I am pleased to announce that, following the success of my shorts At Last, Okemah! and The Catastrophe on the U.S. film festival circuit, I am planning on shooting a feature-length film this summer. It is entitled Cool Apocalypse and it is a romantic character-based drama. It will unquestionably be the biggest and best thing I’ve ever done. I’m therefore in need of your help!
We are presently deep into pre-production and very excited about the movie we are about to make. Auditions are done and we will be announcing our phenomenal cast of actors soon. We will shoot Cool Apocalypse in black-and-white digital on the Panasonic GH3 (the successor to the camera on which Shane Carruth shot Upstream Color). You can learn all about it on our website. If you could please take a look at the site and think about making a donation we would GREATLY appreciate it. This film’s budget will be raised entirely through “crowd sourced funding” and virtually none of the cast and crew, including me, will be getting paid. Nearly all of the budget will go towards making the film look and sound as good as possible. As most of you probably know, independent filmmaking is very difficult, so every little bit helps. Donations of $25 and up are eligible to receive a host of exciting perks including tickets to Zanies comedy club in Chicago, HD downloads of the film, mp3s of the original soundtrack and even a speaking cameo in the film! Donations can be sent directly through the site but you can also contact me via e-mail if you would like to send a check.
My 39th birthday is coming up on June 14th; if you were thinking about getting me a birthday present, please make it be a donation to this movie. Or, if you’ve enjoyed reading this blog, which I’ve written for four years as a labor of love for no pay, please consider making a donation to the film as a way of showing your appreciation. Independent filmmaking in Chicago is a VERY worthy cause. Even if you can’t make a donation at this time, please check out the website anyway and learn how you can help us merely by “liking” us on facebook and/or following the making of the movie on Twitter.
Thank you all very much in advance!
White City Cinema 
May 7th, 2014 at 9:05 am
Congrats!
May 7th, 2014 at 9:51 am
Thanks, Rob!
May 7th, 2014 at 7:29 pm
Sounds great:) I have seen both At Last Okemah! and The Catastrophe and loved them both:) Please tell me, how long can you donate till because I have never donated money online before and I do not have a facebook or twitter account. I know it sounds silly, I should be up to date with this stuff. However, I have always considered your blog to be truly wonderful. I just took a look at the site for the film and it sounds phenomenal. Independent films are a tough sell these days as you implied. Kickstarter has been a source for a lot of filmmakers who want to raise money for a project that Hollywood does not want to tackle. For example, cult director Alex Cox is adapting Harry Harrison’s sci-fi novel Bill the Galactic Hero as a student film at the University of Colorado where he teaches film production. I also agree with you 100 percent that independent filmmaking in Chicago is a worthy cause:)
May 7th, 2014 at 7:37 pm
Thanks for the comments and questions, John. We will keep the fundraising going right up until production of the film begins (the last weekend in June). So there will be plenty of time to give.
I think Kickstarter is a great way to raise money if you have a big cult following like Alex Cox does (and like Veronica Mars and Zach Braff do). But Kickstarter also takes a percentage of the money that you raise. For us, it makes more sense to just start our own website and put paypal buttons up because I think the only money we are going to be able to raise is going to come from family and friends of the cast and crew and people who are already familiar with my work as a filmmaker/blogger. In other words, I don’t believe that anyone who doesn’t already know who I am is going to want to donate money to the budget.
May 12th, 2014 at 10:18 am
Hi Michael,
Just made a little donation to your project (under my wife’s name). There are many reasons of my absence on your blog in the last few months, but anyway, I’m back!
My donation is just too little compared to your film budget, so I want to ask TOC fans on FB to donate for you. Is it possible for you to squeeze some time from your teaching and pre-production to write us a guest post, then we can have the chance to get more donations for you?
At last, congrats on your new project and wish you and your feature debut great success!
David
May 12th, 2014 at 11:20 am
David, thank you (and your wife) SO much for your generous donation. Your amount was most definitely not “too little!” The majority of our budget is going to come from people like you so please know that we literally couldn’t make this film without your help!
Yes, of course I would love to write a guest post for your blog. Please let me know if you have any requirements in terms of content or word count. I could write about anything movie-related — and even do one of your beloved top 10 lists if you’d like!
Feel free to e-mail me at mikeygsmith@gmail.com and we can hash out the details. Thanks!
P.S. – I see your wife is a fan of Amelie. 😉