Help make "Blood Guilt", a short western.
"Blood Guilt" started as a "what if." What if a man came upon another man hanging in a tree, fighting for life and declaring his innocence. What does he do? Dozens of story possibilities emerged. Jason Baumgardner (co-writer/producer) and I tossed drafts back and forth at each other until a new character came along: Sage, a seven year old girl who's journey intersects with both men much in the same way all of our own journeys intersect: Suddenly and without warning.
Our primary goal was to write something that was unmistakably a Western film without falling into many of the cliches that seem to plague many current westerns. A tall order. But, after over a year of long phone calls and pushing one another to go past "good enough" we know we've got something we're proud of and can't wait to see on screen. (Don't worry, there are horses, gun fights, and plenty of the hot, western sun.)
And we hope you feel the same way. If you're here because of our prior work (which we will link below) then THANK YOU. It's nice to have a few fans. But, why ever you are here, please know that we're grateful just for your interest. OF COURSE, we also want your money- But only the amount of money that you feel equals your desire to see us make this movie. There are thousands of other great folks out there doing what we do. And doing it just as well. We get that. We're not the first to embrace the concept of community based filmmaking. But it sure would be cool to get enough (or more than enough) to make this movie.
My guarantee to you is that if you give money, you're handing it over to a group of scrappy, passionate people who are giddy about telling stories visually for the rest of their lives. We're getting very good about making this work while doing "normal" life.
For us, "Normal" means that we are: An Air Force Reservist. Musicians. Old friends. New friends. A dog groomer. A seminary student. A tech support advisor. A Film School student. College drop outs. College grads. A culinary school grad. A state employee. Parents. Spouses. And all Texans.
More specifically we are From The Top Turnbuckle Films and we are co-producing with co-writer Jason Baumgardner and his Dream Loud Films.
FTTT Films formed in the summer of 2011 and consists of five core people and a handful of guest help and talent.
Aaron Kirk has been the writer/director of the three FTTT short films thus far and will be directing "Blood Guilt" as well.
John Mark Clawson has been the primary editor and cinematographer for FTTT Films. He is the very definition of "invaluable" and will be editing this film.
Josh and Alison Brown have scored or provided songs for all three films. They also contribute to the crew and even designed and built "Ray", the sentient computer sidekick in "Dirge" (our most successful film).
Matt "Paperweight" Hanzelka functions as producer/all around awesome guy. He has a passionate love for spread sheets and information and basically makes sure things get done. He is also, potentially, the funniest guy on the team.
Jason Baumgardner is Aaron's oldest friend and their first "film" was a short about killer stuffed animals made around 1992 when Aaron was 12 and Jason was 14. They have since worked together in some way on five different filmmaking projects including a feature film and a web series created by Jason. Between them they have well over another dozen projects under their belts individually.
The money will make sure everyone gets paid, eats well and has a place to lay their head at night. It'll mean we'll have enough ammo for the weapons and insurance to protect our important equipment and our even more important people. Our goal has always been to make sure that the movie exceeds the expectations of anyone who has helped make it happen. And that's not going to change.
If you can't give much (or anything) I get that. That's how life goes sometimes. But take pride in knowing that you spread the word and got other people excited about what you're already excited about: the continued output of FTTT Films and a pretty darn good short western.
We hope you're excited about our tale of vengeance, guilt, redemption, and the gray areas in between.
Thank you again,
Aaron Kirk
Links/Info
FTTT Films:
"Dirge" as featured on Ain't It Cool News
Dirge was made using a grant from the Inaugural CELTX Seeds Program and has since had it's script, production materials and the film itself licensed to be the sole demo content for the current version of CELTX's screenwriting/production software. It was also a finalist for the 2012 USA Film Festival awards.
"Proxy" Proxy was created for the Austin, TX 2011 48 Hour Film Project. It made that year's top ten films for Austin and won the best editing award. The score was composed and recorded by Josh and Alison Brown while the rest of the team was out making the movie.
"Night Job" was Aaron Kirk's first short as writer/director. Jason Baumgardner co-produced with Aaron and was the cinematographer and editor as well as a co-star in the film. "Night Job" was featured on ShortFilmTexas.com
our website is www.fromthetopturnbuckle.com
Twitter: @ftttfilms
e-mail: [email redacted]
Facebook is HERE
Jason's other work can be seen below:
Jason's web series, "The League"
Aaron co-wrote the second season and worked the crew on the first season.
ShortFilmTexas.com Interview.
Jason's film school shorts-
Land or Sky
Daystalker