Posted: Wednesday, June 7, 2006 12:00 am
Lompoc/s boy-next-door filmmaker Shane Ryan is shooting the moon.
On what may seem like a 100-to-1 shot, Ryan considers his chances even money, or better.
The long shot he has chosen is a financial one 7 a Grand Canyon leap from the pocket change he has spent on his previous films to six figures for the upcoming “Romance Road Killers,C a story based on the Starkweather murder spree in Nebraska in 1958.
In the past seven years, Ryan, who is 26 but looks 16, has filmed 40 short movies and music videos on no budget, maybe ,50 each, ,200 tops. He did all the work himself and recruited friends to be actors and help out.
But for this film he has jerked the bar up to ,100,000. His cast will mushroom, as will their professional skills.
“It/s just getting better stuff, a better camera, better actors, permits. It/s getting people who know how to do the jobs,C Ryan said last week, as if fund-raising were child/s play.
The director is not without credentials. His work has won him an invitation to the prestigious Sedona, Ariz., Film Festival, as well as honors at other events.
At Cornerstone Christian Festival in Illinois, Ryan/s “A Normal LifeC was judged best film. His “IsolationC won best cinematography at the 2004 Channel Islands Film Festival and the Amor Productions Showcase accorded the film honorable mention. “PinataC toured eight states and Iceland as part of Microcine ma.com/s Independent Exposure tour.
A host of Web sites devoted to independent film sing Ryan/s praises.
Filmthreat.com ranked a Ryan short “So, We Killed our ParentsC one of the top 10 independent shorts of 2004.
That lofty measure of recognition has spiked in just the past 18 months.
“I put my films on line a year and a half ago,C he recalled. “Now I can/t keep up with the requests from Web sites and festivals.
“I think the chances are pretty good we can raise the money.C
As he spoke, over a table at Sugar Magnolias on North H Street, he was surrounded by what might be loosely termed his executive team. Ryan/s co-writer, co-director, and co-star in “Romance Road KillersC is Emily Wryn, 17, well known locally as a singer/songwriter. Producers of the movie are recent film school graduate Robin Hacker, 22, and Wryn/s mother, Molly, a Hollywood actress 20 years ago. All are from Lompoc.
“Romance Road KillersC carries a gargantuan price tag compared to Ryan/s past barebones efforts, but it is a pittance in Hollywood, where feature film budgets average ,50 million.
Of course, Lompoc isn/t Hollywood. Raffles, silent auctions and concerts paid for RRK/s four-minute trailer and 20-minute featurette which aim to stoke the fires of fans, but Ryan and his cohorts have four different strategies, call them Plans A through D, to raise money for the movie itself.
Plan A is to attract private investors from Lompoc. “We want local people to finance it,C said Molly Wryn. “Everybody made a big deal about >Sideways./ It only filmed a couple of scenes here. Our film will be primarily filmed in Lompoc.C Investors will be credited in the film.
Plan B is to approach Women in Film, a Hollywood group that supports women in the industry, and where Molly Wryn has contacts. Emily Wryn/s role as the film/s co-director could make her the youngest director ever in a feature film, the group contends.
Plan C was a non-starter. The group approached the city economic development department and was turned down.
Finally there is Plan D, hope that a film distributor might be willing to bankroll the operation as part of a deal for distribution rights.
To interest a distributor on a purely business basis, however, the film needs a bankable actor or three.
“We/ve already got plenty of great actors who have been in recognizable stuff,C Ryan said. He has received nearly a thousand inquiries. “We just need a couple known names, not stars like Julia Roberts, but recognizable in the industry.C
Somebody like Kevin Gage. The character actor best known for his “tough guyC roles has tentatively agreed to perform and he brings just what the Lompocans need. His credits include supporting roles in 18 films and several television shows, playing opposite well-known leads including Robert DeNiro in “Heat,C Demi Moore and Viggo Mortensen in “G.I. Jane,C Nicolas Cage in “Con AirC and Johnny Depp in “Blow.C (For more information about Kevin Gage, visit www.kevingage.com.)
Cinematographer will be Jessica Gallant, whose work includes “The Playaz Court,C “Make a Wish,/ “InescapableC and “The Substance of Things Hoped For.C
Plan E, if all fails, is to script the movie more simply and beg people to help for free. “We/ll do it as a guerilla film if something happens,C Ryan vowed. “We/ll plan it like a ,5,000 movie.C
By the end of June, the group will have the cast finalized and will have met with Gallant. By August, story boards will be finished and rehearsals begun with key actors. Ryan hopes to start filming by September or October. “That will be a year after the trailer was shot,C he pointed out.
“There/s a huge fan base already wanting to buy the film,C Ryan insisted, alluding to the cult following that has attached itself to the Starkweather story. “I know the trailer has been seen easily by 50,000 people.C
Charles Starkweather, 18, and Caril Ann Fugate, 13, murdered 10 people in a wild spree across Nebraska that was used as a basis for storylines in “Natural Born Killers,C “BadlandsC and “Wild at Heart.C
To see the local group/s four-minute trailer or to make a donation, visit alteregocinema.com.
Correspondent John McReynolds can be reached at 736-6352 or 10655@impulse.net`
June 7, 2006