Tomorrow (the 17th) gets us to the 5 month mark of A Year Without Rent. I've talked before about what a tricky thing it was to budget and project, so let's compare, shall we?
My thinking was that it'd be easier to find projects, and therefore would be able to find projects close together, especially on the East Coast. So the thinking was that we would probably average 600-800 miles traveled a month. Figure 1-2 weeks for a project, maybe some longer. Some in the same city (as the easiest way to find a project is to actually be in the city). 800 miles a month seemed like a good estimate.
That would put us at 4,000 miles at the 5 month mark. Maybe 5,000 to be safe.
So far, I've traveled over 13,400 miles. Yes, 13,400 miles. Trust me, that's a lot. And it's going to go up pretty fast.
Our worst-case scenario for travel put us at 1,500 miles a month, or 7,500 miles so far. And, you may have noticed that gas prices shot up almost a dollar nation-wide from when we were doing our math. That doesn't help.
The other projection was that we'd be able to line up sponsors, which just hasn't materialized, no matter how many doors we bang on (and we're adding a door-banger very soon. Keep your eyes peeled).
So, as always, we're exploring our options. We'll go as long as we can go, and fit in as much as we can fit in. It's a real 24/7 operation (literally) and I think we're doing pretty good, all things considered.
As always, you can help.
Keep us on the road.
Filmmaker Lucas McNelly is spending a year on the road, volunteering on indie film projects around the country, documenting the process and the exploring the idea of a mobile creative professional. You can see more from A Year Without Rent at the webpage. His feature-length debut is now available to rent on VOD. Follow him on Twitter: @lmcnelly.
