Last week, we looked at one Kickstarter-backed Wisconsin film in Slasher Studios’ Don’t Go to the Reunion. Now, two Madison-based filmmakers are turning to the crowd-funding platform for their latest projects.
Coming off his time travel genre short “Quantum of Vengeance,” director Ben Wydeven has paired up with producer Adam Williams and screenwriter John Gordon for a new thriller, A Hot Summer Chill. Along with a crew of both new and familiar faces (including actors Tim Towne and Joey Broyles), A Hot Summer Chill sees Wydeven adapt a short story about spiritual medium Raven James.
The accompanying video for A Hot Summer Chill’s Kickstarter campaign is tightly-packaged with a great look at Wydeven’s past projects and where his crew plan to go with such a large production. Principal photography began on August 21, but their Kickstarter is set to close this Sunday over Labor Day weekend. The crew hopes to raise $1,500.
Robert Love’s The Tesla Factor also has a campaign, though it won’t close until late September. In Love’s action comedy, Abby Taubner (former host of UW-Madison’s “The Weekend”) stars as a scientist who turns to two rogue detectives (played by Peter Hunt and Jeff Skubal) when she discovers her work is being used to manufacture military weapons.
Love, whose horror comedy Dead of the Night premiered at Sundance earlier this year, literally takes a backseat in his Kickstarter video, letting two of his stars do most of the talking, but don’t let the director’s reclusiveness discourage you. With 17 years under his belt working for Madison’s Raven Software game studio, Love has already worked with some big names including the likes of Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart. Tesla Factor’s campaign won’t close until September 20 and looks to offer some cool incentives for higher-end pledges.