Short Summary
This film has its foundations six years ago at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where we first saw a production of Love’s Labour’s Lost and were inspired by how much we connected to these characters that were written over 400 years ago. Jennifer directed the play when she was in high school and set it in a modern-day boarding school. That production was sold out every night and received glowing reviews at a large fine arts festival. Now we’re ready to take that project to the next level with this film!
A successful Shakespeare movie has characters that are accessible to anyone, regardless of the audience's familiarity with Shakespearean stories or language. Almost everyone has experienced the pangs of first love and the joy of enduring friendship. Our movie celebrates every type of love, from romantic to unrequited to fraternal. The themes are universal, but the story is unique.
Ferdinand, the Head Boy of Navarre Academy, leads three of his comrades in making a chastity vow in order to focus on their studies. However, with the arrival of four new girls at their school, including the Princess of Aquitane and her sultry friend Rosaline, the boys can’t help but quickly fall for each of their new classmates. Meanwhile, their eccentric Spanish teacher, Don Armado, falls for Jaquenetta, the sexy school nurse, but is caught in a love triangle with Costard, the janitor. As you might imagine, this all leads to some wild antics, including secret parties in the woods and students disguised as Russians.
WITH YOUR HELP, WE CAN TURN THIS MOVIE FROM A DREAM INTO REALITY!!!
What We Need & What You Get
For many of us involved, this film is a real "labor of love" (no pun intended). We really believe in what we're doing and this is more than just another job for us. But people still need to eat and pay rent, and film equipment is expensive.
We need $65,000 in total. If we can show investors that people really care about this project by raising $25,000 through Indiegogo, we can find people who are willing to invest the remaining $40,000.
This money will be spent for the film's production and production quality, right where you want it spent. We need to pay artists, including a cinematographer, art director, costume designer, actors, editors, crew, musicians, and more. We are planning on bringing Shakespeare and Company's Daniela Veron down to Austin to do a workshop with the cast prior to starting filming, because we believe that making Shakespeare's language accessible to audiences is one of the most important parts of this process. However, talent doesn't come cheap.
We also need to spend money on equipment like cameras, costumes, and props. Last but not least, there are practical necessities like feeding the cast and crew each day, printing costs, transportation, and other small but vital expenses. Once we raise enough money to hire a line producer, we will be able to give you a more specific budget breakdown of how much each category will cost. With your help, we can raise enough money to make a truly amazing film.
We've got some awesome perks lined up for y'all, including everything from travel mugs to personalized sonnets to exclusive donor cocktail parties! If you have an idea for a great perk that's not on here--let us know!
If we don't meet our entire goal, we will still make a Love’s Labour’s Lost movie, but we will have to make sacrifices to meet stricter budget requirements and we will not be able to achieve the high-quality film that we hope to make.
The Impact
We believe that Shakespeare is still important and relevant, even nearly 400 years after his death. We want to show the world that Shakespeare is not just high-art literature. Shakespeare was a dirty dirty poet, and we want to bring his beautiful dirty humor to life! We want to highlight the ridiculous characters who all have the same hopes, dreams, and desires as all of us...namely to get laid. This film will make Shakespeare accessible to everyone. It's breaking new ground in the world of non-musical film adaptations of Love's Labour's Lost.
Our production team includes artists from a myriad of backgrounds, including theater directors and filmmakers who have successfully brought films to Sundance and SXSW. We believe in this project and you should too.
Risks & Challenges
As with any independent film, there are risks. If we don’t raise as much money as we hope, we are still going to make the movie, but we will not be able to make Love's Labour's Lost as great as we know it can be. Hiring an experienced crew, and renting high quality cameras, lighting, sound equipment, and costumes is all quite costly. These days, camera, lighting, and sound quality make the difference between films that go to film festivals like Sundance and SXSW, and those that do not. We are going to need your help to bring Shakespeare to the silver screen!
We understand the difficulties that come with budgeting a film, and we both have experience working on shoestring-budget projects. So we feel confident in our ability to work with whatever we get. However, we have high hopes for making this film the best it can be, and for that, we need to raise at least $25,000 in this Indiegogo campaign. We love Shakespeare and we love movies, and we're so excited to bring the two together for you!
Other Ways You Can Help
Even if you can't donate, that doesn't mean you can't help. Please spread the word about our campaign! Share links on Facebook and Twitter. Tell your friends! Tell your English teacher! And keep checking back for more updates.
Questions? Comments?
Email us at loveslabourslostmovie@gmail.com or contact us through our social media accounts.