We Made a Movie!
We successfully finished our film. It’s done. It’s great.
You *literally* helped make it happen.
Thank you!
The Latest
Saturday, June 29th
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**DRUMROLL PLEASE**
We have a title for our film! At long last, we have settled upon a title that we are very excited to share with you. At our current stage, we are readying our a festival run.
Help Us Today!
The Seed & Spark Campaign was a great success. We raised $5,000. We got the word out about Fortified and got people excited. And our confidence got a serious boost. We're hoping that IFA Chicago's fiscal sponsorship will bring us across the finish line of our goal of $20,000 and make this a dream a reality. Every little bit helps, every little bit goes directly into the production to bring this story to life.
Our immediate needs:
Post-production costs
Music licensing
DONATE
!
DONATE !
Big thanks to the IFA Chicago, for helping us bring this story to life.
Meet Fortified Films
The four of us love movies. That's hardly unique. What is unique is the friendship forged by this shared love of movies. We each bring a different perspective to the art of filmmaking. This foundation creates a dynamic creative process to make great movies – for us and for you.
Ross Compton
// Producer
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Ross has been a Chicago-based writer, actor, and producer for over a decade, WHICH IS NUTS. Formally a member of the iO, CIC, and Under The Gun Theaters, he is currently an ensemble member at Theatre Above the Law in Rogers Park, which produced both of his full length plays: Amicable in the summer of 2019 and Henchpeople in the summer of 2021.
In addition to writing plays, he’s written several film sketches and short films. He has also appeared on stage in plays like Constellations with TATL and Upon This Shore with Idle Muse, and on camera in projects such as the viral independent horror film Rorschach and the upcoming independent sitcom Camp Lake. And, of course, a commercial for Buddig lunch meat.
He’d like to thank Bob Zemecksis’ Who Framed Roger Rabbit for giving him his first taste of magical realism, Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead for solidifying for him the importance of music in film and that nothing needs to be just one genre, Miranda July’s The Future for showing him that relationship stories can be unconventional, and most recently the Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All At Once for encapsulating all the facets he’s just written about.
Tyler Core
// Producer
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Actor, photographer, cinematographer, web design, and more! There is quite sim- ply nothing that Tyler Core can’t do. The heights of his creativity is only matched by his kindness and enthusiasm for supporting other artists. If you know an actor in Chicago there is a good chance that Tyler has done their headshot. For over a decade Tyler has been taking headshots. You can take a look at his work here: https://www.tylercoreshoots.com/
Scott Cupper
// Producer
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A veteran of Chicago storefront theater since 2004, he was a company mem- ber with Strange Tree Group. His time with them comprises his most proud accomplishments including The Dastardly Ficus, the dual role of Cristroff/ Capt. Mandy in The Mysterious Elephant, Semyon Semyonovich in Goodbye Cruel World, Shakespeare’s King Phycus and two successful runs of The Three Faces of Dr. Crippen as part of both Steppenwolf Garage Rep and the New York Fringe Fest. He credits his love of movies with E.T. being his first theater-going experience in its original run.
Jake VanKersen
// Producer
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The day after he turned 16 Jake got into the movie business...as an usher at Cinema Carousel in Muskegon, MI. Getting this job was his first professional goal as he spent a solid year dreaming about it. He shot his first short film, “Refund” at the age of 18 with his friends on a camcorder and edited it with two VCRs. It screened at the inaugural Muskegon Film Festival.
Later, Jake went to film school at Columbia College Chicago and profession- ally, he has been a video producer for over a decade working on interviews, short documentaries, webinars, and more.
Like many kids that grew up in the 1980’s Jake’s love for cinema was ignited by the films of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.
The Plot
After canceling plans with friends, Hector & Penny begin a game of role-play that threatens to undo their relationship. Fortified celebrates open communication, no matter how weird it gets.
Our Short!
We filmed a shorter film of our script — internally called “Shortified” but officially called “Mutually Assured Diversion” — and you can watch it here!
Thank you so much for joining us on this exciting journey.
We can’t wait to make this magic happen!