BREAD MACHINE––A New Feature Film by Rick Schmidt (shooting in SF/Bay Area in March, 2024): https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bread-machine-the-new-27th-film-by-rick-schmidt#/

Join me in becoming part of this production, my #27th movie (see info on Filmography, THE FILMS OF RICK SCHMIDT, 1975-2015: https://shop.harvard.com/book/9798211044449

Dear friends, fans, potential donors, co-conspirators for my latest film project,  https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bread-machine-the-new-27th-film-by-rick-schmidt#/ —BREAD MACHINE: 

THANK YOU for considering granting support and donating to my new movie BREAD MACHINE!  For those of you who are already familiar with my work, my description of the movie process will not come as a surprise. For others, I hope my short explanation of the process (see below) will give you some confidence regarding this current production, based on several past successes I've had with my filmmaking approach.

As those who have followed my career, in films and books ("Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices” https://www.amazon.com/Feature-Filmmaking-Used-Car-Prices-Revised/dp/014024560X , and "Extreme DV" ©2004 Penguin/Random House: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/288984/extreme-dv-at-used-car-prices-by-rick-schmidt-foreword-by-ray-carney/9781440626524 , you know I create movies in a VERY OPEN manner.  Almost all my solo writing/directing efforts, plus the Feature Workshops ("FW") movies (17 features) have been produced in very short periods of time, from 1-2-week shoots like AMERICAN ORPHEUS, to 10-days-start-to-finish "Workshops" duration.  These collaborative FW productions––we shoot 5 days, then edit another 5 to completion (includes original music score, sound mix, titles, everything)––were often begun by first shooting a couple 5-minute real-life stories, usually of non-actors, cast & crew members, friends. In fact, many times the storytelling has come from people who have never, ever, considered being in a movie.  So they don't understand how difficult it is to "hold the screen" for that period of time.  But for professional actors it represents a kind of "Everest-level" challenge.  Many seem to have a tight 5-minute audition piece up their sleeve, and they know that to deliver it perfectly––delivering clarity, timing, hitting all the marks of the storytelling arc--is very difficult. A non-actor doesn't view the process in that totality, but just starts rolling out their tale––"The best real-life story they know from their own personal history," is how I request it. 

What my movies have been gifted with in the past (ALL my films/DVs) are these freshest, mostly off-the-cuff IMPROV jolts of real-life.  Shooting honest and original personal stories, combining them with improv fiction, is how most of my films have been constructed.  Beginning with my first feature, A MAN, A WOMAN, AND A KILLER (co-directed with Wang Wang, ©1975, winner of "Director's Choice, Ann Arbor Film Festival), and continuing with SHOWBOAT 1988-THE REMAKE (21st Place, Ann Arbor, and  CHETZEMOKA’S CURSE––Dogme #10 (only the 2nd Dogme 95 feature from US), my particular approach has been well rewarded. This level of quality (and hopeful success!) will again be demanded of BREAD MACHINE.

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SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED

What's this "Bread" story about?  (Here's a short answer).

"It's about a young couple with two children who resort to starting a bakery in their Bay Area apartment with prosumer bread machines, hoping to race a threatened eviction."  (For longer "Extended Version" please see below)

Story development?

With real-life stories videotaped of the lead couple, that footage will indicate moviemaking choices for future scenes. Their zany enterprise of bread-making is bound to get as bizarre and comically ironic as anything seen in Preston Sturges or Frank Capra movies.

Where would the storyline go next?  Plot points?   

Yes, there will be plot points--they will arise naturally as the shoot progresses. They always do!

Really?  You depend that much on...serendipity?

Well...YES. There is a certain logic born out of the real-life stories people tell, and REAL-LIFE tells me WHAT FICTION TO SHOOT NEXT.  During production I'm always thinking of what to shoot next, from an editor's point of view (I've edited most of my 26 features-to-date).  Each shoot-day brings me a new list of to-do scenes.

In every sense of the word, this kind of filmmaking is a VERY EXCITING proposition, and by shooting what's discovered--the hidden "real-life secrets" that everyone has--and feeding off of that material to create original and fascinating fiction scenes and dialogue, I can ultimately fashion a tightly-edited structure that is 'festival-ready' to premiere.  

HOPEFULLY, YOU CAN JOIN ME FOR THIS EXCITING 27th FEATURE ADVENTURE.  I'LL SEE YOU AT THE FESTIVALS (and keep you apprised of online national and international premieres).

Thanks for your consideration,

-Rick Schmidt  

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The $30,000 budget that we are raising will be used to cover some or all of the production, post-production, marketing, distribution expenses of Bread Machine. Plus essential business expenses related to the project - taxes for the raised funds, fees. At the end of the project we can share a breakdown of how the money was spent. In the spirit of used car prices filmmaking, we plan to create an amazing movie that looks like it was made for x10 more than our actual budget!

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BREAD MACHINE, Synopsis (Extended Version)

The upcoming feature, BREAD MACHINE, written and directed by Rick Schmidt, is ostensibly about a young unmarried California couple with kids who decide to open up a bakery in their house, to thwart an impending foreclosure.  Purchasing a dozen bread machines on credit gets the "home bakery" started.  The making of bread, which still takes some physical handling even with machines––is almost as ancient as human civilization itself. Bread was "invented" (so say historians) between 10,000-8,000 BC in Egypt or elsewhere in the Middle East. What the couple discovers while baking is that in the overly-busy grind of modern life there is still a way to gather one's wits and find a calm center in which to thrive. 

Of course, the movie also includes a series of real-life stories, a "Schmidt trademark" in most of the 26 previous features, which he has successfully piloted to completion. This gulf between UNIQUE AND EXCITING anecdotes and the fictional storyline offers a new experience in cinema for the viewer.

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Thank you!

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