The Strange Similarities Between Making a Movie and Rebuilding a Historic Building

The more I work on 530 Macdonald Avenue, the more I realize how similar rebuilding a historic building is to making an independent film.

Both start with a vision that other people can't fully see yet.

With a film, you have a script, a deck, maybe some images and a plan. Then you have to get people to believe in it enough to come aboard.

That’s exactly what I’m doing with 530 Macdonald.

I can walk through the building and see film production, screenings, events, workshops, artists and people coming through the doors. The job now is getting the right people to see that vision too.
The other similarity is timing.

You don’t build an entire film crew before the money is there, and I’m not building a huge staff for this project before it makes sense.

For now, I’m leading the project and the next person I need is someone who can help with grants, marketing and general administration.

When larger grants start coming in, we bring in a project manager and start moving deeper into the rehabilitation.

You build the team as the project grows.

The money side is similar too.

People see the finished movie, but they don’t always see what happened before the cameras rolled — meetings, fundraising, planning, budgets, calls, emails and putting the right people together.
A building project is no different.

Before construction starts, somebody has to raise the money, build partnerships, pursue grants, handle outreach, organize documents and keep everything moving.

That work matters.

I’d describe where 530 Macdonald is right now the same way I’d describe a film before production:
We’re in development.

And development can look quiet from the outside even when a lot is happening.

Meetings are happening. Relationships are being built. Letters of support are coming in. Press is starting to move. Funding conversations are happening. The project is getting stronger.
That process feels very familiar to me.

You get one person involved, then another. One conversation leads to the next. Some opportunities move fast, others take time.

That’s independent filmmaking too.

The difference is what happens at the end.

With a movie, people eventually sit in a theater and watch something that once existed only on a page.

With 530 Macdonald, people will eventually walk through the doors of a building that sat underused for years and see it alive again.

And when that happens, we’ll be making movies inside there too.
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That’s when everything comes full circle.