The Pitch
When an up and coming pop star discovers her dad is in a coma, she must enter a virtual world set in the Old West to bring him back to life.
Our team is incredible already, and it's only getting better. More info about our team can be found here: goldminethemovie.com
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Lorelai performs shows on a weekly basis, orchestrating her own schedule. When she receives a call during a big show, she rushes to the hospital. Her mom, Jessica, meets her; Lorelai’s dad, Nate, has had a heart attack and is now in a coma. Unable to decide whether to take him off life support, their doctor encourages them to enter virtual reality in a new medical procedure.
Lorelai enters an Old West virtual space. Her dad raised her on Westerns even though she's annoyed by their masculine themes. However, Dr. Ambrazia recommends a familiar and relaxing space for Nate. As Lorelai transforms into a fast gun in the West, she becomes intrigued as she can recreate memories from her past in the virtual West with her dad. Eventually, Lorelai will become stuck in this VR landscape and have to figure out how to navigate back to the real world...
This is a family drama centered around grief. We all undergo hardships, and this movie works through those universal emotions surrounding death. We never get over anything; we only get through it. GOLD MINE is an entertaining sci-fi family drama that works as a genre-fueled hit.
How Your Contributions Work
Rest assured, your contributions will go straight to the production of Gold Mine.
To give you a more concrete sense of how we will use the funds from this campaign:
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Cast - With intense scenes and emotionally charged characters, our actors will bring the project to life. We want to respect their hard work most of all since they have to be vulnerable in front of the camera. Actors put in so much time and effort, and we need them to know how much we care!
Crew/ Labor - People used to say it to me all the time, but it’s true: a film takes a village. We really believe in paying as much as we can to our crew. Given that we have an ambitious shoot, we absolutely cannot lower our crew rates. We respect the hard work these individuals put in, and we’re always humbled by the amazing work we see on set.
Locations - How do you sell reality? Shoot it. We need an old Western town and a realistic, standing hospital set. To pull this off, we need the big bucks. We’ll also be putting our cast and crew up in lodging for the old Western town since it’s outside of Los Angeles County. To properly accommodate people, we need to pad our Locations budget more.
Equipment Rentals - These are the technical inventions and innovations that capture reality and transmit it to digital files. From the camera and lenses to lights and c-stands, we’ll be ensuring a proper production. We have good relationships with equipment vendors in L.A., and we’re very excited to capitalize on them for our first feature.
Production Supplies - If we don’t have extra batteries, do you think the sound person will be able to charge their equipment or will the makeup artist be able to use their devices? Production Supplies are an essential part of any show as walkie talkies and orange cones create active communication and safety. We believe in professional procedures!
Contingency - When the well runs dry, what do you do? Well… plan for it. Contingency or emergency funds go a long way to ensuring we’ll be able to carry through with our vision even if disasters ensue. We know we’ll be ready by planning for 10% of the preliminary budget to go straight toward contingency.
Crowdfunding Fees - A service like this is extremely valuable in connecting us directly with you, our initial audience. This comes at a cost of course.
Food - Back in the day, the Egyptians made some pyramids. It’s unclear how much the workers ate. Either way, food is now an integral part of any workforce. We want people to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We’ve been on way too many sets where cereal is lunch, and bagels are dinner. We don’t want that for anyone. The best work is based on good meals.
Post-Production - As directors, we always feel that once we shoot the script, we’re done. Easy, hand it to the post-team. Right? Wrong. We need to have the budget to accommodate sound design, color, composing, visual effects, music licensing, and basic editing. We plan to be our own assistant editors, but we’ll need talented artists to help take this film to completion and inevitably get it into festivals. If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to sell it to Netflix or Amazon!
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Writer's Statement
By Matthew Marder
This screenplay is designed to do two things: make you laugh and make you cry. I grew up on Westerns. I loved them as a kid. But as I aged, I noticed many Westerns were plagued with sexist and racist depictions, vilifying certain groups of people (i.e. Native Americans) while celebrating troubled cowboys, mostly misogynistic white men. I always thought it’d be fascinating to explore a Western with a female protagonist who’s disturbed by the ways of the West and must take action under her own moral code. The West has become a myth on its own in American culture, and this project explores that to the hilt. GOLD MINE is an ambivalent love song to Westerns, appreciating their philosophy while noting their shortcomings.
When my dad died suddenly in the fall of 2017, I was broken. He provided so much guidance in my life, even getting me into movies in the first place. We loved watching High Noon together. I wanted to write a very personal piece that dissected shock and grief in the moment it forms in the hospital. The ICU is such a specific place, and I wanted to capture that feeling like it’s never been captured before: on the crossroads of life and death, not knowing if you’re staying or leaving. But I didn’t want this to be a depressing story so the darkly comedic tone sprinkled throughout the tale is meant for audiences to appreciate that life usually throws everything at you at once. I miss my dad every day, and I hope this project is able to pay his memory forward. GOLD MINE was written for all those who’ve lost a loved one or friend. It’s never an easy process, and we all go through it.
Directors' Statement
by Matthew Marder and Adam Chase Cohen
We’ve been working independently and collaborating on projects in Los Angeles for over five years. With successful festival wins and fun premieres, we’ve enjoyed making our work with an amazing community of diverse and passionate artists. But the grind is real and the hustle is endless; we’ve tried to work all jobs from development through full scale production. As independent producers, directors, and writers, we’ve created projects whose budgets have ranged from small indie to large union scales.
Now we’re ready to take the huge leap and make our first feature. Only there’s one catch. We’re only partially funded. So we need your help! Why? Because we want to make a movie that entertains audiences and connects to people on a personal level. We hope to provide a fun experience on all levels, but this campaign is the crucial missing piece in our production puzzle to make this movie come to life. Without this campaign, we don’t think we can reach our goal of getting this movie through festivals and eventually onto a platform like Amazon or Netflix!
We’ve loved the modern takes on Westerns in projects like Westworld, The Rider, and Hostiles. We’re also huge sci-fi fans and think the genre can provide a great arena for thought-provoking questions. We know we can make a unique movie and, specifically, a new entry in the Western genre: Juxtaposing vivid pop performances from the future with visceral duels from the past while combating gender stereotypes -- it’s all going to be a good time. So saddle up and join us on the dusty trail for GOLD MINE!
Risks & Challenges
This is an ambitious first feature as it’s a sci-fi western which usually contains expensive components. Still, we have put in so much legwork already to make our vision achievable. We have collaborated with creative folks, many of whom have already been so inspired by this story that they are offering huge discounts on their services and equipment. We’ve tried to figure out ways to minimize VFX and additional costs while still unravelling a compelling sci-fi narrative. We’ve even figured out a way of shooting around one Western location and even integrating horses in a cost-effective manner.
Despite the best laid plans, problems can arise. There is always a risk that an actor gets sick, or that a piece of equipment fails. To avoid these disasters and improvise as best as possible, we are bringing on the best technical teams possible and budget for contingency plans. Our production experience is drawing in a team that's already showing up to join our adventure. This makes us confident that we can produce this movie soup to nuts for under $300,000.
We’re most excited about shooting in an old Western town which may present strong weather conditions (windy nights, sandstorms, etc) and no signs of life other than one wee film crew. Like Will Kane, the protagonist in High Noon, we hope to stand strong and carry on our mission of making Gold Mine a reality.
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