A New Year, a New Title, a New Budget and a New Producer

Merry New Year! – Trading Places

So in early 2012 I decided to finally try and make “4 of a Kind” myself. I said fuck it to all the contradictory creative notes and decided I was going to make this movie the way I wanted to and if people didn’t like it so be it.

Came close. The Kickstarter didn’t work, but it set in motion some things I can’t really get into too many specifics at this point, but progress is being made.

New Title

One of the things I can definitely tell you about is I changed the name of the movie from “4 of a Kind” to “Dead Peasants”.  It’s even updated on IMDB.

What’s a “Dead Peasant”. It’s actually a term used for life insurance purchased by your employer, on your behalf, without you knowing about it.

I think it’s a great title and I like it so much more than “4 of a Kind”.  When my buddy MIke and I sat down to write the original draft, we had the hardest time coming up with the title. Finally Mike called me up one day and had the title. It’s a pun. I hate puns as titles but it fit.

Mike hasn’t been a part of the project for years and the script has changed so much since we started writing that I felt a new title was called for. I hope you like it as much as I do.

New Producers

Someone who had followed the Kickstarter and reached out to me after it ended wanted to help produce the film. Ironically he was shocked to find out I had written other screenplays and had actually been optioned. He thought I had just written some dumb script and was hoping to make it before going blind. He’s somewhat right about that, but as I explained a number of times throughout the Kickstarter – this wasn’t a “make a wish” type thing. I didn’t just want to make a movie. I wanted to make a good movie. I wanted to make my movie. So he’s actually offered some suggestions on the script. I wouldn’t even say “notes” – more like thoughts on character development which have been helpful.

Chris Ashworth, who you may know from Terminator Salvation or as Sergei from “The Wire” is also somewhat attached to the project. You’ll see on the IMDB page he’s listed as “rumored” mainly because he hasn’t officially signed on yet. Well, Chris will take on a producer role at this point as well. I can’t go into too many specifics here as of yet, but a seven figure budget is being worked out. Dentists, you gotta love em.

Even with the higher budget, I’m still tempting to go back and raise funds through Kickstarter. Over 800 people believed in me enough to give $1 to $2500, I think I’ll definitely be back in some aspect. Perhaps not for “Dead Peasants” but another project for sure.

Happy 2013.

Let’s get to work.