Hey! I'm Matthew Stacey and I'm an independent filmmaker based in Wyoming.

When I was 21-years-old, I wrote/directed a feature-length fan film that got over two million views on YouTube; then when I was 23, I wrote/directed a satirical dark comedy feature that's winning all kinds of awards on the international film festival circuit. Now at 25-years-old, I'm making another feature, and I think it could be my best and biggest one yet!

The film is called Meltdowning and it's based around the real life story of Marcus Burrell, a close friend of mine who's faced a lot of challenges in his life. The film follows a young, neurodivergent black man trying to make it day-to-day in small town rural America. He has no family, few friends, and a number of mental health conditions that make his life all the more difficult--whether it's his depression, ADHD, or autism, he feels like he can quite communicate how he's feeling with the rest of the world. And one day, when he's unjustly fired from his job by no fault of his own, he has to find new ways to navigate a world that seems to have it out for him. The film explores themes of mental health awareness, systemic healthcare issues, and class disparity. More people today are diagnosed with disabilities than at anytime in history before, yet the systems that run the world have not adjusted to this reality. How does the system deal with people who got dealt a bad hand by no fault of their own? Why is it so exceptionally hard to live in the modern world if you’re not deemed “normal?” These are ideas Meltdowning seeks to explore.

The film will also be a love letter to my team and I's time in the Rocky Mountain region. After many years of working in Wyoming, life circumstances are pulling each of us out of our home state. So we hope for this project to act as one last great sendoff to our long indie film-making careers in the Cowboy State. But this isn't just some vanity project for fun: we truly feel Marcus' story is one worth bringing to a wider audience. His tale of resilience in the face of constant oppression is one we feel needs to be shared to promote the importance of equality and mental health awareness--and all in the fun package of a musical dark comedy! And with many of us working toward professional careers in the film-making business, we believe this could be our next step into working on even bigger and better things. My team and I already have some incredible talent signed on to the project and we're confident this film is going to be something really special, but we want to be sure we can make it as good as it possibly can be. That's where you come in!

We want this project to maintain the small town feel that's so important to its story, so we'll be shooting on-location in various small communities throughout Wyoming and Colorado, but that comes with a cost. As residents of the least populated state in the country, we don't have access to many of the resources needed to complete big projects like this on our own. Since Wyoming doesn't have a centralized art scene, there's no active network for acquiring all the talent, equipment, and accommodations required to see this project to completion. That's why we need your help! We want to be able to properly pay for all of our crew and potentially hire on a couple recognizable actors to better sell the film to festivals and distributors upon its completion!

We have the connections and the wherewithal to see this project through, we just need that extra push to get the film over the finish line. With your financial help, we can assure we're making Meltdowning as impactful and as entertaining as possible. We're confident we could make this film great no matter the budget, but the more funding we're able to secure, the better the final product will be for the world to enjoy!

Take a look at all we have to offer and see if our project is the right one for you. Be sure to check out our PITCH DECK!

Supporting art is a cause I care deeply about, especially when that art is about a worthwhile cause. So if you want to see this important story come to life, please consider donating today!

Thank you so much for your support!