Finding the money to produce creative projects is challenging… just ask any independent filmmaker.
Nina Knapp knows that reality first hand but she’s come up with an innovative way to raise money to, as she says, “support this hobby that I have.”
“I was trying to come up with ideas to help with funding… I got tired to using my own credit card or asking a friend to help with some of my previous short films…”
Knapp enjoys cooking so she thought she’d put together a cookbook with some of her recipes. “Then I thought what can I do to make the book more unique ... I started contacting a few of the women filmmakers I know, most of them lesbians … and they just loved the idea…”
The result is Reel Food from Reel Women, a 128-page paperback that features recipes, biographies and photos of writers, filmmakers, actors and friends. The book includes recipes from some 34 women including Linda Andersson, Michele Balan, Stacy Codikow, J.D. Disalvatore, Bridget McManus, Andrea Meyerson, Roberta Munroe, Jenni Olson, Deborah Stewart and Briana Stockton.
Knapp grew up in Ontario, Oregon, went to college in Boise, Idaho, and has spent the last 30 years in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her day job is in the educational system but her passion is her creative pursuits.
“I went into education and it’s been a good career but the dream of writing and doing things with photography was always there.
“When I hit 40 and I finished my master’s degree, I started taking classes in photography, writing, creative writing, screen writing, writing novels, writing for children … I found that I enjoyed screen writing the most although I still work on a couple of different novels....
“I am very out lesbian including in the school system where I work and so I’ve given myself a lot to lesbian fiction.”
She also has co-written a couple of short films that have been produced and screened.
“I have a feature length screen play called Virgin Canyon Massacre…it is a lesbian supernatural thriller… that is complete … I am just trying to figure out how to raise about $300,000 for that because it will require special effects. Then I have two short films that I hope to produce next spring…”
Knapp formed Crone Productions as she was approaching her 50th birthday. “It just seemed like the perfect thing… I was pre-menopausal and there was just something about it…my main love has always been history and knowing the history of the crone … it just seemed to fit me at the time and what I wanted to do and the statement I wanted to make… I was an older woman and my films would be films that I felt passionate about on a personal level.”
Although she has not met some of the book’s contributors, Knapp appreciates that they were willing to help support another woman trying to make it in the creative arts.
Reel Food From Reel Women is available at Amazon.com
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