Helming any new
venture is like taking on an angry octopus.
Helming an independent feature is like taking on an angry octopus armed
with sharp objects, a vendetta and a serious meth habit. You do it because you have
to. You do it for love.
You also hope you
survive.
Funding is forever
the greatest stronghold trying to strangle the process from the start. Getting
the money to interest actors and crew, getting the money to pay for equipment
and locations, getting the money to feed and transport all of the above,
getting the money to market the film once it’s finished; it’s a never-ending
choke-hold that you either learn to lessen and breathe through or else succumb
to death by financial asphyxiation. Projects helmed by Sony or Disney and
starring the likes of Zac Efron or Angelina Jolie have endless options for
attracting capital; the small independent producer has far less. It takes guts,
ingenuity and a little bit of crazy to succeed.
And a lot of friends.
I’m lucky. I have some good friends. Friends who believe in me and are willing to
take a journey with me to tackle a giant, angry, weapon-wielding octopus on
meth. This octopus goes by the name “Deadly Revisions”.
If you’re new to my
blog, you’ll not know “Deadly Revisions” is a blend of horror and psychological
thriller about a writer with amnesia who has to piece back the lost memories of
what landed him in the hospital. Recuperating
in a remote cabin, he has flashes of horrific visions including murder. But they just can’t be real. Or can they? (The teaser trailer is below, to give you a
taste.)
I wrote the screenplay
to appeal to the growing market for low budget projects: ones that take place mostly in one location
and with a small cast and very few special effects. But, having finished it, a voice inside made
me wonder why I shouldn’t take advantage of the result and make the movie
myself. I tossed the idea to a few
friends in the business and they were all hooked. Suddenly I had interested a few crew and cast
without even any funding to speak of. So
we decided to move forward.
Thus began the
fundraising. I got our first corporate
sponsor and we set up our first crowd-funding campaign. We began to get money from friends from
Facebook, followers from Twitter and all sorts of outlets; not enough to make
the film, but it was a solid start. We
continue to fundraise; creating new crowd-funding campaigns, seeking out more corporate
sponsors and so on. Every little bit
helps in the independent film world. It
helps get movies made and get them distributed in a way so that you can see them—one
way or the other.
If you’re reading this
and you’d like to help out, we’d love you to no end. You can click on the link below and donate securely
through the PayPal site. You can be a
producer and help make “Deadly Revisions”.
So…you wanna help
tame a really nasty octopus?
