now and click “Investorless Feature Film” to begin. Let’s get that first film in the can. – AJ Rome

Assignment #1: Will I use this strategy? Yes. Assignment #2: If yes, what are my 3 biggest roadblocks? If not, what are the reasons? 1. Trying to financially survive in California. Finding a day job that works towards my financial goals AND allows me to make independent feature films. 2. The Writing process. 3. Myself. (Not having any accountability)

Assignment #1: My biggest takeaway is that the industry invests in artists with proof, not ideas. The best path to take is making nano-budget movies that can be leveraged into bigger budgeted films. The $1k film can lead to the $10k film which can then lead to $50k film then so on and so on until you have a proven track record that a producer can rely on to secure a million dollar or more budget for one of your films. Assignment #2: My biggest concern/challenge is in the writing. It always has been. I loved writing, until I had the goal of making nano-budget movies. I’ve tried to write those types of producible screenplays for YEARS and what ends up happening is the initial seed of an idea grows the more I nurture it because I chase what I think makes a good story and excites me and that feeling of excitement always creates a story that has too big of a budget that I can’t afford. So I stop writing as to not waste any more time and then I start a new idea with every intention of making it producible for under $10k and it inevitably grows and I shelve the story to start a new idea and the same thing happens over and over. I struggle to write nano-budget films and it’s in the writing process that I need the most help. It has been a torturous Sisyphean cycle that has spat me out making me wonder where all the time went as my peers have gone on to make their own movies. My midlife crisis has finally arrived. Haha. No but seriously, I need help in the writing process.

1. What’s one “Lottery System” you’ve tried? Screencraft Dramatic Competition 2. What did it cost you ? It cost me multiple entry fees, but mostly wasted time and energy that resulted in nothing but multiple semi-finalist rankings. 3. What’s your biggest takeaway from this video? The cavalry is not coming. Everything that we’ve been told is misleading. 4. My biggest concern? I’m starting to feel the dream slip away after more than a decade of trying to make my first feature film with nothing to show for it. For the first time my confidence is starting to waver and I’m starting to question my life decisions. I fear that I’m going to continue making sacrifices to pursue this dream and in the end it all leads to nothing.