

The Story
Muted follows Lena Gladwell, a mother whose world is shattered when her teenage daughter Crystal disappears. Springing into action, Lena attempts to enlist the help of the press and the police. Expecting the full support of law enforcement and local media, Lena quickly learns the painful and tragic lesson that all missing persons are not created equal.
Our Team
*Our director is the very talented Rachel Goldberg (Neighbors, Rosita Lopez for President), a 2012 HBO/DGA Directing Fellowship finalist, 2010 AFI Directing Workshop for Women participant and named one of "30 Emerging Filmmakers to Watch" by Film Independent.
*Actress/Writer Brandi Ford penned the script and was inspired to write the film after learning about the real missing person cases of Mitrice Richardson, Phoenix Coldon and Romona Moore. Brandi's feature version of Muted was in the final round of the 2013 Sundance Screenwriters Lab.
*Actress/Writer Tara Tomicevic has taken on the role of producer and is excited to share a story she feels will connect with all. Tara spoke about Muted on Good Day Sacramento:
*Tina Pavlides, owner of Still Standing Productions, keeps us on track as our diligent Line Producer.
*The multi-talented Danette Wilson (seriously, she's awesome both in front of & behind the camera) is our hard-working Production Manager.
*The dynamic duo of Greg Cruser and Lex Benedict will be handling post-production under their Longlost Pictures banner.
*Matthew Owyang is our dynamic Social Media Manager.
Casting is currently underway so stay tuned as we look forward to bringing you tons of production updates!
How does this whole pledge thing work?
This is the beauty of Kickstarter - your money is handled by Amazon.com and does not leave your bank account until our goal is reached! If $15,000 is not raised by our deadline, all pledges are cancelled and you keep your money. Please, help us NOT let that happen! :-)
For those of you who prefer a visual breakdown...
$14,999 = Funds nothing! We don't receive a penny if we raise this amount or less.
$15,000 = Success! After Kickstarter & Amazon both take their cut (approximately 10% total or $1500) we'll have the absolute bare bones amount needed to shoot this film.
$18,000 = Funds a reasonable day rate for our cast and crew, upgrades our production design and covers basic editing costs.
$23,000 = Funds additional post-production needs such as sound mixing, color grading, light visual effects and score composition and upgrades some of our equipment.
$25,000 = Funds film festival submission fees, marketing materials and venue fees for the screening.
What's In It For You
We have some exciting rewards that we're happy to offer to thank you for joining our team! Everything from a Facebook/Twitter shout-out, photographs from the set, homemade cake pops and chocolate-covered Oreos (YUM!) and invitations to the private screening. If there's a reward you'd love to have that's not currently being offered just send us a message using the blue "CONTACT ME" button next to our picture and we'll see if we can make it happen.
We can't begin to describe how excited we are to begin production on this film! We have a story to share and hope you'll participate in bringing it to life.
Stay connected by liking us here: www.facebook.com/mutedthemovie
*Special thanks to Longlost Pictures, Hugo Carbajal, and Martin Tapalla for helping us create the above video & graphics!
**Proud participants of Kicking It Forward: http://kickingitforward.org
Risks and challenges
Making a film is a huge undertaking that always brings challenges and risks such as unforeseen weather situations, actors dropping out, and locations having to change. However, we feel 100% capable of completing this film given our experience, commitment to the project and massive preparation.
Challenge #1: We hope to shoot this film in late July or August. We'll do everything we can to make that happen if funded. The cast and crew who are currently attached have made themselves available for this window. However, we have not cast two of our main characters, Crystal and Lena. We hope to attract great actors, and great actors can be busy. There is a chance that we find the perfect actors to play the roles but they are unavailable this summer, pushing us back until September. We'll do all we can to avoid this as we'd rather not slow down the project's momentum.
Challenge #2: After the film is shot, we'll need to edit it. If we meet but do not exceed our bare minimum goal of $15k, and if we are unable to find a donor who will match our Kickstarter funds, it will take us a bit longer to raise the amount needed to edit and score the film. This challenge can be overcome as it only requires finding more money but that will take time.
Despite these challenges, we are confident in our team's ability to complete this film because of the following:
*Our team has a ton of DIY experience - We're used to keeping costs low and filling multiple roles on set. We know how to keep the process moving even when external factors are working against us.
*We KNOW this script intimately - We've spent a LOT of time with this story. This means we know it well enough to make quick decisions about content and tone and what can stay or go from the script without sacrificing quality.
We’re planning everything down to the last detail, from production insurance to contingency plans to lookbooks so that we can concentrate on the most important part: telling a good story.
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Funding period
- (30 days)