The Borley Rectory Indiegogo launched on Halloween 2014 has not just reached it’s target but with your extraordinary support kicked the doors off raising a staggering 330% of its intended goal!
Hoping to raise the shortfall on the previous campaign target of £3000 the final total for the 2014 Indiegogo came in at a phenomenal £9902, which according to director Ashley Thorpe means that they will not only be able to complete the film but restructure the project accordingly to make it the way it was originally intended. “Our original estimated budget was around £20K,
that’s from start to finish, production and post. Twenty thousand pounds sounds like a huge amount for a short film but then when you consider how long it is (a projected 30 + minutes), that it’s animated, that it’s a period piece with over a dozen cast members and how long it will take a tiny production team to both shoot and animate it, 20K suddenly doesn’t sound like much at all! You know, you could make two traditional features in the time it’ll take to make this film. So in actual fact we started out with that ideal budget and then subsequently scaled it down to £10K, which we though a much more realistic amount for an unknown to raise. £10K was the same budget as the Arts Council supported ‘The Hairy Hands’, which was a far more modest indie friendly project. It was essentially one location, one character. Borley is infinitely more ambitious and involved. The amazing support we’ve received means that we can do it properly!”
Borley rectory’s Phenomenal perks
Perks for the campaign included a call of thanks from Julian Sands, a limited edition vinyl OST by Steven Severin, posters and props signed by Reece Shearsmith, antique Borley Rectory books written by Harry Price and an exclusive doll of the famed Phantom Nun spectre created by Debz Demented Dollz!
Some perks, like the Richard Wells art, Clive Barker print and Borley Ouija came as a last minute surprise. “This wonderful illustration suddenly appeared on my twitter feed of Reece with the Phantom Nun and Richard said that it was a bit of fan art that he’d made just for fun. I absolutely loved it and asked if we could print it and offer it as another perk and he kindly agreed. Seraphim too was another surprise. Nicholas Vince had Mark Miller as a guest on his google hangout one week and they discussed Borley so I reached out to Mark and asked how he knew of the project and if Seraphim would like to get involved in some way. Mark told me that he knew of Carrion because Clive had a number of my animations in his DVD collection, a fact I was floored by, and that they would be happy to donate a limited edition signed print to the cause!
We tried to roll out each of the perks tactically as the campaign went on but the final perk – the Ouija board – was something that just came to me one day. My Dad is a furniture restorer and painter and he used to make these lovely wooden hand painted signs for his vehicles and shops etc. One morning it just came to me in a flash – we should make a Borley Rectory Ouija! I roped my Dad in and he’s been having a whale of a time crafting this mahogany horror . I’ve been documenting it’s creation so I’ll be rolling out the short film once it’s completed.”
Now that the campaign is over it’s back to production with the next cast shoots being planned to occur the next few months whilst Ashley continues the animate the existing footage.