I’m currently working on my next feature film, and if everything goes according to plan it’ll be my first fully financed one. To get there, we needed something investors could actually watch—so we made a proof of concept trailer. This shoot ended up being my most ambitious production so far, mainly because it was my first time working with a proper budget and my first time hiring cast and crew. Compared to my earlier features (Good Boy and Above the Knee), where we had three to four people behind camera and basically no financing, this was a big step up in scope and pressure. The biggest personal shift was letting go and trusting a DoP. On my previous films I was the writer/director and also the DP and camera operator, and I liked the control of not having to explain every lighting or camera decision. But on this set, having a dedicated DP actually helped me judge the images more objectively, and being forced to explain my choices made the whole plan sharper. It did feel a bit strange to just hold the monitor and wait between takes—almost like I was “useless”—but honestly that was a sign the crew was doing their job. We shot on an URSA 12K LF with Atlas Orion 2x anamorphics, and the footage looked even better than I envisioned. The reality of spending real money raised the stakes, but it also created clearer roles, boundaries, and a much more professional workflow—and once we started shooting, the stress basically disappeared.