Some Background, Some Introduction

When I started writing Ankou, I wrote it because I don’t believe I have ever seen a good horror movie about Death or the Grim Reaper.  So I taxed myself with the challenge to write one and after nearly a year of writing and editing and redrafting, I know I have it.  When I collaborated with Elizabeth and her husband, T Scott Ross, on our award-winning short, The Re-Renaissance (Audience Choice, Sparrow Film Project ‘14, New York, NY), I knew that they were the perfect duo to help be bring Ankou off the page and to life.

Also, the representation of women behind the camera in movies, though getting better, is still sparse, especially in the horror genre.  I couldn’t be more excited that Elizabeth is with us as our cinematographer and essentially my co-director.  Our production manager, Tiffany Gale, is also a woman starting her career in the movie industry.  I don’t want this to start sounding preachy or anything but this is a huge opportunity for all of us, Elizabeth and Tiffany and every woman in our cast and crew in particular.
 

The Story

Ankou tells the story of six friends who are celebrating the New Year and suddenly find themselves caught in Ankou’s sights.  Now, you make ask yourself, ‘Who’s Ankou?’ Well, Ankou is a centuries-old Briton-Celtic myth about a ghostly figure that wears a wide-brimmed hat that goes around collecting souls to ferry to the afterlife.  Some would say he’s the Grim Reaper of that region of the world.  But I think he’s more.

Unlike the Grim Reaper, who remains the same through all of time, Ankou is ever changing.  Ankou is said to take on the form of the last person in his village to die each year and that person must spend the next year collecting and carting souls to the afterlife if he has any hopes of moving on.

How much more interesting is that than a spirit with a skull-face wielding a scythe (don’t worry, there will still be a scythe in this movie)?  This is an incarnation of Death that has a purpose, just as a protagonist does in any movie. Thus, Ankou was born.

So this is our Get-Ankou-Off-The-Ground campaign.  We are running this campaign to cover every expense so we can move to filming.  That includes travel, housing, locations, costumes, insurance, rentals, salaries, catering, and all the other stuff that goes into making a movie that people, including myself up until about 7 months ago, don’t realize.

We will run another campaign while we are filming, based on the success of this campaign, to cover post-production costs but we won’t have any need for those without a film to take to post-production.  

You can make that happen for us.  So let’s scare some people and make a movie!

Who Are We?

Dave Stishan is Baltimore native, actor, and an award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker brandishing a BFA in Acting from Shenandoah Conservatory.  His most recent project, The Re-Renaissance, in conjunction with Faux Reel Studios, took home the Audience Choice award at The Sparrow Film Project in New York.  As a writer, Dave has written two full length plays and numerous one-acts. Most recently, his one-act, The Fitting, was produced as part of the 2018 New York Winterfest Play Festival.  In 2011, his play, September 11th Was a Tuesday, took runner-up honors in the New Voices of Virginia Playwriting Competition.  His screenplay, Seahorse, won the Bronze in the 2016 World Series of Screenwriting and Top-10 honors in the Hollywood Screenwriting Competition.  As an actor, he’s performed all along the East Coast as well as co-starring roles on Blacklist and HBO’s Vinyl.

Elizabeth Eckert-Ross hails from NYC and is an award winning filmmaker, actor, and musician. She is the founder and lead creative mind behind Faux Reel Studios, whose most recent production, The Re-Renaissance, received "Audience Choice" at The Sparrow Film Project '14.  Other productions include Prepared (Preparing for Audition Season) -Winner for "Best Music Video" at The 2017 Portland Comedy Film Festival and Put 'Em Up -Featured at The December 2017 Iron Mule Short Comedy Festival in Brooklyn NY. When she's not making films, you can catch her around the city playing with her band-Bourbon & Bliss. Elizabeth holds a B.F.A from Shenandoah Conservatory. Check out our work at www.fauxreelstudios.com

How You Can Help

We’ve taken the budget and looked at exactly what we’ll need to get this production started and the magic number we came up with was $44,750.  That breaks down like this:

In a nutshell, that is everything we will need to get ourselves ready for the production and start filming.  Anything extra that we raise will go towards ‘General Overhead’ for on-set purchases (props that break, duct tape, batteries, more duct tape, etc.).

Now, this isn’t the entire budget.  Like we said above, we will be running another campaign based on the success of this campaign, to cover all our post-production costs, but this is the number that will Get-Ankou-Off-The-Ground.

Wait, What's a 'Big Actor Cost'?

We have been very fortunate to enter very serious contract talks and negotiations with the legendary horror actor, Michael Berryman, and his agent.  Mr. Berryman is known for films such as The Hills Have Eyes, The Hills Have Eyes Part II, The Devil's Rejects, Weird Science, The Lords of Salem, as well as countless others as well as recurring spots on Star Trek.  Trust me, you know his face.  This is a number I have come up with that would cover (most of) his salary plus is travel, lodging, and any other riders he may have in order to be a part of this picture.

Having Mr. Berryman onboard for this project would be humungous.  It would be like Bill Gates endorsing a new app or Bruce Springsteen publicly endorsing a rising talent's debut CD.  He's an icon and legend in every sense of the word and having him onboard definitely does raise the budget a bit but the benefits of having someone of his expertise, experience, and presence vastly outweighs the rise in budget.  There's no doubt that he will give what is already a solid script and concept that extra X-factor.

So Why Should I Give You My Money?

Now, like with every Indiegogo campaign, we have some pretty exciting perks and rewards to reward your generosity.  Everything ranging from signed movie posters to in-person or online acting sessions, digital downloads, advanced viewings, and even visits to the set (if you’re local-ish).  We might even throw in an invite to join us at a film festival. However, every single donation, no matter the size, will get you listed in the credits because, at the end of the day, this movie will not have been able to be made without your donation and that deserves to be seen and recognized.

And we know times are tough for everyone and if you aren't able to donate right now, then we ask that you please share this campaign.  Every share is as impactful as a donation.  Even if you do donate, please share the campaign.  There can never be enough eyes on this campaign.  And, if you do donate, please leave us a comment.  We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of this presentation!

Simply put this is what Elizabeth, T Scott, all of our actors, our crew, and I have been working for.  This is what we want to do for a living (not create crowdfunding campaigns but create movies and stories and art).  We want to show people that it doesn’t matter what credits do or don’t come along with your name, what matters is if there’s a will.  Like the message in Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.”  Well, that’s the plan.

And, just to reiterate, I could not be more excited that the majority of our crew, as it currently stands, is female and for that to be the case in this male-dominated industry and genre is all the more reason to get behind this project and make sure that this movie is made.  Everyone has a voice and everyone has the opportunity.

Making a movie is not easy.  Well, if you have a $50M budget, things might be a little easier, but those productions are still not without their own sets of challenges.  We do not have a $50M budget. We, as of now, do not have the reputation of a Wes Craven or John Carpenter or Stephen King or James Wan. When we yell ‘That’s a wrap’ on the final day of shooting in a way, our true challenge will just be beginning.  We will have a movie, now we’ll need to get people to see it. But at one point, all those people I just mentioned had the same worry. ‘Who will watch my movie once it’s done?’  That remains to be said but one this is for sure, they’re going to want to see; a quality product, a professional shoot, a solid story, an honest portrayal, and, most of all, they’re going to want to know that the time they spent watching Ankou was time well spent.  

With your donation to this project, we all can ensure that all of those ‘worries’ will be well taken care of. Like it’s been said; we have a very solid story, a top-notch crew waiting to be discovered, a cast eager to bring the words to life, and a confidence that you will thoroughly enjoy the time you spent watching Ankou.  Don’t believe us?  Donate and let us prove you wrong.  You do believe us? Donate and let us show you that your generosity was well placed.