End of the Beginning

About the film:

END OF THE BEGINNING

After surviving an apocalyptic event, SOOKIE, a cute, feisty, and gun-toting 14-year-old escapes with her ailing DADDY to the open road. They find shelter from the dreaded NIGHT CREATURES in an abandoned town, where they hole up in an empty country diner. There they meet the town’s last inhabitant, DYLAN, a shy, brainy 13-year-old.  When a Night Creature surprises them, Sookie lures it to the door and blows its head off, shocking the impressionable Dylan.

Overnight Daddy begins transforming into one of THEM. When Sookie can’t bring herself to do the unthinkable, Dylan rises to the occasion and ultimately wins her respect.  In search of safety, they hit the road where they might just discover true friendship and first love.

About us:

Filmmakers:

Richard Marshall, Writer/Director/Producer

Richard, an L.A. based filmmaker, has worked behind the scenes on large studio feature films, directed commercials and music videos, produced film marketing campaigns, made interactive video games, been a CG creative director, edited scores of short films, written and sold screenplays, played in a R&R cover band, been married to the same woman (a brilliant teacher) for years and loves all animals, sharing his home with a potbelly pig and two mutts.  He recently made a mockumentary feature with a bunch of famous comedians, wrote and optioned a few new scripts and is preparing to make his feature directing debut with a couple of indy films while working on other film projects to pay the mortgage.

Sandra Seeling Lipski, Producer

Sandra is not only a producer, but also an accomplished actor and independent filmmaker.  She was born in Berlin, grew up in Spain, starting her acting career in the German television series, SEARCH FOR PARADISE.  She moved to New York City to study at the Lee Strasburg Theater then to Los Angeles where she has had a number of roles in film and TV.  She wrote, directed and produced, GOING DOWN, and MY MOTHER, which she also acted in and is currently making the festival rounds.  Sandra is also the founder and director of the Evolution International Film Festival.  She is married to cinematographer Rainer Lipski.

Jim Pasternak, Producer

Jim is a producer, director, screenwriter, and teacher and knows a good script when he reads one. His directing credits include the mockumentary feature, CERTIFIABLY JONATHAN, with Jonathan Winters and Robin Williams and ONE HELL OF A GUY with Rob Lowe and Michael York.  He also wrote the production draft of Joel Schumacher’s COUSINS after a Directing Fellow stint at the Sundance Institute.  Jim is currently the Course Director of Directing at the Los Angeles Film School. He and Richard have several feature and television projects underway.

Rainer Lipski, Director of Photography

Rainer is an award-winning and passionate Director of Photography. He earned a Masters in cinematography from the Filmakademie Baden Wuerttemberg in 2006.  He is recognized internationally and has worked in 18 countries, shot six feature films, over 140 commercials, 30 short films and a number of music videos. He moved to Los Angeles from Berlin three years ago after marrying his actress/filmmaker wife, Sandra.

Our Actors:

Taylor Coliee – SOOKIE

Talton Browning – DYLAN

Darin Singleton – DADDY

Tony Motzenbacker (sans makeup) - NIGHT CREATURE

The Inspiration for END OF THE BEGINNING

I started wondering what it might be like in the future for my kids.  What if I weren’t around when it was time for them to set out on their own?  What if the world took a weird turn with the genetic engineering and other weird science that serves the corporate profit masters?  I recently read that since natural insects were becoming immune to the genetically re-engineered grains with pesticides, they are now working on re-engineering those insects.  Where does it stop?  It does seem like a Pandora’s Box of sorts.

I've also been thinking about the number of kids I've met who have raised themselves and had to be a parent to their own single mom or dad.  I know a young woman who lost her mom at five and literally had to become a parent and “partner” to her dad. He became so distraught at the loss of his wife that he never recovered, turning to alcohol to cope.  She took care of him from the age of five on.  She’s now 22 and he considers her “his rock” but that is a heavy burden for anyone just barely considering their own independence.  Being a "kid" was a luxery she was never able to experience.

The feature version of END OF THE BEGINNING is a coming of age love story set in a sci-fi/horror genre.  While on the road and in search of safety in the aftermath of a possible future where “science for profit” has gone out of control, can they find love and connection?  The "Night Creatures" (very scary) are not nearly as frightening as the potential of the human monster.  The kids prevail with the optimism, ingenuity and idealism of youth.

This “short film” is the beginning of that feature film we will start next year.  By helping us finance this short, you are also making it possible for us to raise the money and resources for the feature film. Anyone who is able to help us with a $50 or more donation, along with the stated perks, will also get a DVD or BD or digital download of the finished feature film when it is completed (probably sometime in 2014).  If there’s a new delivery technology by then, we’ll get it to you that way as well.

What your donations will help us accomplish:

Our shooting budget is about $33,000, ten-thousand of which our director is contributing. (He’s borrowing from what equity he has left on his house.)  Where does this money go? Our location in the desert where we have to provide hotel and lodging for a crew of over thirty.  Our “Night Creature” character, which needs substantial practical, prosthetic, effects makeup and post-production CG enhancement, equipment rentals, minimal crew fees, location and stage rentals, etc. 

We are embarking on a very ambitious project.  By Hollywood's standards, this would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars but our very experienced Hollywood crew and actors have agreed to work for minimal fees because they believe in the project and the possibility of it expanding into a feature film.  It’s rare to find so many talented people willing to take this leap of faith.

Should we not quite reach our goal, we will apply the funds we raise on IndieGoGo toward getting the film through shooting and into post-production.  Your money will be well spent as we may launch another campaign to raise the balance of the money necessary to finish the film.  If we are fortunate enough to find more generous partners than we set out to, our director won’t end up in as much debt as he planned which will be really fantastic.

Other ways you can help:

• Email, text, Facebook, and Tweet about this.  Forward our URL to all your friends, relatives, acquaintances, your nemesis, rich uncle, or anyone you might think interested.  Also, please use the IndieGoGo share tools.  It’s actually fun.
• We invite all of you to be involved by sending us your thoughts, ideas or experiences that relate to the themes in our film.  We may incorporate something you send us into the film.  If we do, we’ll give you an additional “thanks” in the credits.
• If you have film production experience or post-production experience and are interested, you can also volunteer to work on the production if we haven’t filled your particular specialty on the crew.  As we shoot our behind-the-scenes video of the shoot, you might end up in that as well.