I had the pleasure of working with David Axe and Sarah Massey last year on a small budget feature film called Stuntgirl; two filmmakers in South Carolina. Recently, they released Create or Die, a documentary about small budget filmmaking that follows the highs and lows of their experiences with making Acorn; David’s 7th feature film in just as many years.
What I loved about this documentary was David’s brutal honesty. He makes bad movies and knows he makes bad movies. He makes them for the art and love of making movies and knows that, in the end, not many people will see them. He makes them because, if he didn’t, he wouldn’t feel like a complete person. Having a goal of making a feature film a year is a huge undertaking. Just finishing one feature film is a goal that many can’t achieve, but to make back to back movies seven years in a row, with a full time job and funding everything himself? That is nothing short of crazy.
This documentary should be a required watch for every aspiring actor, filmmaker and filmmaking student. What I see in David is exactly the opposite of so many independent/amateur filmmakers. Too many filmmakers promise new and desperate actors the moon. They tell them how big their film will be and how many streaming services will be showing their film. What they fail to mention is that small budget and no budget movies have zero marketing budget and their project, if completed, will only be seen by people in their circle and maybe a random stranger that happens to accidentally find their film on Tubi. David keeps it real and tells it like it is. His only goals are to complete a film and to get better at it with each try.
After watching Create or Die, I have a new found respect for David. I enjoyed working with him and had fun doing it, but to know him on this level and see his vision, makes me want to work with him more and be a part of his filmmaking journey.
Simon Shih 