American Leopard - Independent Short

America is talking about race... but can we really change?

Be a part of "American Leopard"—a very valuable, meaningful, and much-needed film right now.

We have an amazing director—stage and screen star Jasmine Guy—a wonderful cast (more about them soon!), an outstanding crew and creative team... We just need your help to see the film to its completion and get it out to the world!

Your donations will pay for:
• A day of "pick-ups" and reshoots
• Post-production (editing, color-correction, sound-mixing, etc.)
• Distribution (film festival entry fees, screening events, etc.)

Principal production is complete; we're proud, we're thrilled, we're excited.... but we need finishing funds to complete this journey—to make this the film we know it can be and to get it the attention it deserves!


THE CAMPAIGN

In the spirit of "no donation is too small," we want you to know that your contribution is valued and appreciated, so all those who donate will be listed in the Special Thanks in the film's closing credits. So that we keep our funds and our focus on the film and not on merchandising, we will not be offering any movie "swag." However, for those who donate at very substantial levels, we are offering the following:

$1000 = Special personal video message from Jasmine Guy
$5000 = Zoom Meet & Greet with Jasmine Guy + Associate Producer credit on film
$10,000 = Executive Producer credit + Zoom Meet & Greet with Jasmine Guy


Thank you in advance for your generosity. Cast, crew and producers alike are all proud of what we've accomplished so far and believe in this project. Learn more about it below and see why you should, too.

THE STORY

On an average afternoon in late April of 2015 in an average Atlanta suburb, three neighborhood residents arrive at their respective homes, greet their loved ones, have their dinners, and get ready for their evening.

This particular evening will find them all attending a local neighborhood "ice cream social"—a casual gathering organized by a neighbor as a low-key get-together for residents to meet, greet, chat, and see each other outside of the occasional wave from their cars.

The event would have gone much as all would have expected—perfectly pleasant and minimally exciting—were it not for an off-handed, ill-advised, offensive comment by one guest, overheard by another.

The comment leads to confrontation which leads to conflict, followed by a life-or-death crisis that challenges all their assumptions about their comfort, their community, and their country.




THE CAST




THE SCRIPT

Writer Adam LeBow wrote the script over the course of 2020, shepherded by his teacher and mentor—and casting director on the film—Cathy Reinking  in her class for actors called "Create Your Own Content."

An actor himself, Adam had written two other pieces with Cathy's guidance: an independent short film ("Defense Contract"—coming soon!) and a solo work for the stage. However, as the new year began with a new cycle of the class, Adam had no ideas for projects that he was burning to create. Knowing that the inspiration for "Defense Contract" came from Cathy challenging the class to write something for all class members to be in—which Adam did—she thought that approach might work again. She told Adam to "write something for these two," and pointed to two female members of the class. So that evening, what was to become "American Leopard" began as "Untitled for Two Women."

The COVID-19 pandemic put the class on hold for several months, but when class resumed so did Adam's efforts on the script. After weeks of rewrites, feedback from Cathy and other classmates and, then, more rewrites; by August Cathy was convinced that the script was not only worthy of getting made.... it was urgent.

And so the race against the clock was on: to make a short film *fast* during a pandemic!


THE TEAM

Things had to happen fast! We were fortunate to have Lisa Reich of Chalant Productions  as Executive Producer right out of the gate, as she is Adam's life partner and the love that brought him to Atlanta. They turned to Cathy for recommendations for who they should collaborate with on this project.

Having seen several shorts and features of theirs produced since the coronavirus had struck, Cathy recommended they reach out to Jerard McKinzie of Atlanta-based production company Focused Fylmz. That's all it took—they clicked and Jerard began putting a crew together. Meanwhile, Cathy—a professional Hollywood casting director with a lengthy resume—began assembling a cast.

Adam felt strongly that he should not direct the film—it was written for two black women and so it was imperative that a director be a black woman, too, so that she could bring to the film her lived experience, perspective, and sensibilities.

The proverbial light bulb went off for Lisa: star of stage and screen, JASMINE GUY! She recalled reading about Jasmine's stage directing efforts here in Atlanta, and thought she'd be perfect for the job. She reached out through Jasmine's manager, got her a copy of the script and, sure enough, Jasmine loved it. And with that, the film had its director!


Jerard committed to being the Director of Photography and so brought on Anthony Page of Blue Bistro Creative  as producer. Anthony's energy and enthusiasm complemented Jasmine's perfectly and, together, they led our amazing cast, crew and creative team to all we have achieved so far, in such a short time.

Now, the only thing that team is missing is you!