This year at the Atlanta Film Festival, Cinema Greens (a festival sponsor and source for Georgia film location rentals) awarded Tristan McClain a locations package of three days of free location rental on a vast and versatile setting.

This prize allowed Tristan to write and direct his film Three Things Before I Leave, which begins filming on October 7th. We reached out to Tristan to hear about his experience so far, and his upcoming project.

You won a great prize this year, can you tell us about what it is and how you won it?

During one of the evening screenings at the Atlanta Film Festival, my friend Jackson Doughty told me I should apply for a Twitter raffle. A few weeks later I woke up and noticed that I was mentioned in many tweets and Instagram post. As I scrolled through the congratulatory tweets I realized that I’d won. First things I did was to call Jackson and thank him.

How did the prize affect your film?

I believe any other prize would not have dictated that I write a new narrative. Equipment packages would have served to improve the quality of current projects. Locations, however, are characters within themselves and cannot haphazardly be written into a script.

What advice do you have for other film-makers who need to adapt to the locations available to them for filming?

I believe when are writing the film you have an advantage because you have the ability to allow the story to unfold organically in its new setting. The key to adaptation is to embrace change. A polar bear can not survive in the jungle. Our story must evolve with its environment or it will die.

How can people support your project, and what will that support go towards?

We have set up a IndieGoGo campaign that you can visit at igg.me/at/threethingsfilm. You can choose a perk to order or donate which will allow us to cover insurance and equipment rental.

View the concept trailer for Three Things Before I Leave below.