We Shot The Film!

Thanks to our investors so far, we’ve wrapped production on Where’s Rose and the entire film is in the can! While there’s still much more work to go, we’ve managed to shoot a film safely during a global pandemic, something most productions haven’t been able to do.

Our biggest risk going into this project was of course COVID-19, however, we were able to work within our guidelines to negate this risk and shoot the entire film with no production shutdowns. While young, our team operated extremely professionally and kept everyone safe at all times.

We’re in the midst of post-production now and with a quick turnaround, we’ll have a sellable product in December 2020. So far, we already have the first cut!

Synopsis

When a little girl is found after going missing the day before, only her older brother recognizes the evil force that has returned in her place. 

The film centers on the Daniels, a white middle-class family. Eric (Ty Simpkins) is the college-bound, straight A’s, football team star who everyone in town looks up to. His little sister Rose is a playful girl with a big imagination who one day goes missing. Thankfully she is found fairly quickly. However, Eric seems to be the only one to suspect his sister is not who she says she is. He investigates and begins to unravel what kind of monster Rose has become.

This is a story about slowly peeling away the fake social mask people hide behind to reveal something much more primitive and sinister underneath. The true monsters live amongst us.

With this film, we are able to tell an exciting, terrifying, and truly unique story while also exploring important, relevant social themes in regards to masculinity and privilege.

Our Audience

With Ty attached as our lead ERIC DANIELS, we'll be able to tap into this pre-established fanbase/market that's followed him since his role in the breakout hit INSIDIOUS. In addition, our target demographic is fans of horror, which is the most profitable movie genre.

With our unique and intense story, haunting score, and crisp, atmospheric cinematography we are creating a cinematic and visually stunning film with the likeness of IT FOLLOWS, PAN'S LABYRINTH, and of course INSIDIOUS.

Our Business Plan

So far we’ve raised enough money through our first round of WeFunder and through two Executive Producers which allowed us to handle the physical production of the film. This included paying our SAG cast, our crew, housing costs, and general physical production purchases and rentals.

We shot the entire film in Winston-Salem, NC over the course of three weeks. The town and surrounding area provided the perfect visuals for our film as well as offered us a strategic leg up cost-wise. As our alma mater, UNCSA, is located in town, we were able to cut costs using help from community members such as the local film commission, City Council, and Mayor. We were also able to keep other general production costs lower by using local resources which cost less than filming in Los Angeles or New York City.

The remaining money we need to raise ($34,933.61) will go towards post-production costs such as labor, editing equipment, L&D costs from production, an original composition, coloring, and visual effects. You can see a breakdown of how that amount will be spent below!

We’re currently editing in Winston-Salem to keep costs low and will have a complete, sellable product in December.

Already we have a sales agent attached to our project and distribution companies expressing high interest in the film. Our goal is to have a mix of domestic & international VOD sales, as well as landing a spot on a premiere SVOD outlet such as Netflix or Hulu.

You can check out our business pitch deck in our files above or in the video below!

Physical Production

After creating the sizzle teaser for the film in only 2 days with a budget of $1,000, we knew how to stretch a dollar without compromising production value. For the actual production of the film, we lived and shot in our main location for three weeks and shot 140 scenes!

With our SAG-approved COVID guidelines, we had daily check-ins, testing for our cast/crew, mask usage at all times, and a plethora of other safeties in place to ensure a safe, but efficient shoot. During our shoot, we also managed to overcome a hurricane, flash flooding, and torrential downpours. While many outside forces were against our production, our team’s resilience allowed us to persevere without losing production value.

Through the help of the community, we managed to film in high production value locations, with little to no cost in most instances.

Ty Simpkins delivered a phenomenal performance as our lead Eric Daniels and was supported by a killer co-cast. Anneliese Judge, Skyler Elyse Philpot, and Kathy Searle were other key performers during production and delivered killer performances throughout the film.

Midnight Runner
In 2016 Jared Spouse and John Mathis set out to make their first feature film, Midnight Runner, while they were still attending the top film conservatory, UNCSA. They made their feature in 9 days with only $3,000!

They then sold Midnight Runner to Global Digital Releasing for VOD & SVOD. It's currently available on Amazon Prime. Their lead actor, Ben Weinswig went on to be signed and just had a supporting role in Blumhouse’s horror anthology “Into the Dark”.

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts Alumni

The majority of our team are alumni from UNCSA a premier film conservatory in Winston-Salem, NC which consistently ranks as one of the best film schools in the country. Producing alumni like David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, Craig Zobel, Jeff Nichols, Rebecca Green, and Brett Haley, our crew has been trained to make films at a high-caliber that can produce fruitful careers in the industry.

Director's Statement

There is a simplicity, beauty, and grace to classic genre films, be it Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca, Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water, or David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows. Since I was a boy, I have had a deep love for genre movies. They allow the filmmaker to make frank and fascinating observations about society while still delivering the kind of thrills that only cinema can truly give. A film is an immersive experience that can only work when all of the arts are melded together to tell a singular story with a strong, unified vision.

With Where’s Rose, I want to tell a story that feels real, yet magical. I want to do with this film what Del Toro accomplished with Pan’s Labyrinth: blending reality and fantasy. This film is a dark fairy tale, and I want the audience to not know where the real world ends and the fantastical one begins.

This story is very important to me as a filmmaker and as a human being. It tackles the false sense of masculinity in many young American men and the evil they can do when they wield that lie. I want it to be very clear that Eric is the villain of the film. He is an abusive, manipulative, and truly evil person; however, as with many of the best villains, it is important for the audience to not see it until it is too late.

Another aspect that is fascinating and extremely important to me is the fact that this story is all about perspective, and that the truth can be manipulated to fit someone’s viewpoint. I was inspired by Joe Wright’s stunning film, Atonement, which showed how a couple’s life was destroyed because of a false perspective from another character in the film. What excited me about the concept of Where’s Rose was the thought of reversing the logic used in Wright’s film to apply to the villain of mine. In Where’s Rose, we follow Eric’s POV, thinking he is the hero; however, when we switch POVs at the end of the 3rd act, we will quickly see that he is the real monster of the story.

This film will be truly terrifying; however, unlike many horror films, its horror arises from the real world and not the fantastical. Like many of Del Toro’s films, the true evil is rooted in the everyday world. For example, the villain of Pan’s Labyrinth is not the fawn but Captain Vidal, who abuses his power. This film will not just rely on jump scares but also on mood and the integrity of its story.

Lastly, although this film explores the darker side of humanity, I hope it can also be a beautiful reminder of the core values that we all hold dear: love, honesty, integrity, and the power to keep moving forward. I feel that the girls in this film show that. Just as there is darkness in the world, there is also great beauty, and I believe that is what is worth remembering in the end. The creature is the catalyst that makes our characters reveal their true nature. In the end, the “monster” is the hero we need.