First and foremost, my team and I want to say thank you!  If you've made it here, it shows that something in our message truly resonates with you as it does with all of us.  My name is Jordan Martinez.  I am an Afghanistan War Veteran, former Army Paratrooper, and in my final year of the grad program at USC School of Cinematic Arts.

As a combat veteran, I have first-hand experience in warfare, seen the psychological effects it has on returning service members, and even seen it lead to Veterans I knew to suicide . "The Gatekeeper" is meant to bring awareness to this growing issue within the Veteran community as well as to everyone outside of the community that may be tormented by these thoughts. Your contribution will help us make this film the message it's meant to be. If we can stop even one person from committing suicide, then this film will be worth it. We humbly ask you to support this campaign in fighting this war at home and ultimately to help us save Veterans' lives. 

In order to accurately, artistically, and authentically tell this story, our goal is to raise $45,000 to attain military-grade equipment, realistic locations, uniforms, wardrobe, and to support the cast and crew working so diligently to tell this story.

We have a variety of perks to go with your donation ranging from a digital copy of the movie to earning the opportunity to meet our team in person and experience a day on set.  Our team is dedicated to completing this film so that we may submit it to the Student Academy Awards and further broaden our audience.  Your donation will be used to ensure the highest level of production value we can possibly attain by creating accurate environments for our characters that are as realistic as possible.  Every bit counts when it comes to making a film, and we hope you join us in being apart of it.

Our film will serve the Veteran community by shedding light on the real problem of PTSD and depression within our ranks as we return home from deployment. Twenty-two Veterans commit suicide every day at an average of three times the civilian population.  Our hope and aspiration is to expose the illusions of desperation to anyone contemplating suicide and to truly consider what they are throwing away before making this irreversible decision. 

My team and I have already been rallying up the troops in support of this film. Veteran communities have assisted with finding locations and offering support with some military equipment at lower rates, but these are just the first steps in our long journey for the rest of the film.

Even though this is a short film, our production days will be long and hard.  Being able to provide our cast and crew with all the essentials needed to carry on throughout the day and keep them in good spirits is one of our highest priorities.  With such personal and sensitive subject matter, it is important for us to band together through the process of highly emotional themes.  With our combined experience of filmmakers and Veterans, we have pulled together our creative minds to collectively aim for an accurate look into current mental health issues and to represent them honorably on screen.  Recognizing and acknowledging these feelings are the first steps to getting our loved ones the help they need to pull themselves back to us.