We want to make this film! 

The Story. Imagine waking up from unconsciousness, finding your apartment (at least you think it's your apartment) trashed, and a smart phone gorilla-glued to your hand.  On the phone is a looped stream of some kind of code, and a ticking countdown that is displaying less than five hours before it hits zero. 

What happens at zero?  Who are you?  What is happening?

You eventually find yourself talking with colleagues you're vaguely familiar with (they claim to know you, work with you as programmers); and upon seeing the phone in your hand, are greatly alarmed and say "it's started."

What has started, and the sporadic memory recalls that begin to piece together the events leading up to this moment, are what Reboot is all about - a Cyberpunk mystery-thriller that journeys into the lives of hackers, both black hat and white hat, and the game that is unfolding between them, and to the world. 

Why we want to make this film.  The story intrigues us, and it delves into the things that we always seem to end up talking about with friends around the globe:  the ever-expanding phenomena of the world wide web, socio-technical systems, virtual connectivity, and the evolution of how we communicate and interact.  The film encompasses many of these topics, but focuses primarily on the people who design and build (or tear down) the structure that is, in essence, our life online or in a cloud.

The characters are real, fragile in some ways, tough as nails in other ways; flawed, and determined.  As much as the plot is a driving force behind the film, the people within it are our heroes, and we can't wait to shape and bring them to life on the screen.

The film is built upon several narrative layers, the audience (and heroine) putting the pieces together as the film unfolds via her sporadic memory recalls as she slowly begins to understand what the ticking countdown on the phone is all about.

The How - the Approach. At this time, we're estimating five full days of shooting for principal photography, as well as one day for inserts.  The entire project will be shot within Los Angeles County.

The look of the film will be very minimalist in terms of lighting, but shaped and augmented just enough to be beautiful and composed.  Despite this approach, the film is not a hand-held, cinema verite'  type of shoot, but a very composed, placed, controlled execution - while allowing our cast to have room within those composed spaces to explore and breathe life to their roles. 

One of the bigger challenges are the many screens involved within the story. Everything from smart phone screens, to laptops, to desktop screens will all have important content relative to driving the plot forward, and are practically characters themselves.  Though most of this - for time/budget reasons - will be screen replacements in post production (where we insert and composite the content on the screens later), we are planning on (as much as it's logistically possible) having pre-designed and pre-loaded content on the screens to interact live with our actors. 

Another challenging aspect is to execute compelling dialog exchanges between some of our key talent through computer screens - as they will be voice chatting and texting through different devices.  As much as this is contingent on editorial, it also is important for us that the actors feel connected and "in the moment" during shooting, so a process is being worked out to ensure that it flows and works on multiple levels, both on-screen and on-set/location during the shoot.

We've already begun to cast and search for locations, and have lassoed in some very talented folks to help us on key positions and aspects of the filmmaking process who are excited to be a part of the project.  But as you may well know, making a film can require a miniature army.

What the money is for.  With your help, we can cover many of the technicians and support staff who require some kind of recompense.  Everything from makeup, wardrobe, location fees, art direction/set augmentation, feeding the cast and crew, sound engineering, basic compensation for the cast under SAG guidelines (for those who may be union workers), as well as specific post services to finish the film (such as sound mixing and some special effects), will all be covered by your gracious backing.

Your backing will not be used for purchasing computers, screens, phones or any technological property involved in the story; nor will it cover any compensation for the principle filmmakers. This is strictly to help fund the below-the-line items and necessities, and some of the finishing costs.

A small fraction of the total budget will be used for festival entrance fees, as well as the printing/shipping costs for some of the rewards, whether it be domestic or international.  

Your Angel contributions will help us to finish the film under its best light, and help us to bring this story to the screen!