Home stretch! Please help fund the filming of Rolin Jones short plays!

First, please watch the video:

...(twiddling thumbs while humming the theme to The Odd Couple)...

Second, please take a gander at these on set photos from the shoot last weekend, made possible by your generous donations!

Okay...great. Third, please keep reading:

So...we are three pals from Yale School of Drama. Rolin Jones (a prolific playwright and TV writer) has a brilliant collection of short plays. We'd love your help bringing them to the big screen. In early November, Hughes (the director) directed CHRONICLES SIMPKINS WILL CUT YOUR ASS. O'Byrne (the actor/producer) made it all happen. In early 2013, we'll put together project #2: MISSION BURRITO.

CHRONICLES follows three 9 year-olds who terrorize a tetherball court to the point of expulsion. Sort of like The Wire meets the Sandlot. MISSION BURRITO is the story of one night in the life of a drive-thru burrito joint deep in the San Fernando Valley in 1986. A night that could save heavy metal as we know it.

Both films are based on bizarre topics, yet both, through Jones' writing, reveal complex and privately held truths about being alive that we all feel yet rarely admit. Hughes' directing is known for high-paced whimsy, lo-fi ingenuity, and delightful performances. The intersection of these two created major buzz at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, and O'Byrne's indefatigable ability to now midwife these works onto the screen heralds a new and exciting entry into the zeitgeist of film. 

Our campaign will fund both projects from pre-production through post. In the end, we'll have two unique and compelling films that will hopefully make the festival rounds and launch several more projects together.

What we need:

Films aren't cheap to make, even the cheap ones. We've budgeted CHRONICLES and MISSION BURRITO at approximately $18,000 and $17,000, respectively.

Those costs include:

• Casting (with the brilliant Andy Crocker Casting)
• Hiring of crew and cast (Emily Topper has signed on as cinematographer)
• Location rental (we've got the beautiful St. Bernard's Catholic School in Glassell Park for CHRONICLES)
• Equipment Rental
• Production Design
• Costume Design
• Post-production (editing, color correction, sound)

These budgets reflect our desire to make these things as inexpensively as possible while ensuring the integrity of each film. We'll be calling in a lot of favors, but want to deliver a very exciting and worthy product. 

Why give these projects money?

Excellent question. While we obviously don't take ourselves seriously (please watch the video above if you haven't done so already), we do take our work very seriously. Jones is a three-time Emmy nominee for his television writing, has worked on Weeds, The United States of Tara, Friday Night Lights and Boardwalk Empire, and was a Pulitzer finalist for his play The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow. Hughes has directed a hundred stage production around the country and O'Byrne, in addition to being an accomplished classical actor, is hungry to bring his talents to bear on producing.

We're experienced guys. It feels like this could be the start of something extremely exciting. We're going to make two very special films. And we'd love for you to come on board. 

If your help comes in monetary form, we are incredibly grateful, but if you can't support financially yet still want to help, please spread the word about what we're doing or even contact us about being involved.

Thank you for spending this time with our bizarre visions for the future.

All the best,

Adam, Brendan and Rolin