I’ve been passionate about stories for teenagers for years. It’s nigh impossible to find Christians who are writing specifically for and about teens.
So I’ve written a comedy feature film called Passing Period. We are rehearsing and prepping to film next month.
The entire movie takes place in the hallway between classes at a high school. That makes it possible to film inexpensively and quickly (which is the best way to keep the cost down). It’s also written to be simple enough in post production that it can be produced quickly and without outside help.
I want to prove that Christians can do what Clerks did in the 90s (not a recommendation for the movie. It has terrible civilization hating morals, but smart production). With minimal but solid production, if you focus on the story, you can still connect with an audience. In this case, the story is about three best friends (Dante, Petrarch, and Viv) navigating first crush awkwardness.
It’s not a sermon illustration. It’s a movie where Christianity is simply assumed as the norm. (We need hundreds of movies and TV shows that re-normalize reality). Movies should serve their audience, give shape to our experiences, and give our imagination the vocabulary it needs to identify attempts to resist reality. I hope this is one.
I want to make movies (and tv shows) that teens will enjoy and no one will have to jump for the remote to skip a scene if there are parents in the room. (I hope that parents will enjoy the movie too, but they aren’t my primary audience).
This movie is also a proof of concept for my TV show Dante. Before Covid, I had optioned Dante to a Netflix producer (producer of Fargo, Hell on Wheels, Van Helsing, among others). It is the story of High School seniors navigating the nine levels of High School Hell. Covid killed that project when the option expired, but that means all of the rights (and the five episodes that are written) have all reverted to me.
With that said, there are two ways you can help: When you see me sharing things about Passing Period, like, comment, and share. Building buzz is hard these days. But your help would be awesome!
Second, we have everything set accept for the food budget. We have a small crew, but a lot of teenage extras. If your would like to help me buy them pizza (and get your name in the credits) my Venmo is @Jason-Farley-8 and my CashApp tag is $JasonFarleys. Just put Pizza in the notes and the name (real or fake) you want in the credits. Any amount helps. And you’ll be able to brag to your friends about your IMDB credit!
I’m trying to put together $400 for food for a four day shoot, so when I say any amount helps, I do actually mean that.
Thank you all so much for being awesome!
I'm tempted to go full "sow into this project" mode just to make @chocolateknox feel comfortable.
How much would it cost you to give the cast and crew steak and potatoes on the last day for production?