Nathan, a failed doctor from Australia, starts working at an Ohio correctional facility's execution chamber. Upon viewing a typical procedure, Nathan quickly learns that the system is in desperate need of change. He finds himself in a gridlock with both the system and the Warden running the prison, and makes it his mission to remedy the process.
Written and Directed by Ishan Seth—a fourth-year Film/TV student at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts—the concept behind The Executioner developed from an Atlantic article about the botched execution of inmate Clayton Lockett. Upon further research of Lockett's execution and those of many others, Ishan learned of the many problems in the method of correctional facility executions and plans to explore them with The Executioner.
....which is all great, but we need YOUR help to do it!
What We Need & What You Get
As students studying film, the budgets for our projects are always deeper than our own pockets . In order for us to execute our creative vision to the highest caliber, we need your help in covering the logistical expenses of filmmaking.
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Production Design: Using NYU's Todman Soundstage, our production design team will construct an execution chamber and prison cell entirely from scratch. Though an expensive endeavor, having complete creative control over the design and build of the correctional facility in which The Executioner takes place allows for us to tell Ishan's story in the most authentic way possible. Additionally, costs raised will be put toward props, set dressing, and costuming.
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Transportation: Planning on building a set from scratch is an expensive endeavor in its own right, but transporting the raw materials to do so only adds to its cost. In order to pull this project off smoothly, a portion of our funds must be dedicated to renting a truck to move our construction materials from our vendor to our building space, and then from our building space over to NYU's Todman Soundstage. Additionally, transportation is necessary for the picking up/dropping off of any camera equipment and prop rentals.
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Craft Services: Without a well-fed crew, it is beyond impossible to make a film. We are responsible for providing two meals a day to every cast and crew member. Feeding 20+ mouths, twice-a-day, for our 7 days of shooting is a venture that we definitely need help financing.
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Camera & Lighting Equipment: We are extremely fortunate that NYU provides us with a stellar camera allotment that includes a SONY F5 camera. However, we are still missing several essential elements we need to keep our film visually on par with other major motion pictures of today— a follow focus, monitor, and shoulder rig.
Recent Projects
Ishan has made several short films over his time at NYU. The most recent is Incognita—a film that explores the nagging thoughts in our head and their influential ability ruin us. Incognita and more of Ishan's work can be seen below and give an idea of the tone that Ishan is striving for with The Executioner.
Incognita: https://vimeo.com/155301841/704d283c48
Remove Me: https://vimeo.com/90718961
Fathom These Shadows: https://vimeo.com/92552370
Ravelled: https://vimeo.com/91486199
Meet the Crew
Ishan Seth
Writer/Director
Ishan is the writer and director of The Executioner and is finishing up his last year in the Tisch School of the Arts. Most recently, Ishan completed his Junior-level thesis project Incognita in October of last year, and is excited to collaborate with largely the same crew on The Executioner. Throughout his time at NYU, Ishan travelled to London to work for the BBC and has directed and edited multiple projects, including a short documentary on the lives of domestically abused women.
Marc FerreProducerMarc recently graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in January 2016 and is thrilled to add
The Executioner to his growing list of producing credits. Over the past year, Marc has worked across all forms of entertainment—working for Bravo, Oxygen, E!, Esquire and Creative Artists Agency along with directing and choreographing various film and theatrical projects. In addition to working on
The Executioner, Marc is currently working as the director and choreographer of Tisch New Theatre's April 2016 production of
Hairspray at the NYU Skirball Center for Performing Arts.
Vivianne Nguyen
Producer/1st Assistant Director
Vivianne is a senior at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, studying film & television. Currently interning with Saturday Night Live's script and production departments, her past work experiences include The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Comedy Central, Showtime Networks, MTV, Bravo, and Oxygen. Vivianne has held positions as the producer and 1st AD on a number of short films, as well as being the 1st AD for two television pilots. After producing/ADing Ishan's junior thesis Incognita, Vivianne is excited to be collaborating with him and the rest of the team again on The Executioner!
Tiffany Chi
Producer
Tiffany is a first year film student at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, majoring in Film/TV Production and Economics. She's excited to be back at NYU after spending a month here during a high school arts program. She is more than excited to be working on such a great project next to an amazing team who welcomed her with open arms!
Graham Avery Ksander-Turner
Production Designer
Graham Avery Ksander-Turner is a senior at NYU graduating this spring. He has spent his four years at NYU studying production with a focus on production design and a passion for bringing characters and scenes to life through the design of a film.
Risks & Challenges
Like any other creative project, there are many unexpected challenges we may face in bringing our film to life. We will be sure to take on any unforeseen issue as a team and problem solve together so that our finished film is as incredible as possible!
Other Ways You Can Help
If there's any way you can help, we'd love, love, love for you to share this Indiegogo campaign link with your friends and family.
We're very excited to be a part of this project, and we hope you are, too!