STORY

    Jeremy Ray here! I've been in LA four years trying to get my "break" into writing. I went to a great school, received accolades on my writing, and yet producers were still hesitant to be the first to produce my work. So instead of waiting around for someone to take a chance on me, I decided to take things into my own hands. I knew the perfect story to do it with, too!

    Locked Away has a special place in my heart. It was originally a short play I created while I attended Carnegie Mellon University and is the first piece in which I explored gay identity within my characters.

   When I was young, I avoided writing gay characters because I bought into the idea that roles should be written for the Brad Pitts and Tom Cruises of the industry. Growing up in a small town in the Midwest made it difficult for me to come out as gay. Seeing more characters like myself in television and film would have made me feel less alone.  

    Please support Locked Away so that we can continue the trend of creating gay-friendly films that support future generations who may find themselves struggling with their identities. 

     Locked Away is in solid shape. The script has received awesome reviews for its ability to tell a captivating story almost entirely in the trunk of a car! Our insanely talented cast and crew is ready to put the pedal to the metal. We have everything already lined up to make this happen except for the financing. Will you join us on our journey so that we can get this project Locked Away?

We'll be using funds raised to:

• Build a believable car trunk with dynamic filming options for our cameras
• Secure and Insure locations
• Pay for post-production costs
• Pay our Cast and Crew 

    You can see a breakdown of our budget Here.

  Step on board and fasten your seat belts, we'll make sure you enjoy the ride!!!

    In exchange for your help, we’re giving out special credits, workshops, and even a couple opportunities to have your name dropped in the short film! Please check out all our great perks in our perks section!

    LOCKED AWAY is a 16-minute short film that explores living your authentic life without regrets. It follows the story of Mark and Luke, two bank tellers, who haven’t been getting along after a company party. However, now they find themselves locked inside the trunk of a car after a bank robbery gone from bad to worse.  With their lives on the line and whatever time they have quickly escaping them, they must work together if they are to free themselves from being locked away. 

    Since Locked Away will be filmed almost entirely inside the trunk of a car, there will certainly be plenty of challenges. However, we’ve already done a lot of the planning and grunt work to help this project go as smoothly as possible, from creating a shot-list to building a storyboard. We're confident we can make it to the finish line… with your help of course.

CAST & CREW

JEREMY RAY - WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER

   JEREMY RAY graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a MFA in Dramatic Writing. He is the recipient of the Max K. Lerner Playwriting Fellowship and the Shubert Playwriting Fellowship. He was also a finalist for the John Cauble Award at the Kennedy Center for his play, We'll Always Have Paris. He was also named as a quarter-finalist for the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards competition for his feature screenplay, Of Flesh and Blood. But his true talent lies in his skill at convincingly barking like a dog.

Introduction Video

ANDREW MAIN - PRODUCER

    ANDREW MAIN is Los Angeles native, Andrew joins the project debuting in his role as Producer.  He is not only a librarian, but he also brings a unique procedural perspective and an organizational background routed in his half a decade experience working in U.S. Naval Intelligence.  While in the service, he’s worked as an Assistant Public Relations Officer under the National Security Agency, as the U.S. Navy Military Honors Coordinator for the State of Maryland, a Command Personnel Logistics and Security Coordinator, and the U.S. Central Command Forward Operations Joint Inter-Agency Coordination Group Personnel Logistics and Security Director (a mouthful he attributes to the Military’s affinity for acronyms).  Since his departure from the Navy, he’s held roles as Pepperdine University Libraries Communications Director, and subsequently as their Access Services Manager, as well as founder of the non-profit Friends of the Sepulveda Dog Park.  

Introduction Video

WILLIAM GERBER - ACTOR (Mark)

    WILLIAM GERBER is a producer/ actor /screenwriter who first pursued a career in medicine, studying biology in Atlanta, Georgia. He found few things as exhilarating as watching people lose themselves in a character on stage and screen-- then he experienced that exhilaration for himself. The rest is history. William's acting credits include Teen Wolf, Fatal Encounters, and The Vampire Diaries, and you'll see him next on the CBS show Seal Team. William's studied acting at Groundlings, Anthony Meindl Actors Workshop, and UCB, and screenwriting at UCLA. He's proud to announce that he just completed his first feature-length screenplay! William’s also an avid hiker and whitewater kayaker who loves backpacking with his Siberian husky, Miko. 

Introduction Video

JEFF VERGHIES - ACTOR (Luke)

    Coming from a family of artists hailing from Pittsburgh, PA, JEFF VERGHIES grew up with a classic American boy dream of becoming a Professional Baseball player.  Gradually through exposure to the arts, that dream evolved into one of the arts.  His father, the lead singer of a local band, introduced him to music by adding a set of drums to their family studio; he was on the stage two weeks later. Eventually Jeff became part of a band that had success playing local venues. Though disbanded now, his passion for music remains and is continually apart of his life.  The International Models & Talent Convention 2017 had Jeff taking awards in 7 of the 14 competitions, including runner up in "Male Actor of the Year" and "Improv", which drew the attention of Discover Management.  With his nascent curiosity for acting, and his shyness worked out of him from his time with his band, Jeff is excited to step into his first lead role since landing in LA in February.  

Introduction Video

ELIZABETH HODGMAN HANKS - CINEMATOGRAPHER

    ELIZABETH HODGMAN HANKS is a freelance cinematographer based in Los Angeles, California with over 6 years of experience shooting narrative, documentary, and promotional content.  Her credits include the feature film I'm OK (2017) and full-length documentary Some of my Best Friends are Kimchi (2018). She contributed additional camera work on the Oscar-nominated documentary The Hunting Ground (2016), and she shot Buzzfeed's female-forward Ladylike series (2017), which has garnered over 13 million views.  Elizabeth is fluent in Spanish and loves to travel. She has spent time in Spain, Honduras, Guatemala, France, and Tanzania. She created travel pieces in both Madrid and Denver, CO, and has shot in Mexico, Japan, and Thailand.

Here's Elizabeth's beautiful cinematic reel...

DIANA KEELER - ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

    As both an Assistant Director and film teacher, DIANA KEELER enjoys learning, creating, and exploring all parts of the production process.  She believes that in order to be a good AD, you have to understand what you're asking people to do, and in order to be a good teacher, you have to be constantly practicing and updating your skills.  As a result, she has worked in almost every role on a production: cinematographer, sound mixer, director, gaffer, writer, producer, make-up artist, production designer, PA, editor, colorist, composer, and VFX artist.  When she's not on set, you can find her hanging out with her two African dwarf frogs.

SCOTT STARRETT - COMPOSER

    After graduating from Stanford University, SCOTT STARRETT earned a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied under John Corigliano, Academy Award winning composer of The Red Violin. He was then awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study music composition in Rome, Italy, under the sponsorship of Hans Werner Henze. Scott is currently creating the score for VH1's scripted drama Daytime Divas. His film credits include scoring the HBO feature Dim Sum Funeral and the Apollo astronaut feature documentary The Wonder of It All. He has also collaborated as a composer-orchestrator with Michael Kamen on HBO's From the Earth to the Moon and MTV's Bryan Adams Unplugged as well as creating musical arrangements for Lisa Loeb. Other notable composing credits include Fox's medical drama The Mob Doctor, NBC's conspiracy-thriller series The Event, as well as the score for all six seasons of Lifetime's dramatic-comedy series Drop Dead Diva.

DYAN FLORES - LYRICIST

    DYAN FLORES is a musical theatre writer and comedian. She was a regular on the Chicago improv and sketch comedy scene before she moved to New York and shifted her focus to musical theatre writing. Dyan is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Writing workshop, and she has had shows performed at the New York Library for the Performing Arts, American Theater Company, The Metropolitan Room, Milk Can Theatre Company, and NYU. 

DAVID FEUSSE - EDITOR/SOUND DESIGNER

   DAVID FEUSSE went to Huntington University where he studied Film Production and finished his education at the Los Angeles Film Studies Center in Hollywood after spending a year in Munich training with filmmakers at TVT Creative Media. His experience in commercial and narrative filmmaking includes projects for BMW to short films premiered at Cannes Film Festival. He enjoys cooking, watching good films and throwing sticks in front of roller bladers in Central Park (not really, but not opposed).

HITOSHI INOUE - SPECIAL EFFECTS DESIGNER

   HITOSHI INOUE has years of experience in visual effects. When a movie is running into trouble with their visual effects, his top tier status often makes him one of the first people called to resolve the issue. He believes in professionalism on set above all things, and enjoys using his mastery in movie magic to help the director bring his or her vision to life.  His work with effects can be found in Titanic, Starship Troopers, and Vampire Dairies-- just to name a few. When he's not working on visual effects or cinematography, he’s out directing one of his own independent films.

CALLIE OTT - CASTING DIRECTOR

   CALLIE OTT is excited to be a part of Locked Away! She received her BFA in performance from The University of Central Missouri. While attending, she became a finalist for the National Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship and was honored to perform on the Kennedy Center Stage. In her five years in LA, Callie has been in numerous commercials, including ones for: Jeep, Eharmony, Wrecked on TBS, Frank's Red Hot, and America's Best. Her acting has been featured on Lifetime, Buzzfeed, Youtube, and Amazon.  In fact, her film WTF! is currently trending on Amazon Prime, go check it out!  Callie loves live performance; she is a member of both Second City and IO West, and she just finished a run of Divorce: The Hip Hop Musical which was nominated for multiple awards at the Fringe Festival and won the Producer's Encore Award. She's currently performing in Stranger Things: The Musical Tribute. (Watch out Winona Ryder!)  She also currently volunteers for the Corporation for Supportive Housing. When she has free time, she enjoys doing sold-out modern dance in her apartment, alone.

    Pledges are tremendously helpful, but we understand not everyone has the financial means to donate. You can still help us by getting the word out! Please share our campaign on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, anywhere you find yourself most! Your share might be what gets us onto the top of Indiegogo’s page!

Perks

Level 1 ($5) - A Hope and a Prayer - For pledging $5, your name will be placed on the Locked Away Supporters Board.  We want everyone who supports to know they are apart of the Locked Away Family and that we know we couldn't get to where we are going without their support.

Level 2 ($10) - Scream and Shout - Link to screen 'Locked Away' on a common streaming platform, along with previous level's perks.

Level 3 ($25) - Adrenaline Strength - For donating $25 you will receive an invite to our Wrap Party, to be held within the Los Angeles, Studio City area. You are also entered into our Thank You Roll, where at the beginning of every meeting for the production we will take a moment to communicate our thanks. Our Thank You Roll to be posted to our social media feeds.

Level 4 ($50) - Bobby Pin Lock Pin - Supporting us at this level will include all previous level's perks as well as a copy of the 'Locked Away' script sans the ending. Additionally you will receive a special thanks on the outro-credits of the finished film.

Level 5 ($100) - Call the Locksmith - In addition to the previously mentioned perks, your support at this level will allow you a writing or acting creative consult with either Jeremy or Will. Both offer regular courses in writing and acting workshops in the LA. You will also receive one of a limited number of set pieces used during the filming of the short.

Level 6 ($500) - Sledgehammer - Supporting us at this level will include the previously mentioned items listed as will as the opportunity to meet with a principal on the project, be it one of the actors, directors or producers, in person or online (travel expenses not covered). You will also receive a copy of the script will the ending included ( Spoilers ;-) ).

Level 7 ($2,500) - Jaws of Life - Signing on to support the project at this level will allow you the previously mentioned perks as well as a couple unique opportunities. You will be able to visit the set (travel expenses not included), opt for an Executive Producer credit on the final short, and be able to claim one of the Working Scripts (scripts used by actors during filming).