Mermaid Down is the award winning and highly original story of a Mermaid Thrown into a Mental Home after Her Tail is Chopped Off with an Axe. Created by up-and-coming filmmaker, Jeffrey Grellman.
Jeffrey Grellman has been obsessed with film-making since he first got his hands on a video camera at eight years old. He built models from scratch and blew them up on camera, made foam and latex creatures in his mom’s garage, and filmed over 200 short films by the time he reached high school.
At 18 years old, film companies started taking notice of his unusual gifts and his ability to write scripts that move beyond conventional hollywood fare and into new and exciting, unseen stories. However, the road to big-budget filmmaking was paved with producer’s empty promises and shelved films. “I had everyone’s attention and excitement but studios kept becoming more and more brand-centric”, says Grellman, “so funding kept going to pre-conceived concepts, franchises and sequels. Sadly, there just aren’t a lot of original scripts getting funded anymore.”
But Grellman didn’t let that deter him. He fought back by sending a new script to prestigious festivals where it has been recognized and awarded with industry and media attention; taking matters into his own hands, he directed a sizzle reel. With only three hundred dollars to work with, he shot it with a low-grade cropped sensor DSLR camera, duct-taped it down to an old wheel chair as a make-shift dolly and built an underwater housing for the camera out of an “igloo” beer cooler (with dumbbell weights attached to mitigate buoyancy) so he could film underwater. (See the $300 sizzle reel): https://vimeo.com/81635504
The 17 minute reel garnered thousands of followers on the film’s social media pages and earned the attention of some of Hollywood’s best crew and artisans, who have all signed on as enthusiastic crew members for the film, now approaching pre-production. Scarlett Johansson’s hair stylist from “Captain America: Winter Soldier”; an Academy Award Winning special effects artist; and an Emmy Winning Cinematographer have all signed letters of intent to help make Grellman’s “Mermaid Down” a full-length feature.
The film recently launched on the crowdfunding website, Indiegogo, with extraordinary success. Already reaching 53% of their goal in the first ten days, it looks like this unknown filmmaker might finally get the chance to make his dream a reality. “I’m overwhelmed by the support,” says Grellman, “I’m humbled, extremely grateful, and really hopeful that we’ll get to actually make this movie. We want to make Mermaid Down something truly spectacular and something refreshing for audiences.”
The prestigious Bluecat Screenplay Competition deemed his screenplay “A unique, unpredictable, fantastical pseudo-horror script that excels at everything it attempts” and exclaimed, “It pulls the rug out from under the audience, shattering any preconceived notions that they know how this is going to play out.” Filmmaker Magazine interviewed Grellman and rallied behind the original story which they said, “Takes mermaids back past The Little Mermaid and Splash to their more ancient and lethal versions in stories like The Odyssey”.
With an Oscar Winning Special FX company signed on to create the mermaid’s tail and an earnestly gritty take on the mythology, the film promises to deliver the most realistic mermaid ever put to screen … If they can raise enough funding for the project on Indiegogo. “We have 3 interested celebrities who want to play leading roles and we’re hoping that they will help bring more attention to the grass-roots campaign”, said a spokesperson for the project, “And we’re also searching for an unknown actress to play the role of the mermaid.”
Incentives (or “rewards”) for contributions to the Indiegogo campaign include an opportunity to be in the film, visit the set, pre-order the Blu-ray, be listed in the opening credits as an “Executive Producer” or keep key props and set pieces (including the screen-used axe prop that chops off the mermaids tail). A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the film will go to organizations against overfishing / ocean pollution and organizations that help female victims of violence. The campaign runs until August 4th, 2014 and can be seen here: igg.me/p/361577/twtr
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Post Submitted by: Kelly Baker
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