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“The Turning Point for the Entire Project” | David Ngo, Never Get Busted!
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Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why?
Our first meeting with John Battsek and Chris Smith was quite a moment, as I’m a fan of both their works. My partner in crime Erin Williams-Weir and I took a bit of risk personally funding the initial production for Never Get Busted!
We cut together a teaser and pitched the project to John, who shared it with Chris, who had recently executive produced Tiger King. The first thing he said was, “When John showed this to me, I was quite annoyed.” Turns out Chris had been wanting to direct a film about the very same subject. But he was impressed by what we’d done and wanted to be involved however he could.
That moment not only validated the risks we took but became the turning point for the entire project, setting everything in motion.
See all responses to our annual Sundance Question here.