Pay Me To Give You Nightmares
I’m going out on a limb I’ve never gone out on before. Usually when I try and raise money for a movie, it’s pocket change—$500, a couple thousand. I make movies for peanuts, famously. Not ‘famously’ (I’m not famous) but you know what I mean—I’m known for this amongst the select few who know me. Anyway, now I’m asking for a lot of money to make a movie—still a small amount in the scheme of things (movies, in particular) but a lot for me. Before you remember how broke you are and pass on helping, let me plead my case.
My whole filmmaking career thus far (fifteen feature-length films and counting!) I’ve never really made a really scary movie. I’ve never been against making really scary movies—I like really scary movies—but the time’s never been right. The stars have aligned now, though—I have a great story I want to tell, a phenomenal lead actress (Julia Davo) who is living, breathing charisma and is game for the insanity of this flick, and I have a fantastic location. The only thing I don’t have is enough money to really do this right—really make this thing as unforgettably scary as possible. The kind of movie where people, and cinema, isn’t the same afterward. That’s what this thing can truly be.
Horror is one of the first film genres—as far back as people were making movies, they were making scary movies. Those old ones were silent, of course, but ‘silent’ is kind of a misnomer—a lot of them had intended music to go along with it, often that it relied on in order to help solidify mood. I want to eschew all that. I want to make a truly silent movie—no music, no sound effects, no anything but whatever sounds you’re hearing in your life as you watch it. If you see it in theaters, the audience is your soundtrack. If you watch it at home, your house sounds are. If you watch it with ear plugs in, truly nothing. For far too long, horror movies, especially modern ones, have relied on sudden loud noises, and creepy sound effects, and suspenseful music in order to scare people. I want to show the power of images by relying on imagery alone, and I want the rhythm to come entirely from the rhythm of the visuals—the movement of the shots and the editing. It’s an experiment, sure, but it’s an accessible one—anyone who likes being scared will want to see this movie.
The amount I’m asking for is basically the same amount that many low-budget horror movies have been made for and which have gone on to become huge successes—$35,000. That will get you the scariest movie possible, plus enough to advertise it, and rent out theaters, and really build up buzz.
I want to truly own this thing, by the way—I won’t be selling it after it’s made. Virtually all of these filmmakers who make a kick-ass low budget horror end up selling it to some company. I want to buck that trend—I want to make a $35,000 unforgettable work, but then raise my own baby, not sell it off to the highest bidder. I want to show that you can do that. That’s important not just for me, but for filmmaking itself.
If you have any money you’d like to contribute, please head on over to the IndieGoGo campaign for this movie, which is called Serene, by the way. $1000 gets you a producer credit plus knowing what the movie is even about—yes, unless you give me a grand, I’m not gonna tell you what I’m going to be doing. There are cheaper perks too—just give what you can and one day be able to say that you did, because I am going to do everything in my power to make sure this is one of the most unforgettable horror movies of all time.
Here’s the IndieGoGo: Let Me Make One Of The Scariest Horror Movies Ever!
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