The Price

Fan films are usually hit or miss. While they are always made with an incredible amount of passion and dedication by those involved, there are often elements that come up short. And while we don’t know what the final product will look like, an upcoming adaptation of one of Neil Gaiman’s short stories is challenging the assumptions of fan films and shaping up to be a great piece of art.

The Price, from the collection, Creatures of the Night, is a story about a black cat that comes to live on the porch of a family’s country home, the events that surround its arrival and the things that happen at night. It’s a touching and surreal story, lending much to the imagination in its brevity.

Bringing that story to the screen, however, is the goal of Christopher Salmon. And he’s funding it through Kickstarter. In his video we see portions of the animatic he’s created, narrated by Neil Gaiman. We also get to meet Christopher, hear about the genesis of this project and his ideas for the production design. The animatics look wonderful, and the narration, score and sound design begin to paint a compelling picture of how this project would turn out.

If you haven’t heard of Kickstarter, it’s a way for people to fund projects and ideas through donations. These donations, at various levels, usually bring something in return. In this case, you can get DVD’s of the final production all the way to a VIP screening of the film with Neil Gaiman himself.