Sprocket Guild helps moviemakers find money

Life can be tough for student moviemakers with great vision but no money or connections. But… Life can be tough for student moviemakers with great vision but no money or connections. But now for Pitt undergraduates, there is the option of joining the Sprocket Guild.

The Sprocket Guild is a student organization that focuses on making it easier for student filmmakers at Pitt to produce their films and improve their skill as filmmakers. Former undergrad film students Gregory Allen, Cathy Dortch and Daisy Gade formed the group a little more than two years ago.

Allen, now working on his doctorate in film studies, explained that student filmmakers are crippled by the necessity of bankrolling their own films. When he was an undergraduate, working on his movie “Traces,” he found it very difficult to raise the money. He saw this difficulty hampering his fellow students in their attempts as well.

“It’s unfair that you have to spend your own money. There should be a lot more support for student films,” Allen said. “It shouldn’t be that hard.”

Allen went on to say since students need to pay for their movies entirely on their own, once the student filmmakers graduate, it’s nearly impossible for most of them to continue making movies. Allen added that after a student filmmaker is out of college and has to put food on the table, spending $10,000 on a movie just doesn’t look like a valid option.

So Allen, Dortch and Gade set out to create a way for students to make films and not be left to their own devices. And thus the Sprocket Guild was born.

When asked why they picked that particular name, Allen laughed.

“Everyone kind of balks at the name,” Allen said. “We wanted a name you have to make a conscious effort to remember.”

Allen explained that the sprocket is one of the most basic, barebones inventions, but it’s the one that gets the job done and holds everything else together. It represents all the fundamental details of film production that can overwhelm a student filmmaker. Allen quoted Mel Brooks: “The sprockets will eat your heart out.”

The fundamentals of production are where the Sprocket Guild focuses most of its effort. It helps provide member students with the money they need to keep their film projects afloat, while at the same time allowing them to learn and improve their understanding of the process through connections with more experienced members.

The group has also made inroads into the professional filmmaking community. Students can begin making industry connections instead of attempting to get a foot in the door after college.

The Sprocket Guild gives internships every year, placing students in professional production companies. For instance, Cary Hill, the group’s current president, has worked on an internship for the New Perspectives production company.

At heart, Allen said, the Sprocket Guild exists to “create a space where students can work for as long as possible. It’s sad to see people spend thousands of dollars on their heart and on their art, then see them working at PNC Bank five years later.”