With the WGA writer’s strike in full effect, one has to wonder what will happen to the many promising projects that will be placed on hold without talented writers to work on it. However, one such project that Hollywood is choosing to ignore despite its potential to enjoy great commercial and critical success is BOIL, a dark comedic drama dreamed up by multi-award winning screenwriter Jake Maida Vale. “I’ve focused on perfecting my craft for the last five years in this industry in order to create a script that would be easy to produce, but it seems all of the doors open to those who have connections are shut to people like myself, who are trying to tell original stories without a large budget”, says Jake.

And that budget of $100,000 is precisely why Hollywood isn’t choosing to embrace the project. Usually, producers and financiers are focused on finding projects with a high budget in order to attract top talent and secure financing. Yet, we’ve seen time and time again that these projects are not particularly interesting or have anything important to say in a unique way. Worse still, they end up being costly mistakes that haunt the production companies throwing their weight behind them. Feature film budgets under $250,000 are usually considered ‘dead-zone’ projects: too high for an easy crowdfunding round from friends and family, too low for any film financier or producer to take seriously as a profitable venture. Jake, as well as Tayden Hilton, the attached director of the film, are hoping to change that. “If we can get people to start looking at this film with real potential to do great business theatrically, on VOD (video-on-demand) and not just as a streaming or bargain-bin movie, we could begin to see a shift in the way Hollywood approaches film making, not just as an art form for multi-million dollar projects, but as a place where those with solid projects that can attract named talent have a real shot at being made, regardless of their budget”, says Jake. A real win-win on both sides of the aisle – Hollywood will be able to make more money from non-union talent that wants to work without the need of union writers and directors; new and undiscovered talent will have a real chance to make their mark on Hollywood without jumping through endless hoops forever until they get lucky.

BOIL is one such project that definitely deserves your attention. The dark comedy-drama is about a woman hosting a dinner party who has to deal with her extended family while keeping a secret. Unknown to her, they also have hidden secrets. If you contribute to this project, you’ll be helping prove that Hollywood needs to focus on investing in quality, no matter how much it costs or who is behind the camera, because that is what consumers ultimately deserve: quality entertainment.

To learn more about the project and help it get made in order to prove that independent film deserves to be appreciated, please go to igg.me/at/boil/x/33677754#/.