Kickstarter

“Misfire: The Rise and Fall of The Shooting Gallery” is a documentary about the independent film company responsible for such art-house hits as “Sling Blade” and “You Can Count On Me”; a company that rose to the top echelons of the independent film scene in the 90s before financial risk-taking and business mismanagement caused it to crash.

In 1991, a group of young filmmakers banded together to make films and created a company called The Shooting Gallery in lower Manhattan. It was a time when a “golden age of independent film” was just underway with the emergence of Miramax Films and the Sundance Film Festival. 

The Shooting Gallery found great success producing over 20 feature films, including “Laws of Gravity” and Billy Bob Thornton’s Academy Award winning, “Sling Blade”. They also produced films including early work by stars Owen Wilson, Mark Ruffalo, Parker Posey, Elijah Wood, Courtney Love, Lawrence Fishburn and Robin Tunney. 

The success of The Shooting Gallery did come at a cost. By the mid-90s, as Hollywood was cashing in on the “independent film” genre, The Shooting Gallery abandoned its collective origins and many of the original founders left. With Wall Street money and the dot.com craze fueling the company's expansion, The Shooting Gallery tried to become a “new media” company. It finally collapsed in 2001 under massive debt and questionable business practices. 

“Misfire: The Rise and Fall of The Shooting Gallery”, is a story of passion, hubris and missed opportunity, where the question of “what happened” is asked not just of the company, but independent film itself. Apart from our general research we have conducted over 40 interviews including indie stalwarts Ted Hope, James Shamus, Christine Vachon, Robin Tunney, Morgan Spurlock, and Edie Falco. 

It is in the spirit of independent film that producers Bob Gosse, Whitney Ransick and Gil Gilbert look to the community of Kickstarter to help finish the documentary. Up to this point, we have financed this film on our own, but now need your help to complete the project. We are in the home stretch but still have color correction, sound mixing, rights clearances, and more that needs to be done. 

We believe “Misfire: The Rise and Fall of The Shooting Gallery is a relevant and important story for anyone interested in independent film, whether as a filmmaker or film lover. 

We have just thirty days. Please pledge whatever you can afford. The clock is ticking and now is the time to help. 

Thank you, we appreciate your support.