Short Summary
My name is Michael Crisp, and I'm the director of "The Death of Floyd Collins," 'which is a documentary film that revisits the tragic tale of the famous cave explorer Floyd Collins, who in 1925 became the center of a national media circus after becoming trapped for two weeks in a cave in western Kentucky.
As a documentary film director, my previous credits include "A Cut Above: The Legend of Larry Roberts," "When Happy Met Froggie," "Legendary: When Baseball Came to the Bluegrass," and "The Very Worst Thing," which won the Storyteller Award at the 2010 Redemptive Film Festival in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
"The Death of Floyd Collins" is a project very close to my heart. As a Kentuckian, I'm often attracted to projects that tell compelling stories about Kentucky people, and Floyd's epic journey, as well as the sad fate that befell him, definitely fits into this category.
Floyd's Incredible Story
In the early part of the 20th century, the tourism industry was rapidly growing, especially in Kentucky, where thousands of tourists flocked annually to behold the wonders of Mammoth Cave. By the 1920s, a handful of men were combing the lands near Mammoth Cave in the hopes of finding other caves that they could turn into popular tourist attractions as well.
By 1925, Floyd Collins believed he had found such a cave, and in late January, he began his descent alone into a small, underground tunnel that the media would later call "Sand Cave". After burrowing approximately 100 feet deep into the cave, Floyd's leg became stuck by a rock that had dislodged from the wall after he was attempting to return to the surface.
A day passed before it was discovered that he was missing, and after his friends and family found him, they soon found out that the rock pinning his leg would make rescuing him nearly impossible. As word spread of his predicament, the media was dispatched to Sand Cave to cover the story. A young newspaper reporter named William "Skeets" Miller entered the cave on multiple occasions, and was able to converse at length with Floyd as rescuers continued to work around the clock to free the helpless man. The Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper published Miller's daily conversations with Floyd, which led to a global interest in the story.
The public's fascination with the story reached its peak when approximately 50,000 people came to Sand Cave nine days after Floyd had become trapped. Nicknamed "Carnival Sunday", the large crowd featured families who had arrived with a morbid curiosity about Floyd's fate, as well as food and beverage vendors, preachers, and other onlookers.
During the first week of the ordeal, would-be rescuers were able to bring Floyd food and water, but a cave-in that occurred a week after his entrapment prevented them from providing him with any further provisions. Knowing that Floyd's time was running out, the Kentucky National Guard was sent to Sand Cave. After some hesitation, they decided to dig a vertical shaft of their own in an effort to reach Floyd.
By the time they reached Floyd, which was eighteen days after he had first entered the cave, he was dead. Although public interest in Floyd had now waned, his story had not yet come to an end. In fact, it was just beginning...
What We Need & What You Get
Our film will be released this coming February, however we are in need of completion funds to finish the project. These funds will assist us in distributing the film, screening it theatrically, and placing it in various film festivals throughout the country.
By contributing to this project, you will help us with our goal of bringing Floyd's incredible story to a wider audience, allowing others the opportunity to learn about this amazing man and the many things he accomplished in his lifetime.
Are funding goal is $25,000, which will assist us in distributing the film, screening it theatrically, and placing it in various film festivals throughout the country. We are accepting donations of all sizes, many of which include exciting perks, such as theatrical premiere movie tickets, collectors edition DVDs, listings in the film's credits, and much more.
The Impact
Floyd Collins represented the adventurous spirit of 1920s Americana. He was a man who dreamed of fame and fortune, and sought to find them within the subterranean tunnels of America's heartland. Unfortunately, he became a cautionary tale for those who dared to risk everything in the hopes of attaining these earthly goals.
We have a proven track record with our previous films, all of which have been successful in their own right. "The Very Worst Thing," which told the story of the nation's most deadly school bus crash, won the Storyteller Award at the 2010 Redemptive Film Festival. "When Happy Met Froggie," which revisited the classic 1970s afternoon television show 'Happy's Hour', aired on WTVQ (the ABC affiliate in Lexington, Kentucky) in 2011. "Legendary: When Baseball Came to the Bluegrass," which recounted the story of a fledgling minor league baseball team in Lexington, Kentucky, was an official selection of the 2012 Baseball Hall of Fame Film Festival in Cooperstown, New York.
Like our previous films, "The Death of Floyd Collins" combines archival footage, rare photographs, recreations and interviews with people who are close to the story. One of our interviews is with Floyd's niece, Mildred Collins, who as a baby was present at Sand Cave during the attempted rescue.
We are excited about the exposure that our film will receive after it is released. Recently, the story of Floyd Collins made worldwide news when actor/director Billy Bob Thornton optioned the feature film rights to Floyd's story. Although the option lapsed in 2012, a new partnership currently owns the rights and is planning on soon bringing the story to the silver screen. The publicity from their feature film will undoubtedly help shed light on our film as well.
Risks & Challenges
"Leap and the net will appear" is a famous quote by American naturalist John Burroughs, and I ascribe to that philosophy when making a film. Creating a film involves a great deal of risk, as you invest your time, money, and talents into a project that you believe in hoping that the public will see your film and appreciate it as much as you do.
As an independent filmmaker, I encounter challenges every day. From scheduling, shooting, editing, publicizing, and financing my projects, I am constantly faced with struggles as I turn each film from a concept into a reality. All of these tasks are very time-consuming, but they are also very rewarding.
I look forward to having you join my team, and thank you for supporting my team in this venture.
Other Ways You Can Help
Whether or not you are able to donate to this campaign, we would still like to personally ask you to assist us in getting the word out about our film. Please visit (and "like") our Facebook page at
https://www.facebook.com/TheDeathOfFloydCollins, and encourage others to do so as well. Also be sure to use the Indiegogo share tools as well in order to help us continue to promote this film project.
Thank you again!
Michael Crisp