WINONA LAKE – Ryan Stauffer is making a low-budget feature film in Winona Lake over a period of about nine days, and he is seeking the public’s help to finance it. A romantic comedy murder mystery, “Murder! A Love Story” will be shot July 23 to July 31 entirely at Westminster Hall on Grace College’s campus. Stauffer, who has been a screenwriter for seven years, wrote “Murder” so it could be shot on a low budget in a short amount of time. The film is about a high school photographer living in a hotel who simultaneously grapples with a strange disappearance and the unrequited love of her best friend. A 2003 Grace graduate, Stauffer recently moved back to the area from Los Angeles, Calif., where he was working in production and post production. In addition to his own short films, Stauffer said he worked in the production department of a lot of commercials and short films. He did editing work, getting credit as an editor for “Blue Like the Morning”. He also worked on the Kiefer Sutherland television show “24”. “This is the eighth in a series of scripts I’ve written,” Stauffer said of “Murder! A Love Story”. Most of the scripts he’s written, he said, were for more high-end budget films, but for this one he decided to specifically tailor it as a low-budget film. The Westminster will serve as the hotel in the film. Westminster previously served as a hotel before becoming dorms for Grace students. “They were nice enough to give me access to it for nine days at the end of July,” Stauffer said. He said they are almost done with the auditioning process for his film. “It’s gone very well. I’m happy with the talent we saw. There will be some local people in the film,” he said. The film crew consists of Stauffer and about eight other people. While the film is low budget, Stauffer still needs to raise money for it. Nearly all of the film’s equipment is borrowed or made available to them for a small fee, but there are costs associated with the film that need paid for. To raise money to make the movie, Stauffer said they have a Kickstarter project going on right now. Kickstarter.com is a way for creative projects to get funded. A person pledges a certain amount of money through the Website. If the projects meets its cost goal, the donors’ credit cards are charged that pledge amount. If the project doesn’t meet its goal, then the credit cards aren’t charged. Pledges can start at $1, but can be for any amount above that. Lots of low-budget productions get their start with small pledges, Stauffer said. The Kickstarter project ends July 10. The Kickstarter Website for his film is at www.kickstarter.com/projects/glassblowerscat/murder-a-love-story More information about the film, a teaser video and a link to the Kickstarter page is online at www.murderalovestory.comStauffer said it would be cool if the project ends up locally funded. He is looking to raise $4,600 for the film. If people pledge more than that, he said that’s OK as there are other things they can do to enhance the film. Once the film is completed, Stauffer said there are some film festivals they might take the movie to, but they also might do their own distribution. “Part of the joy is just making it,” he said. “We have some extremely talented people working on this film,” he said. “I think the people will be blown away by what they can do.” Stauffer said the reason he wants to make the film here is because he loves the town, his family has lived here for years and he wants to see the arts thrive in this community. “I’m excited to do this, and I hope people will be excited, too,” he said.
