I remember the beat generation, do you? It's that bite on your lips from the kiss of a Gin and Tonic, that smoky aroma wafting through the shadowy, glimmering jazz club. The blare of a trumpet playing well past midnight with the wildest of cool cats boppin to the rhythm. Wild. Come over here, beautiful, you're my lucky charm. I roll sevens with you by my side.

The Pitch

The Ne'er-Do-Wells is a short film in the style of the classic farces of Billy Wilder about McCabe and Freddie, a couple of beatnik hipsters and their trials and travails with boozing and gambling. It follows them from their highest points to their lowest, and everywhere in between as the days pass in a haze of whiskey, billiards and dice games.

Their luck has changed today. Finally... But has it? Caroline, a fast talking, wise cracking dame has stumbled into their world on her run from the big lug of a boyfriend Jack, who's hellbent on blowing his wad of bills on a diamond necklace she couldn't give a care about for the world.

Saving her from Jack, the two fellas are sucked in by her charm and vivaciousness. Round after round, Caroline has Mic and Freddie right where she wants them. But is she the lucky charm they've been waiting for after all? You tell me kid.

The Kick

With the assistance of Producer Teresa McCracken and Cinematographer Kevin McCracken, we hope to recreate that sense of wild abandon associated with the beat generation. Shooting on the Canon 5d Mark ii and using a small selection of Arri and Kinoflow lights, The Ne'er-Do-Wells will be shot on location in the various haunts of Chinatown and North Beach that the hipsters of the beat generation frequented on a tear through their wild, raucous lives. We want to make something big out of something little.

Since this is essentially a film about North Beach, the neighborhood where I grew up, we want to get as many of my family friends and neighbors involved in the production, potentially getting the chance to be featured in it as well. I'm lucky enough to come from a tightly knit clan of miscreants, so why not let them "add to the pot"?

The Gamble

The funds you add to the pot will be used to rent and purchase the necessities of production not already in our possession, and not procurable from in-kind donations, such as expendables, costumes, food and set decoration.
Your gamble will also be put towards the cost of hiring a wily and clever crew hellbent on using their skills to " Make it happen cap'n" and "blow the minds" of all you squares.