Kickstarter

Hello, how are you? My name is Stephen Parkhurst and I'm making a film. Let me tell you about it:

Seth is a man down on his luck. Laid off from his job, kicked out by his girlfriend, a recovering alcoholic. In an attempt to save money, Seth moves in with a stranger who he begins to suspect, through mounting evidence, murdered the previous tenant.

"Roommate Wanted" is a dark comedic thriller. Drawing inspiration from Hitchcock and Roman Polanski, the film has themes of paranoia, claustrophobia and miscommunication, as well as a healthy smattering of amusing physical violence. Anyone who's ever had an obnoxious roommate will be able to relate to this story.

The film stars Seth Holbrook in the lead and Matthew Nichols as his new, suspicious roommate. If you don't know them, you can get a sense of who they are below. Matt and I have been making shorts together for years. Below is the first episode of our short-lived web series "I Endorse This Product."

Seth is a professional actor and lead singer of the successful cover band "Time Pilots." You can see them playing regularly throughout New England. Check out their website! They're really very good! "I Endorse This Product" and Time Pilots even had a crossover episode, which you can see here.

"Roommate Wanted" was designed to be shot on a very small budget. The film's focus is on great characters, solid dialogue and an engaging story. I've crewed on several low-budget projects that failed due to over-ambition. I'm a firm believer that while ambition is extremely important, it shouldn't come at the expense of realistic goals. "Roommate Wanted" has a small cast, few locations a very small crew and utilizes equipment already in our possession. Also, we have a minivan, which can't hurt, right? 

We'll be shooting on a Canon 5D. Sound capture will be with a Zoom H4n and Azden shotgun mic. The film will be edited with Adobe Creative Suite 6. Most of the locations will be shot with a combination of natural light and a small, 3-point light kit.

"Wait a minute," you might be asking, "if this is such a small production, why do you need my money?" Even the smallest, most efficient project still has significant costs. I've worked enough gigs to know that a project is dead in the water if the crew isn't properly nourished and happy. The money raised here will go directly to food, transportation costs, a few props, a dolly rental for a few key scenes and miscellaneous expenses that you never really expect, but invariably come up.

You've worked hard for your money and you shouldn't give it away to just anyone. To show you that I'm not just some idiot with a DSLR and a Spielberg complex, I've embedded several examples of my work below. Also, to give you a sense of my comedic style, read my blog, This Can Opener is a Jerk and check out my Twitter feed.

That Danny Trejo movie I mentioned in the video? It's called "Pastor Shepherd" and I was the Production Designer on it. It received a DVD release in 2010. Here's the IMDb page.

This is a commercial I shot and edited for Ski Depot while I was working at WSKI TV Sugarloaf this past winter:

This is a promotional video I created for WSKI TV Sugarloaf:

I shot and edited this promotional video for Portland Maine's Buy Local organization last year:

Here is one of six instructional videos I shot and edited, commissioned by Sugarloaf's Ski School:

And finally, this video goes way back to my college years, but it will give you another example of my comedic sensibilities:

That just about wraps it up. Thank you again so much to everyone who donates. You're all wonderful people, no matter what everyone else says about you.