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This is our formal announcement here that we are making a movie series based on the best selling book "Lights Out" by David Crawford.  For those aren't familiar with the story - Lights Out was written by our very own David Crawford (AKA "halffast") in our survival forum over the course of several years.  The story was available for download on multiple sites, and was downloaded many millions of times over the course of several years.  Lights Out became so popular that David decided to have the story professionally edited and published in late 2010, and it quickly hit the top 10 action and adventure list on Amazon - and gained even more popularity.  I was an earlier follower and supporter of the story here on arfcom, and kept in touch David occasionally.  After another companies movie rights expired on midnight December 31st 2012 - I immediately acquired the rights to make Lights Out into a movie series.

This thread is your chance to connect with the movie crew, producer and the writer and be a part of the movies!  We'll provide updates here as we make progress on the project, and of course - this is your chance to ask any questions that are on your mind.  I've tried to completely overhaul this thread to provide information to people just finding out about the project.  Feel free to weigh in if you have any suggestions!  


The movie series

Our plan is to make a trilogy of feature-length movies based on the book Lights Out - with recognizable actors, big production value, professional crews and other things you'd expect to see with a top-end independent movie.  

Part of why I'm doing the movie series is to influence public opinion in a positive way on a global level.  People generally spend more time consuming entertainment streams (TV, movies, whatever) than they do with other people.  In general, the entertainment media has a bigger influence on people than anything else in their lives!!  Where it gets scary is when you think about the last time firearms, self reliance and freedom were shown in a positive light in these settings.  In short, our next generation in particular is eating up the negative messages Hollywood is sending about the things we hold dear.  We have to change the dynamic.  The only way I know to do that is tell a great story (that will reach hundreds of millions of homes) that makes people think.  I want to make the average American want to be self reliant.  I want the average American to think about why having a firearm could be a good thing.  And I want to do it in a way that's not so 'in your face' that the average American wouldn't watch it.  That's our mission statement.  


Movie Trailers

While we are not in production yet, we did release a series of trailers to get people excited about the project.  Here are a few:

Our teaser trailer:



Our interview trailer:



Our concept trailer:



   * please be aware that our concept trailer was shot in 48 hours on a very limited budget.  We intentionally did not create a large battlefield with entrenched fighting positions and other realistic elements.  It would have taken weeks to put these in place, and would have severely impacted our limited budget.  We're trying to show you the concept of what we can do with the movies (without blowing our budget).



Sponsorships

As you might imagine, our message above is something many of the companies we know and love can support.  We're committing to showing their products in a positive light, and giving them rights to any footage or still photos we provide.  We've actually been overwhelmed by the support from the firearms and tactical communities.  The following is a partial list of sponsors we can publicly disclose at this time.  I'll try to keep this list updated as we make other announcements.  

5.11 Tactical

   


Airsoft Extreme

   


AR15.com

   


Benelli USA

   


Brownells

   


Cold Steel

   


Dillon Precision

   


Liberty Safe




Magpul

 


Mystery Ranch

   


Noveske Rifleworks

   


The Noveske Shooting Team

   


Surefire

   


The Target Man / Spartan Armor




Vortex Optics

   


Needless to say, we're incredibly excited to have all of these great people behind us, and would encourage you to show them some support.

FAQs and Questions

I get a ton of questions on a daily basis, so here's my attempt to answer the ones we get the most.  

Schedule

The question I get the most is "when is it going to be done?!"  A lot of people are anxious about our status and unsure about the steps we'll have to take (and why it takes so long).  I'm already receiving emails from people asking if we're shipping DVDs yet - and we haven't even started shooting footage yet!  What I've tried to do below is capture the milestones for each of the steps in the project, and give you a quick status of where we are.  Hopefully this helps!!


Development: The first stage in which the ideas for the film are created, rights to books/plays are bought etc., and the screenplay is written. Financing for the project has to be sought and greenlit.





Pre-production: Preparations are made for the shoot, in which cast and film crew are hired, locations are selected, and sets are built.




Production: The raw elements for the film are recorded during the film shoot.




Post-Production: The images, sound, and visual effects of the recorded film are edited.


Distribution: The finished film is distributed and screened in cinemas and/or released on Home entertainment.



Crowd Funding

The best intro I can give is this article on antigun crowd funding companies.  

In spite of some pretty big challenges, we've raised right at $45K so far.  While that might seem like a lot, we spent around $35K for the materials to reward contributors, and had 12% taken by IndieGogo - meaning we've barely broken even at this stage.  The good news is that from here all funds go directly to the project (not materials, crowd funding companies, etc.), so we'll get a big boost once we start gaining momentum again. In the meantime, you are welcome to peruse our crowd funding website.  





Where are you shooting?  

We will be located 100% in Georgia.  Yes, we know Lights Out (the book) was set in Texas, but Georgia has a MUCH better film production industry and offers a 30% rebate for every dollar spent in the State.  The scripts have been adapted to be shot in Georgia.  


Who are the stars you're hiring?  

Let's just say they're people who will share our values.  Often these are actors whose careers have suffered when they 'came out' as supporters of freedom, firearms, self reliance, small government, etc.  Unfortunately, I can't drop names yet - because offers are still being made and negotiated.  


Can I be in the movies?

We'll be putting out listings for extras when they're needed in Georgia.  You are responsible for travel costs, and extras are not compensated in any way.  This is purely a volunteer role.  You'll generally be seen in the background.  People who contribute funds via crowd funding can fill a featured "bit part." A bit part is typically a named and featured person in the story.  A bit part generally won't have a speaking role, but will be recognizable.  ALL people who have a line in the movie will go through a casting agency.  I know that may seem 'inpersonal,' but that's kind of the point.  Our emphasis is on quality, and a casting agency is experienced at helping us find people who will perform the best on film.

Update and Picture Post

So one of the nice things about being a part of a project like this is that you get lots of behind-the-scenes and other glimpses of the effort underway.  This is where we'll try to maintain updates over time.....

Awards

One thing you don't often hear about is SCRIPTS winning awards (before the film is even underway!).  We've entered our first draft of our first script in an international film festival (with thousands of entries).  We were very excited to take second place!! (from a rough draft)



We then entered a more polished version at the Indie Fest USA film festival, and took first place!!  





Publicity

We've been featured in several articles over the last few months:

CNN Money/Fortune article on preparedness

Off The Grid article on power loss and preparedness entertainment

Common Sense Prepping article on preparedness for power disruptions

Inquisitr article about anti-gun fundraising companies and impact to Lights Out Saga

David and Travis on the Survival Podcast with Jack Spirko


We did a US-wide publicity tour in 2013, and hit California, Colorado, Georgia, Florida and more.  We met tens of thousands of people, which was fantastic.  Following are some highlights:

Denver Colorado:

We had a GREAT time at the Self Reliance Expo in Denver Colorado.  Here's a quick photo of me and David at the expo.  Thanks again to LongHunterCO and all the other great arfcom members who came out to see us.  Some of you drove several hours just to come meet with us.  The support was a little overwhelming!!  We had several thousand people stop by our booth over the course of two days, and made some great connections.  I apologize if we missed any of you (or weren't able to talk long).  It was a great (but busy) few days.



An interview from Denver with Jack Spirko: YouTube link

Atlanta Georgia

Again, we were mobbed by several thousand people over the course of two days, and made some huge connections in the Atlanta area.  We had representatives from multiple townships come out to meet with us (and invite us to film in their towns).  




Bakersfield California

Our hats are off to the few thousand people who braved 104 degree temperatures to come visit with us in California!  It was great to spend time with our friends from 5.11 Tactical and others.  Special thanks to Taft and several other arfcom members who made our visit memorable!  




Pre-Production Updates

[March 30 update]

Here's "Big Tiny" from the Walking Dead cleaning his new best friend - an H&K 23 belt fed




[March 27 update]

Author David Crawford smiling his way through his first day on set!  I know his cheeks had to be hurting the next day



Noveske Shooting Team member Rob Romero demonstrating proper weapon handling techniques to the extras on set.





[March 25 update]

We successfully wrapped the trailer shoot this weekend!!  

I cannot express to you all how great it was, and how great the footage will b this shoot was.  We will be releasing stills and clips from the trailer over the next two weeks.  Approximately 80% of our extras came from ar15.com, and several of us were involved in stunts and action sequences that you will love.  We had force-on-force sequences using blank firing weapons and a huge gang of motorcycle riders shooting, crashing and engaging the "good guys" (who were entrenched behind a barricade).  We had some recognizable cast members from The Walking Dead, a gyrocopter getting aerial shots, an incredible stunt team, some fantastic sponsors on location (including site staff from arfcom!), and even David Crawford himself .  I just drove all night to get home, but will try to start popping still photos up here shortly.  Thanks again to all for your support!  You're going to love what you see in the next few weeks.


Our emphasis for everything we did (besides safety) was realism and authenticity.  The Noveske Shooting Team personally came out and trained every extra for a significant amount of time.  



We used blank-firing weapons with full power loads, real magazine changes, malfunctions, mud and every other 'real life' thing you would expect.  It was interesting to see everyone's faces change when rounds started going off and muzzle flashes were pointed in their direction.  It was an incredible experience!!  

Yours truly - worn out, tired, wet and cold, but still smiling




Some people that a few of you may recognize!!!  

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Loved those books.

movie series

Explain further.

Contribution made!

For those that missed it, they are raising money to make the film.  DONATE!

Wow can't believe I never heard of this

Lights Out is 611 pages of fine print.  It's an epic story.  It could be shoved in to a single feature-length movie, but we don't feel that will do it justice.  We'd like to do a series.  While we're sponsored/authorized by the site, I'm hesitant to post any links that involve fundraising (out of respect to the owners here).  If we hit our fundraising goal - we're making two or more feature length movies out of the story.  See our website for more information

   - Travis Fox (Exec Producer)

in on one!

So is this a Kickstarter campaign or??

So in on 1!!!

Never heard of it. What's it about?

In like Flynn

It's a good book. Ill see if I can find my spare copy.

Awesome!!!

Any chance Lights Out is going to be available on Audible?

Whoohoo

Great book, good luck!

Now this has my interest

Great book, I hope yall do it justice.

Lights Out at Amazon.

Post up if you start a kick starter or something. Loved the book, movie series would be awesome.

Oh yeah!!

This is awesome!  Yesterday my wife and I saw that commercial for Revolution and were both surprised it was coming back next season.  I told her I wished they did it more along the lines of "Lights Out", and now I see this thread!  I read all 600 plus pages online before it was published to paper, great story.

Direct to DVD I'm assuming?

Awesome news, I can't wait!

In

I don't think I saw a FAL in that teaser.   Karate Man uses a FAL.

I'll contribute.

Edit - In for $300 I'm #4 of 400 for the Freedom package.. My contribution brought the total up to $2,161 out of the $175K needed.

There might be info on our website.  I wasn't sure if I had staff clearance for 'fundraising', so didn't want to call it out directly.  Holy smokes!?  That URL is right in my signature line .  

You might recognize a few of our sponsors on our page .  They are the first of many, and they are all huge.  We actually anticipate having almost 20 sponsors within the next week or two.  Folks - we ain't playin around here!!  This is going to happen, and it is going to happen in a HUGE way.  You have no idea what's coming

Tagsky

Time - give us some .  We're still trying to figure out whether Karate Man could transition to a Larue OBR in 7.62.  Any thoughts?  

Gave what I could to help fund this great project

In and thanks again David for an awesome book!

I can't wait!

I'm so in for a Kickstarter.

TAGGAGE

Well, it's "indiegogo" this time instead of kickstarter, but click on our webpage and the rest should make sense

It's Link Here

How is tomorrow at 2 p.m. eastern?  

Donated a hundred.

In!

Can a fellow purchase the book at a barnes and nobel?

I could go the amazon route but I'm a guy that loves instant gratification.



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Heresy!