Short Summary

At the core of Compound Interest is the filmmaking team of Joel Marshall and Kamala Lopez; who have written, produced and directed feature films, documentaries, short films, viral videos, podcasts, comedy shows and even political movements(!), most notably the current ERA movement Equal Means Equal. 

Now the team is taking on the Student Loan Debt Crisis with this sci-fi/horror film about education reclamation.

In the near future, if your debt-to-income ratio is too high, the government [corpocracy] may decide to relieve you of your student debt, but if they do,  it comes at a cost that you won't be able live with either.

Compound Interest is a cautionary tale, detailing a future where education may be harvested from your brain if you're unable to pay back your loans.

Our hero, James Scofield, thought he was doing the right thing by arming himself with several prestigious degrees, only to find himself so burdened with debt and bad credit that no institution would touch him -- except the ERS: The Education Reclamation Service, whose ever-grasping tentacles have stopped trying to reach into his bank account and are now reaching into his physical body.

Kamala being a champion of the people, and Joel being a previous student-loan victim himself, the piece really resonated with them, and they sought out a team who could help them bring this timely and clever film to life. Compound Interest, they imagined, could be filmed in the style of some of their favorite films: Brazil, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Barton Fink, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich.

Their dream production team includes: 

• Richard "Sven" Shelgren as Executive Producer who previously worked with Joel and Kamala on the Award-winning feature film A Single Woman; 
• Found object/master propmaker and fine artist Mac Maker who has constructed the Education Reclamation Neural Interface Extractor, AKA E.R.N.I.E.;
• Lighting designer, Dan Reed, who came to the team through last year's theatrical production of Pinter's "The Lover." Dan's unique lighting style that has been seen widely in television and stage, including the Emmys and Oscars, But his edgier work fits right into the concept of the Compound Interest world.
• Long-time collaborator and sci-fi lover Geoffrey Stebbins re-joins the team as cinematographer and editor.
• Wildly talented animator Suraiya Daud has come on as storyboard artist; 
• Paola Santos, another frequent collaborator, as make-up/hair. 

E.R.N.I.E. (currently being constructed by Mac Maker)

What We Need

This fundraiser is for the production costs alone. 

We are pulling a lot of strings, and using a lot of our own elbow grease and equipment, so production costs will be mainly used to pay crew members, rent equipment and build sets. There will be about four days of shooting.

Preproduction and Wrap Costs..............................................$950

Shooting Crew Labor............................................................$8,650

Location, food, and General Expenses...................................$775

Props & Wardrobe.................................................................$1,910

Studio & Construction Cost.................................................$6,850

Equipment Costs...................................................................$1,410

Talent Costs and Expenses..................................................$2,592

Production Insurance..........................................................$3,000

Contingency..........................................................................$2,500

The Impact

There is currently $1,520,00,000,000 of student loan debt in America, affecting 44 million Americans. The average dollar amount per student is $37,173 and it is rapidly growing for Millenials. This crisis one of the big issues in the next election cycle. Starting your professional career with massive debt on your back, causes you to make choices that are short-term money-based rather than long-term career-based. Relationship and family decisions also come into play, as well the existing relationships between parents and their debt-riddled kids. This system needs to be reworked rather than ignored. 

Science fiction leads the way to discussion about how we want to live our lives in the years to come. Compound Interest is a cause-based science fiction horror film that we intend to get out to students throughout the United States. As with our documentary film Equal Means Equal we intend to make real change with this fun and creative work. To see how we can make change with film go to https://equalmeansequal.org and see the work we’ve been doing to get equal representation for women in the Constitution. 

As far as the larger picture for this film, we intend to use this as a starting point for a much larger world we are concocting. Potentially this film will be the lead up to a much larger concept series of which this would be a prequel, or a piece of a much larger puzzle. 

Risks & Challenges

The challenge of this film is to make this world as true to the story as possible, to do it with style and to make it cool. It will require special effects, very careful shot planning, great acting and a lot of imagination, and support to make it all come together. 

We have been working in the Hollywood community for decades, making media on our own, outside the system but with the help of those inside as well. We are a well-known team that gets things done and in a high-quality way. We have waited until we had the proper team to make this film and the time is now because all of being available at this moment is a rare thing. We have enlisted the support of the CalArts, Joel’s alma mater, and they’ve stepped up to the plate to help us with locations at their extensive facility. This window is only open at the end of August between their high school program and the beginning of the school year.

It’s time to seize the moment and get this thing going!

Other Ways You Can Help

If you can’t contribute monetarily there are other things you can do.

• Get this fundraiser out there to your people on social media and on the email.
• Tell people about it verbally.
• Offer to help us use our social media effectively.
• Get us meetings with people who might move us from here to our larger plan. 
• Give us ideas of how you can help.