EXTREME CHRISTIAN ENT. WILL EXPAND 'FOSTER HOME' TO FEATURE LENGTH
Aaron Allen, filmmaker, CEO and founder of Extreme Christian Entertainment LLC, at left. Promotional graphic for the original "Foster Home" short film, art right.
▶ BY KRISTEN AND KEVIN COLLIER
Aaron Allen, the CEO and founder of Extreme Christian Entertainment LLC, has announced that their 2015 short film, Foster Home, will enter production again soon, with the intention of expanding the project into a feature-length, motion picture.
The original film concentrates on four former foster kids, now attending college, who grew up in horrible environments of abuse, rape, self-harm, prostitution and being left for dead in a dumpster. They speak out, sharing their stories of survival to a film class making a documentary, where faith comes up and changes a life.
The short film featured actors Kathlene Ashcraft, Sheila Mudd Baker, Alfonso Torres Cabarello, Logan Flum, Marie A. Garton, Myra Zimmerman Grubbs, Dave Payton and others. Aaron Allen produced and directed the short.
The notion of expanding the short film into a full-length picture comes at a time when topics seen in the 2015 release are dominating news headlines, such as the Jeffrey Epstein child sex trafficking ring and pedophilia scandal.
Foster Home traces back to 2007, when Allen received a short script from friend and writer, Tammy Ruggles. Allen attempted to bring the story into production, but, “It wasn’t the right time,” he explained, “or not what it was meant to be.”
“So, finally I got back to it in 2013, and the writer and I revised it a bit into a Christian film,” Allen told CM. “I cast it, found all the locations for it in a church, and we filmed the short film in November 2013 and January 2014.”
However, bringing the short film to a release was a path riddled with challenges along the way. Foster Home entered “a long post production phase,” until early 2015.
“It was finally released on Christian Cinema online, a month after a small church premiere at the church we filmed at,” Allen said. “The film wasn't doing well the first few years on the digital platform, no matter how much I promoted it all over. Finally, I decided to also release it on YouTube, on my channel ECE Ministry. There it has gotten over a thousand views.”
Since then awareness of Foster Home has dramatically increased, and with it, the concept and outreach grew, as well.
“I have even shared it with real former foster kids on Facebook and gotten so much feedback, plus, [from] another filmmaker friend, and due to a lot of response, I decided there is more to this film,” Allen said. “I am slowly in the process of brainstorming the feature film script that will extend everything in the short film and build these characters [and] their relationships, further.”
Allen explained that there will be additional characters and many new scenes. The main characters, college students, will experience new flashbacks from their past and their relationships.
“The issues covered in the short film will be there, but there will be new additional material, and some of it will include more extreme, controversial issues that the actual former foster kids brought to my attention.”
Allen said he will be looking into fundraising with co-producers and may even try to get help through Kappa Studios, as well. In addition ECE will engage crowdfunding and seek investors. You can email Aaron Allen at extremechristianentertainment@yahoo.com. Also read the CM's article about ECE's Red Letters short film production and how you can get involved.
Aaron Allen, the CEO and founder of Extreme Christian Entertainment LLC, has announced that their 2015 short film, Foster Home, will enter production again soon, with the intention of expanding the project into a feature-length, motion picture.
The original film concentrates on four former foster kids, now attending college, who grew up in horrible environments of abuse, rape, self-harm, prostitution and being left for dead in a dumpster. They speak out, sharing their stories of survival to a film class making a documentary, where faith comes up and changes a life.
The short film featured actors Kathlene Ashcraft, Sheila Mudd Baker, Alfonso Torres Cabarello, Logan Flum, Marie A. Garton, Myra Zimmerman Grubbs, Dave Payton and others. Aaron Allen produced and directed the short.
The notion of expanding the short film into a full-length picture comes at a time when topics seen in the 2015 release are dominating news headlines, such as the Jeffrey Epstein child sex trafficking ring and pedophilia scandal.
Foster Home traces back to 2007, when Allen received a short script from friend and writer, Tammy Ruggles. Allen attempted to bring the story into production, but, “It wasn’t the right time,” he explained, “or not what it was meant to be.”
“So, finally I got back to it in 2013, and the writer and I revised it a bit into a Christian film,” Allen told CM. “I cast it, found all the locations for it in a church, and we filmed the short film in November 2013 and January 2014.”
However, bringing the short film to a release was a path riddled with challenges along the way. Foster Home entered “a long post production phase,” until early 2015.
“It was finally released on Christian Cinema online, a month after a small church premiere at the church we filmed at,” Allen said. “The film wasn't doing well the first few years on the digital platform, no matter how much I promoted it all over. Finally, I decided to also release it on YouTube, on my channel ECE Ministry. There it has gotten over a thousand views.”
Since then awareness of Foster Home has dramatically increased, and with it, the concept and outreach grew, as well.
“I have even shared it with real former foster kids on Facebook and gotten so much feedback, plus, [from] another filmmaker friend, and due to a lot of response, I decided there is more to this film,” Allen said. “I am slowly in the process of brainstorming the feature film script that will extend everything in the short film and build these characters [and] their relationships, further.”
Allen explained that there will be additional characters and many new scenes. The main characters, college students, will experience new flashbacks from their past and their relationships.
“The issues covered in the short film will be there, but there will be new additional material, and some of it will include more extreme, controversial issues that the actual former foster kids brought to my attention.”
Allen said he will be looking into fundraising with co-producers and may even try to get help through Kappa Studios, as well. In addition ECE will engage crowdfunding and seek investors. You can email Aaron Allen at extremechristianentertainment@yahoo.com. Also read the CM's article about ECE's Red Letters short film production and how you can get involved.
