Finding a bank location

An important aspect of filmmaking is finding good locations.

We are in the preparations for a short film called "No Return". This film has a scene in a bank.
When we started this project, we had no idea how difficult it would be to find a bank premise that somebody actually would allow us to use. All banks are rigorously concerned about security and we visited and wrote to many institutions, but none would let us film in their premises. We went searching for other alternatives, like educational institutions and even empty museum halls. But we knew that if there were no counters for example, our production cost would skyrise to provide with, or construct, all the furniture ourselves.

Now, in this process I learned about the power of good connections. I knew that a friend of our ministry who is actually the father of one of our previous students, had some influential contacts. I wrote him an email and presented out problem. And just within days, he presented us to a bank president, a friend of his. Almost instantly the president said yes. First we went and saw their premise in Medellin, but when we started our technical scouting we understood that this premise would give us some real challenges. There was a huge pillar in the middle of the hall, and the doors were awkwardly placed.

So we heard that the same bank company had another premise in a village, two hours from the city. We  thought "Ok, so what if we just bring the whole crew and cast in a bus then?" The president was just pleased to show us this place and let us use it for our project.

So yesterday we went there, and finally we found our place. A traditional bank hall, with counters and doors from where you instantly see the counters. The walls and the floor have the characteristics that we were looking for.

This was another occasion when I was overwhelmed by the "Paisa" generosity. The executives invited us to lunch and even showed us the surroundings.

We were ready several months ago to shoot this film. We had the whole thing ready to go, but we were hindered by the that bank location. Now, if we can quickly get the finances together, it seems we can finally greenlight this film.

Why did this run so smooth? Because of our friend's recommendation. Those few words opened all the doors. It reminded me about what the Bible says:

A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. (Prov.22:1)