NEWS

Budd Lake man seeks funding for $6M film

Michael Izzo
@MIzzoDR

MOUNT OLIVE – When Jack Thomas Smith wrapped his first feature film, “Disorder” in 2006, he thought his follow-up would be a multi-million dollar feature called “In The Dark.”

But the Recession killed the horror movie’s funding, and Smith moved onto the lower-budgeted “Infliction” instead.

With “Infliction” now in the rearview mirror, Smith, 46, of Budd Lake has his sights back on “In The Dark,” and is hoping a crowdfunding campaign will help him jumpstart production.

Specifically, Smith is looking for $185,000 to attach “bankable stars” to the film, which will allow him to raise the $6 million from foreign presales and state tax credits.

The money will also help to start pre-production on the film, covering legal fees, the cost of a professionally-designed poster, storyboards, location scouting and a casting director. But about $100,000 of the funds will likely cover deposits to attach name actors.

Smith has be trying to finance “In The Dark” for nearly a decade.

“I had a verbal financial commitment from an investor before the financial collapse,” Smith said. “Then we spent the next two years trying to get it off the ground. But there was no venture capital in the economy at the time so I moved onto ‘Infliction.”

To cater to his budget restrictions, Smith shot “Infliction in the “found footage” style of filmmaking and hired a cast of unknown actors. “Infliction” cost less than half a million dollars to make, more than the $183,000 “Disorder” but significantly less than the then-proposed $10.5 million budget of “In The Dark.”

With “Infliction” making the rounds at festivals and on Netflix, Smith turned his sights back on “In The Dark” last year.

Smith wrote the script back in 2007, and recently took another pass to retool it. He plans to produce and direct once he secures funding.

Smith said he’s open to finding backing in any possible way, whether that’s though crowdfunding or a private financer.

“I’m old school, I’d still love for a private investor to come along if anyone’s interested,” Smith said. “But crowdfunding, investors, it’s all great. Whatever works.”

Smith set up the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for “flexible funding,” meaning he will receive all financial submissions regardless of if he meets his $185,000 goal.

“Crowdfunding is new to me and I’m just getting my sea legs for it,” Smith said. “If we only make $500 I’d rather just give the money back, but a lot of this is on a sliding scale so even $10,000 would help and get us a casting director.”

Contributors to the campaign will receive perks based on the level of contribution, ranging from tickets to the premiere to the chance to be in the film as a creature extra in full makeup.

Smith based “In The Dark’s” setting on a place where he spent part of his childhood, Grosse Ile, a small island off the coast of Michigan near Detroit.

“It was a small little residential community, with only one bridge to get on and off,” Smith said. “I thought how cool would it be if that bridge went down and isolated this community?”

The film follows a small group of survivors trying to escape an island that has become overrun by zombie vampire creatures.

“There are thousands of these creatures and only a handful of people alive and with guns trying to get to the mainland,” Smith said. “That’s the popcorn version.”

Smith said the true theme hidden beneath the action and horror is morality.

“The protagonists and antagonists aren’t all that different,” Smith said. The characters are all battling problems, similar character flaws, and these vampire zombies act like drug addicts in their need to feed, which reflects back on the characters.”

Smith hopes to secure financing and shoot sometime in 2016.

“The biggest thing is raising this initial money,” Smith said. “Then we can attach these stars and everything else will fall into place.”

Go to http://igg.me/p/in-the-dark--6/x/9801149 to see or fund the Indiegogo campaign, which runs through the end of June.

Follow “In The Dark” on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/InTheDarkMovie and Twitter at @inthedarkJTS.

Staff Writer Michael Izzo: 973-428-6636; mizzo@GannettNJ.com