“Roman A Clef” is a French term that referrers to a novel in which real people or events appear with invented names.

In our film, the story is about a fashion photography crew heads to a remote ranch house to shoot only to get terrorized by a pair of ghoulish strangers.  The pace will creep along slowly, calling back to horror film of the 1970s, specifically those of Roman Polanski and Tobe Hooper.  We will maximize the tension of each scene and create a terrifying slow burn for the audience.

James Paxton, the son of legendary actor Bill Paxton, and star of USA Network’s “Eyewitness” will play the lead character; a struggling actor who takes a chance at some modeling work to reinvigorate a career.  James will be styled as a femme fatal for the shoot, and possibly the only survivor.

After his acting debut in Fox Searchlight's “Table 19”, Brad Oberhofer will also play a role as a member of the photography crew, as well as composing the original score for the piece.

James, Erin, Brad and I last did a short film called “Penny Sucker” that premiered at the Palm Springs International and Holly Shorts film festivals this year.  We want to share that film with you, via the perks of discs, posters and music, and also invite you to be a part of contributing to this, our next project together and see “Roman A Clef” together grow from a short into a feature length film.

All of us have taken different paths to filmmaking; I spent my post-college years working at agencies and studios before developing and producing my own projects, Erin spent a decade touring as a musician before turning to writing and directing, Brad continues to tour as a musician as he now focuses more on acting and composing, and James took up the family profession as an actor.

Together we have a great bond as storytellers and like the films that we have all worked on individually and collaboratively, want to continue to entertain and give back to those who are supportive of our careers.

One of the main things that I have learned from working in the movie industry, but also more just on a personal level, is that it's ok to ask for help; can't do everything yourself...  And here and now, James, Erin, Brad and I need your help to make this film.

But here, asking for help, also means an intimate level of inclusion.  Crowdfunding is a beautiful thing because filmmaking is such a collaborative process with the amount of people needed to be involved, and that direct notion that you had something to do with its existence is a pretty empowering thing.  “Hey, I helped make that…” is a great feeling.

We all thank you for reading this and taking a moment to check out our page.  We certainly hope you decide to support “Roman A Clef” in any way you can and look forward to sharing the film with everyone.