Lisa Cordileone spoke with Solzy at the Movies on Thursday about the current crowdfunding campaign for Freelancers Anonymous.

Thanks for joining Solzy at the Movies today. How are things treating you?

Lisa Cordileone:  Thank you! Great! Keeping good and busy.

Freelancers Anonymous is turning to crowdfunding through Seed & Spark as a way of financing post-production. Before we discuss the campaign, what inspired you and co-writer Amy Dellagiarino come up with the screenplay?

Lisa Cordileone:  Amy had an idea for a play and I asked her, could it be a film? We started with the idea about not liking the numerous day jobs we’ve held over the years while pursuing acting and writing and the story really stemmed out of that. It grew into this idea about a group of women coming together to create their own company and help other women find jobs as well.

What made you all choose Seed & Spark over the likes of Kickstarter or Indiegogo?

Lisa Cordileone:  It’s interesting because we’ve (Amy, Sonia and I) used Indiegogo and Kickstarter in the past and our producer Eugene Park at Full Spectrum has had success with previous projects on Seed & Spark so we started looking into it. This platform really seems to support female filmmakers and projects that represent the LGBTQ community. They are set up in a way that if we raise 80% of funding we get the Green Light. With Kickstarter our concern was working really hard and not hitting the 100% goal – which means you don’t receive any of the funding you’ve raised. Indiegogo is great because you receive what you raise, but I’ve noticed over the years that I’ve had less successful campaigns on Indiegogo. I think I wanted to try something new and trust our team that if we created the best campaign we could that we could hit that 80% mark and keep pushing forward.

There are six days left in the campaign to raise another $12,000 for a total of $28,000. How important is it to reach the goal?

Lisa Cordileone:  It’s incredibly important to reach our goal. Seed & Spark is set up in a great way that if we raise 80% of our goal we will get the Green Light. If we don’t reach 80% of our goal we won’t receive any of the funds raised to this point. We are so close! We need to raise another $6,070 by Wednesday, November 22nd. We are very encouraged that we will hit this goal as contributions continue to come in for $100 or more and all pledges over $50 are tax deductible thanks to our non-profit production company Full Spectrum Features.

What is transmedia for those of us who aren’t familiar with the term?

Lisa Cordileone:  Transmedia is a way to tell a story across multiple platforms. The film Freelancers Anonymous is the 1st in a series of platforms we look forward to expanding on.

How much of Freelancers Anonymous was shot in Chicago and what is it that makes Chicago a great place for filmmaking?

Lisa Cordileone:  The entire film was shot in Chicago! I lived there for 10 years before moving to LA and I believe Amy lived there for 5 years as well… so maybe I’m a little biased, but I love this city. It is home. I love the people and the architecture and the neighborhoods. It gives the story more character and helps to create the unique world that the Freelancers and Billie and Gayle live in.

What is it about filming in Chicago that’s different from shooting a film in LA?

Lisa Cordileone:  Filming in LA is difficult as an indie production. I tried it a couple times with a short film and teaser for a pilot. Other than being outside our budget to produce the film, the buildings and the neighborhoods are just missing the unique character that matches each of the women in the film. These women are so interesting and Chicago just has a heart to the city that I think works for this film. I don’t know how to describe it – it could be my own love for the city and the people there. We had so much support from local business owners and churches to catering for the cast and crew and equipment rentals. So many people came together to make this film and that’s what this film is all about. Chicago just felt right.

Alexandra Billings is one of the actresses working in the film. As a trans woman, let alone a film critic, her casting is important to me. How many other trans talent were cast in the film?

Lisa Cordileone:  Alexandra is amazing. She is the real deal. We are so lucky to have her be a part of the story! Alexandra is the only trans talent cast in the film. As we continue to create more platforms for the Freelancers and more films together, including more trans actors is incredibly important to us!

Thank you again for your time. When should we expect the film to hit the festival circuits?

Lisa Cordileone:  Thank you! The goal for film festivals is early 2018. We are working hard on post-production and submitting to festivals this fall/winter. We’ll see what happens – fingers are crossed for a successful festival run next year!