UPDATE: Fantastic! WE HIT OUR TARGET IN JUST 40 HOURS! What Next?

The campaign still runs. We’ve got twelve days left to go and although I won't hammer anyone too hard for donations, they would still be welcome.

Additional funds will go directly on to pay for:

• Film Festival Submission fees. These can add up to be quite significant amounts of money, certainly in the hundreds of pounds. Combine this with delivery costs and it’s a tough one to keep up with.
• Adding to the Make-Up, Costume and Prop budget. We are used to shooting on a low budget. Generally in regard to costume we ask our cast to come partially dressed in their own clothing and we add elements to that. Additional funds could allow us to design a look for the characters we haven’t been able to do before. Props can be upgraded if we have an additional sum for that too, and there’s potential for prosthetic wounds on screen instead of just blood which would increase the make-up budget (Which in the original budget was tiny.)
• Bring in another member of staff. We will be shooting with a minimal crew. The more people on set, the more people we have to transport and feed. We may be able to pull in a photographer or a runner/ assistant director with the extra budget.
• Extend insurance to cover a year. The project is at the moment reliant on Carter’s personal insurance to cover liabilities and equipment costs. If we can get an additional £400, we can extend that to a small production Insurance package which would last a whole year! That would insure all other films we shoot within that period!
• Lenses. Two of the camera’s used on the shoot have a very basic lens package, with just one 50mm f1.4 lens between the two of them. These low f stop lenses are great for low light situations and give a really filmic feel. An additional £100 would allow for a second (old/2^nd Hand) 50mm f1.4 for those cameras. A further £175 would allow us to buy a newer (2^nd hand) Sigma 30mm f1.4 lens, which would allow us not only to shoot more filmically in low light, but also to get wider shots in those situations.

So basically any additional funds WILL NOT BE WASTED! THANK YOU ALL FOR THE TERRIFIC SUPPORT WE'VE HAD SO FAR. Please spread the word! All contributions are welcome.

ORIGINAL PITCH VIDEO SHOWN BELOW

Crime is a short film by veteran screen-writing team Debbie May and James McCreadie. It is produced and directed by multiple award winning director Carter Ferguson. The film has 6 main cast and will be shot in and around Glasgow in February and March of 2015.

The story centres around two criminals, Jason and Marty who, miles from anywhere, have to fight for their lives as they stand accused of a crime they didn’t commit.

This is the first time that we have attempted to use a crowdfunding platform to raise funds to make a movie. With the recent major drop in paid film and television drama work in Scotland we can no longer afford to bankroll the process.

There are several elements of the adventurous but fantastic script that are pushing the costs beyond our means. We need to hire (or find) four cars and two unusual locations, shoot simultaneously at points with 3 different cameras and potentially hire a portaloo for two days.

We have invested heavily in our own equipment over the years and all of it will be utilised on Crime. There is however a requirement for equipment hires and small purchases of expendable items that cannot be avoided.

The shoot will take 4 days and we'll provide food and travel costs for a cast and crew of 10-12 people during that time. With basic prop, costume, weapons, effects and location costs included, this will run to about £1200. We’re looking to raise £900 of that in just 14 days via this campaign. Can you help?

We fully understand that not everyone has a disposable income and encourage those who would like to help financially but cant afford to, to instead SPREAD THE WORD. 

Facebook posts, Twitter tweets and re-tweets and other social networking and word of mouth promotion will help us to find the sponsors we seek. If you can help by spreading the word, please, please do.

Our 1st CRIME VLOG

After completion of filming we will be in a short but involved post production process. This consists of editing, sound mixing, music creation and visual effects passes. This will be bankrolled by the team members and subsidised, as with the shoot, by an in kind artistic contribution of time from local film and television professionals.

Once completing the film festival circuit, the film will eventually be released for everyone to watch free on the video platforms Youtube and Vimeo. This can only be done after the festival process has completed as posting a video online is against many of the festivals rules of entry. Some of the perks offered here provide the opportunity for supporters to watch via private link prior to this.

Because our budgets are very limited and the world of festivals is very expensive we have rarely in the past been able to submit to them.

Film Festival submission fees can be £20-£65 (and more) per festival so if, for example, we do not have to commit the estimated 27% of our budget to vehicle hire, or the 16% fuel budget comes in for less, that saved money will go directly to cover submission fees, postage, and screeners for film festivals. Not one penny of the money raised will be wasted. We are asking for the bare minimum we need to make sure the efforts of our labour and your donations don't go to waste.

We may run another smaller campaign upon completion, in order for us to further fund the process of applying for film festivals. 

The impact we wish to have is simple - and two-fold. First, we want 'Crime' to stay with you long after you've stopped watching. For no other reason other than it's damn good entertainment - and if that happens, we've done our job. If we succeed in point one, then we'll automatically succeed in point two - in proving that quality storytelling can be transplanted to the screen on a very limited budget North of the border. That's it - that's all we want to do. We don't want to change the world, we don't want to preach a message - we just want to provide a bit of entertainment. And, these days, we could all do with a bit of that! 

James, Debbie and Carter previously worked in these same roles on the multiple award winning Scottish feature film Fast Romance. Carter has went on to win several other awards as a director. Actors currently cast in Crime include experienced professional Derek Munn and award winning actress Morag Calder. The crew is still coming together but we are pleased to announce that talented up and coming cinematographer Neil MacMillan will be joining us as Director of Photography and former Bafta Scotland New Talent winner Conor Meechan will be editing.

Here are the two films for which Carter won Best Director awards. Both were 48 Hour Film Projects produced with fellow award winning filmmaker Bryan Larkin. Both of these were written, shot and edited in just 48 hours, and we're sure you will agree: they certainly belie their budgets and speedy construction.

Crime first came to being in August 1994, when James McCreadie and Debbie May wrote the script to be used as part of James’s filming class at drama school. Back then, it was about five friends in a field who have an argument when a secret is accidentally revealed.

Since then, the script has been through many incarnations, evolving into the very different animal it is today – a high concept action thriller. Would be directors and producers have come and gone, all full of promises, none of which delivered. As a result, the project has sat untouched, sometimes for years, between drafts with James and Debbie being drawn back to work on it every so often. Each time they did, they felt it got that ‘little bit better.’ After all, writing is rewriting, as Paul Abbot said.

Now, it’s gone as far as it can go and, with Carter Ferguson at the helm, James and Debbie hope that the script that is to celebrate it’s 21^st birthday in 2015 will, at last, be shared with the world!