Thursday, February 25, 2010
Filmmaker counting on a flurry of financing
By Richard Duckett TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
rduckett@telegram.com
Worcester filmmaker and producer Kristen Lucas had a script, a business plan and meetings in Los Angles with potential producers.
Not a drop — or flake, so to speak — of fundraising resulted there or elsewhere. But Lucas is an undaunted sort of person, as evidenced by her ability to put together short films in 48 hours with her own production company, Goldilocks Productions.
So, she still has a script, a revised business plan, an ongoing dream of making her movie “Snowflake” and a team that believes in the project as much as she does. Now she needs a kick-start.
In the prospective full-length movie “Snowflake,” which Lucas wrote (along with Kyle Perzanoski, who revised the screenplay) and will direct, Jesse Ashton is a 21-year-old white female rapper trying to transcend barriers of both race and gender as she competes in the gritty urban hip-hop scene.
Ashton’s fictional story became real-life inspiration for Lucas and Goldilocks Productions.
“She (Ashton) is chasing her dream,” Lucas said of her character’s underdog aspirations. “We said, ‘We’ve got to make this movie.’ We said, ‘All right, we won’t use a lot of money but we’ll use our own resources.’ ”
To that end, “Snowflake” has been posted on www.kickstarter.com, a relatively new Web site that tries to match artists with prospective backers. Artists — by kickstarter.com invitation only — detail their projects with a proposed budget. Supporters have a certain time period to pledge online, and if the artists reach or exceed their goal they receive the funds (if they don’t, the money is returned). The minimum fundraising goal for “Snowflake” is $5,000, which has to be raised by 5 p.m., April 30. The $5,000 will be used for equipment such as cameras, lights and supplies, and the Goldilocks Productions team then plans to kick into action and film in and around Worcester in May. A casting call (open to Screen Actors Guild and non-SAG members) for actors will be held at 6 p.m. March 14 at the Canal Lounge, 60 Harding St. (contact snowflakecasting@yahoo.com to confirm an appointment).
Meanwhile, the clock has started ticking. As of Tuesday morning, the kickstarter.com posting stated that eight backers had pledged $345 of the $5,000 goal, with 66 days to go …
Lucas has a graduate degree in screenwriting from Emerson College in Boston. With Goldilocks Productions she organized teams to compete twice in the Providence leg of the 48-Hour Film Challenge and once in the National Film Challenge, resulting in two awards. She also worked with Tom Henrickson of Worcester to make a 30-minute short of his planned full-length comedy “Third Date.” The film was shown at Worcester Showcase North Cinemas and made its Los Angeles debut at the LA Shorts Film Festival.
Duly encouraged, Lucas set about plans for her first full-length movie “Snowflake,” based on a story she had written several years ago. Through previous experiences and contacts, Lucas put together a talented technical crew, and she cast Atlanta actress and break dancer Katherine “Kat” Slatery in the title role.
At one point there was a $2.5 million business plan, and Lucas went out to Los Angeles to pitch the film. “But that didn’t happen,” she acknowledged about the money.
Compounding the situation, Lucas was laid off from her day job as a marketing manager at a company she had worked at for 23 years.
Losing the job means she’ll have more time for “Snowflake,” Lucas said gamely.
“We think it’s a better story (because of the adversity),” she said of the movie.
The kickstarter.com posting offers some incentives to investors. A pledge of $10, for example, gets you a “Team Snowflake” bumper sticker; $50, a T-shirt; $100 allows you to submit a song for consideration on the soundtrack; with $1,000 you can be director for a day.
In addition to the $5,000 she hopes to raise via kickstarter.com, Lucas plans to use some of her own savings. Meanwhile, there will be “in-kind” donations, and most of the team will work in the hope that they’ll be rewarded at some point at “the back end” of the proceedings. It’s not necessarily a snow dream — Lucas pointed out that the film “Paranormal Activity” was shot on a $15,000 budget and is now nearing a gross of $170 million.
Her team has stayed loyal, including her Snowflake, the photogenic Slatery. Among others involved are Will Barratt, director of photography, who has worked with writer/director Adam Green on the films “Coffee and Donuts,” “Spiral,” “Hatchet” and “Frozen.”
Behind the scenes for “Snowflake” things might be less Hollywood glamorous, depending on the location and how long it takes to set things up. “People might be sleeping on floors,” Lucas said.
But it will be what’s on the screen that counts. “It will still look amazing,” Lucas said.