About this project
When an alien abduction strikes her hometown, a skeptical, headstrong deputy sheriff volunteers to investigate.
She reconnects with her high school ex-boyfriend, whose brother was abducted outside their struggling, family insurance company. However, when her ex starts selling alien abduction insurance, she suspects them of staging a hoax.
This 25 minute short is an MFA thesis film at Boston University and the culmination of an 8-month development process.
Our team's ultimate goal is to transition from short to feature length filmmaking, and we intend to make a feature length version of this story down the road. This short will not only be a strong, stand-alone film, but will serve as a proof of concept to secure private funding for the feature (which we've already written).
Tonally, this story can be seen as a hybrid of Better Call Saul and Hot Fuzz. It's set in small town Boswell - "The UFO Capital of the East," (Pop. 900.) Boswell is filled with believers who flock to the local UFO Watchtower and are proud of their town's unique identity. We'll contrast this comedically heightened world with honest and grounded performances.
Our first round of casting was just completed with professional actors from the greater Boston area with the help of Carolyn Pickman and CP Casting. We've secured locations in New Hampshire and are scheduled to shoot in June.
The Boswell Incident is our most ambitious project yet and our team is up to the challenge, but we can't proceed without your support!
Even on a student film, costs add up quickly. We need the support of backers like you to bring this project to life!
In addition to the standard costs of a typical film production, “The Boswell Incident” presents several financial hurdles that are unique to the project.
Here’s where your money is going:
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Production Design - In order to create the world of Boswell, our production designers need to dress locations, provide wardrobe for actors, purchase all kinds of props and alien paraphernalia, and rent a police cruiser. This requires months of meticulous planning and penny pinching.
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Specialty Equipment - Fortunately, we're able to use our resources and network at Boston University to rent the vast majority of our equipment for free. However, there are several expensive specialty items that we need to shoot our nighttime abduction scenes (in a remote location, without electricity) and really nail that 80's sci-fi inspired look.
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Stunt Coordinator - Our film opens with an alien abduction lifting stunt. Since the abduction occurs at an outside location and aerial equipment is involved, we have to hire a professional stunt coordinator to ensure our actors are safe and comfortable.
- Food - Meals and craft services are always the backbone of every production, especially for student productions with a professional, volunteer crew. With a cast and crew of over 20 people, making sure that nobody is working on an empty stomach is a huge priority and a big expense!
This is the minimum amount of money we need to make this project happen. If we go above and beyond our goal, we'll be able to afford that next level of equipment and take the film to a whole new world of visual polish.
Check out our budget breakdown below:
Risks and challenges
As is the case with any film, there are potential obstacles that could cause delays in production. We are anticipating and identifying these challenges, and working to prevent them before they even come up.
There's the mild risk that one of our locations might fall through. We're in the process of obtaining permission from a number of locations to mitigate this risk by having several backups for each of our shooting dates. We've taken it into account in our timeline, and scheduled a little bit of buffer time.
Weather can always be an obstacle, as it often is on many film productions, but we've accommodated rain dates into our schedule and have designed the use of "cover sets," so we can continue with production through inclement weather.
Fortunately, Boston University's Risk Management is willing to offer us rental and location insurance, which helps mitigate the risk of shooting in commercial locations. Being able to offer that as a production should also assist us in the process of securing locations.
There's the risk of data loss in any project that's shot digitally, and we plan on using a RAID hard-drive system with redundant backups stored in multiple locations to protect our footage.
We feel confident in our ability to tackle any obstacles that arise, and are well equipped with an extremely dedicated cast and crew who care deeply about the project.
* Alien Abduction Insurance Policy — terms and conditions apply.
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