Short Summary
The year is 2019 and my roommate, Kenny Tran, just found out that his feature film script Blood Money made it into the semi-finalist category for the prestigious Final Draft Competition. Producers are interested in his script and agents are fighting for him.
Then, it all fell apart. COVID wounded the industry, and the following years of strikes made it difficult to make anything new, let alone for anyone breaking in to get noticed. Even now, Hollywood has contracted to the point where it doesn't make sense to try to go through their system.
My name is Russell Kinscherff, an editor, writer, and director who graduated from Loyola Marymount in 2020. When I read the first draft of Blood Money back in 2017, I thought that it was the perfect first feature for someone to make their debut on. It had only a few characters yet the story felt epic, rich with emotional moments and unique in structure. It feels like Hell or High Water meets a road trip like The Last of Us, with an Unforgiven coat of paint, which to me is the neo-western trifecta. Since then, the feature script has been polished and is even better than when it got into Final Draft.
Because of the contraction in Hollywood and the stroke of bad luck that hindered both mine and Kenny's career, we felt we shouldn't wait for permission to try and make this film. We know making the feature would be too costly, so we came up with a script that serves as a prequel to the feature in hopes that it would prove ourselves enough to secure funding for the feature. This is the hail mary for both Kenny and I in hopes that we can make the real project: the wonderful feature for Blood Money. It means the world to us, and is a project we have been talking about doing together since 2017. Your contribution will help make this happen. In fact, I am fronting most of the money for this project already.
The Logline: At the turn of the century, one of the last outlaw gangs finds themselves held up in a cabin after a botched train robbery nearly killed them all, all knowing that one--or several of them--sold them out to the Pinkerton's.
What We Need & What You Get
Kenny and I are looking to raise $30,000. This may seem a little hefty, but I am already fronting half with my own $30,000, and after budgeting, we realized that it just wasn't going to be enough.
Because we are doing night shoots for the majority of it, the film is more expensive. We are shooting inside and outside of a derelict cabin at night, a marshal's office, an open field at sunrise, and the woods. Because of this, lighting is difficult. We have to light entire sections of the woods to make it look like moonlight shining through the trees. This is of course, quite costly, especially the rigging needed for moonlight.
This money will also be used to fund and feed crew. We'd like to bring on the best people possible, but the best people cost, especially when I am asking them to work overnight for shooting. I want to make sure they are fed and taken care of properly, and that they will have everything they need to make this as awesome as it can be.
PERKS:
Of course, there will be a return on your investment!
- Any amount will get you a thank you from me :)!
- $20 will get you a special thanks credit!
-$50 will get you a special thanks credit and one of our hats!
- $100 will get you a signed poster, a hat, and a special thanks credit.
- $800 will get you an associate producer credit with a signed poster and a hat!
- $1800 will get you a full executive producer credit, a hat, and a signed poster by the cast, me, and Kenny.
Regardless of if we meet our goal or not, we will shoot this project. However, the more we raise, the better it will be!
The Impact
Texas film is growing quite rapidly. More and more productions are shooting here after the new film incentive was passed by the state, whereas in Los Angeles, productions are fleeing to find better options. The disconnect between big producers and creators can be vast, and it feels like sometimes the disconnect between creators and audiences is equal to that. This creates a void where audiences don't get the authentic story experiences they want, while the creators and producers fund their vanity projects at the expense of audience enjoyment. I left LA because of this.
Texas has supported indie filmmakers like myself for a long time, and the possibilities for the future of filmmaking here is wonderful and encouraging. Your contribution will not only be reinforcing Texas as a new destination for filmmakers, but will be helping both Kenny and I become a part of the landscape here.
I first made waves here after winning Best Action Film at Austin After Dark film festival. It was an ambitious action project I shot during my tenure at school, and I learned A LOT about how to run a professional set and coordinate action intricate sequences. That film did very well at festivals, winning Best Action Film at Oregon Film Festival and Austin After Dark, and Best Action/Adventure film and Best Editing at Hollywood Blood Horror.
Since then, I have been dying to make my first feature. My favorite films are typically intimate, character driven stories with high tension and an epic setting. This is exactly what Kenny and I have crafted in this short. The intensity is high, the world feels cold and lived in, character relationships are slowly revealed to not be what you thought they were, and past events are recalled with a sense of entropy that the audience can pick apart, all while they are running out of time to wait for the survivors. The dialogue is snappy, the characters all have unique voices, and the ending is cathartic in a way that makes you question the basis of the characters lies.
Risks & Challenges
Filmmaking is one massive communication problem to solve. It requires the coordination of multiple different departments on set, all vying for the most of very limited time to get their stuff done. A lot can go wrong and it can quickly devolve into a high stress environment. I have a lot of experience on both sets that have ran smoothly, and sets that haven't and I have made mental notes of the principles of both. I also directed an action film, which is an immensely difficult task where safety is the top priority. I have learned a lot, including the importance of keeping a level head and having an adaptable mindset when things do go wrong.
I am preparing to mitigate the more practical problems so I can focus on the creative aspects of directing. For example, I want to ensure my Director of Photography has enough manpower to set up and move lights in a quick and orderly fashion. This means hiring a few more extra hands to help move heavy equipment. I want to have an extra person helping on makeup and production design, so that those departments are not slammed with doing extensive makeup and set work on their own. I want to rent heaters because it will be cold shooting through the night in February, and I will need to rent generators to make sure they, and the outdoor lights during exterior scenes, are powered on. In the same vein, I'll probably need a trailer with bathrooms when we are shooting in a more remote forest, so that people have a basecamp to warm up in and the different departments have a place to stage their equipment. One of the most important departments is sound. Bad sound can ruin a movie, so I want to make sure that we have the best sound person available. Kenny and I have done our best to imply a violent shootout, but we'll need to hire an armorer to ensure the safety of everyone on set who is holding a gun.
Other problems that could arise are weather. If it rains or if it snows too hard it could cause delays. This means the money will be used to book locations for an extra day at a different time if something does go wrong.
Other Ways You Can Help
Thank you guys so much for reading this otherwise lengthy ramble about my passion! Even if you can't donate, would love if you can share this page with your friends or on social media. You can also follow us on instagram @bloodmoneyshortfilm.This project really means the world to me so I really appreciate you taking the time to hear me out!
