IMPORTANT UPDATE:

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT!

IN ORDER TO CONTINUE FUNDRAISING, WE’RE MOVING OUR CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN FROM SEED & SPARK OVER TO DONOR BOX. 

PLEASE REDIRECT YOU CONTRIBUTIONS TO:

www.donorbox.org/willowhorror

Share our campaign’s link to friends & family:
bit.ly/willowhorror

Scroll down for the Official Trailer & More!

The Whole Thing | Episode 1
"Willow" is LIVE on Seed & Spark - and my hand is on FIRE!!!
Dreams | Willow
Here's Why "Willow" Aces the Bechdel Test



Meet the Producers | Katrina Reid
Meet the Producers | Suswana Chowdhury
"I Can See Clearly Now the Rain is Gone..." | Willow
Meet Sasha Obama’s Granddaughter in “Willow"
Official Trailer

PRESS:

The Once & Future Nerd podcast | Interview w/ castmate Paul Notice
5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me About Producing | Authority Mag


Making Movies is Hard Podcast | Episode 288
Interview with Filmmaker & Queens Resident Paul Notice | Best of Astoria
Sasha Obama's Granddaughter Will Save Us in "Willow"

-------------

Every Contribution gets exclusive access to Willow's "State of Emergency" short film!

-------

What happens after the Revolution?

As Black folx, we’ve never had the chance to draw a picture of our wildest, most radical dreams. “Willow” seeks to remedy that. After being fed on for hundreds of years by man-eating White Supremacists, Black folx in the world of “Willow” are now the eaters. But what happens, when the “White meat” runs out?

In an alternate reality, where the bodies of Black and Brown folx were once consumed for power, White people - now food for the powerful - are running out. After her roommate dies the night President Sasha Obama II legalizes "Peer Consumption," Willow is forced to search for stability in a new world, where every moment is a wager in flesh. This is an Afrofuturist, Anti-Capitalist, Womanist Horror Flick. This is "Willow."

I wrote the first version of “Willow” seven years ago in 2013. After partnering with director Reg Douglas and producer Glenn Quentin George, we had it go up on its feet at New York Theatre Workshop in 2014, w/ an absolutely stellar cast:

Original Cast List

Willow - Keona Welch
Chegge - Paul A. Notice II
Taina - Kristin Watson
Vanessa - Simone Leonora
Diane - Ashley Samona Baker
Janet - Bianca LaVerne Jones

And he told me that a few of the scenes in the original play might look better on screen. I agreed - and 6 years later, here we are!

I grew up spying on my mom, auntie, and grandma's weekly movie nights w/ my cousin. Candyman, Star Trek Deep Space 9, Tales from the Hood, Vampire in Brooklyn - all became the building blocks of my nascent Blerdom.

Black women introduced me to Horror/SciFi, and yet were barely present on the screen. I wasn't satisfied with one - or even two! Black folx surviving until the end.

I wanted to push the Overton Window. Why not make an all-Black cast? Why not have 90% of the principal characters be Black women, and let the one male character talk about the women for a change? And... while we're at it: why not discuss some present issues about exploitation, capitalism, and liberation in the subtext too. And thus, came "Willow."

"Willow" is part of a larger project, sponsored by The Notice Foundation, Inc - a 501(c)(3) private foundation that develops and supports narratives from marginalized communities. The "Willow" project focuses on hiring BIPOC folx behind the camera, as well as in front of the camera.

And that’s not just through furthering representation of BIPOC in “White spaces,” but by continuing to encourage their employment in positions of power throughout the entire filmmaking process.

We’re also requiring that the production hire 90% BIPOC folx, hire locally, work safely (according to SAG-AFTRA safety guidelines), AND to host an ongoing series of panel discussions and workshops for BIPOC/Queer/Marginalized folx in media.

This project is meant to serve as a guide point, a Green New Deal for Hollywood’s problem with White Supremacy, Queerphobia, and Misogyny.

Our Mission includes employing Black Women and BIPOC folx behind the camera. Not only will Willow employ an entirely Black principal cast, made up of mostly Black women, but all of our Department Heads will be Black Women as well.

Past Panel Events:

To help foster a discussion on the topics prevalent in both Willow and our own lives, we're hosting an exclusive featurette screening + panel discussion, called:

"After the Revolution: Reimagining Black Utopia"
Wednesday (12/2/20) @ 7PM EST at: www.twitch.tv/willowhorror

Eventbrite Link to “The Pivot”
Friday, November 20, 2020 at 6PM EST 
“The Pivot: Filmmaking & How to Run a Creative Non-Profit during COVID”

That’s where you come in: our goal is $69,000 - which will get us through production. That means: actors, crew and location fees.

The dress and style of “Willow” is intricately intertwined with world-building. Pins/brooches evolved into a subtle nod to social standing, while signifiers of “eaters” like gold-adorned talons and fangs - demonstrate wealth and prestige.

Gold + Dark Skin is a beautiful combination, and I want this film to pay homage to that. Furthermore, I wanted to play with the shadows and the dark.

During the early start of my career, I’ve encountered so much prejudice against darker-skinned subjects in Film - including having a fellow crew member “joke” that the worst thing to light for is a Jamaican wedding (dark skin w/ bright colors). I, for one, have a Jamaican father. But what bothered me more, was that bright colors bounce lighter than darker tones. It’s actually a great lighting situation - if you’re accustomed to people with darker skin. 

I want “Willow” to add to the canon of films that seek to deconstruct that - NOT through centering Whiteness or oppression - but simply showing a better world, and a better sort of film.

Paul A. Notice II | Director | Writer | Executive Producer

As a 2017 NY Emmy award-winning producer, with over 12 years of filmmaking and journalism; Paul A. Notice II has produced, directed or edited projects for a wide scale of artists including Mykal Kilgore, Cedric Leiba Jr., J. Read, Melanie Charles, Taja Lindley, David Whitwell, Kendra Foster, and Von Middleton.

Paul’s latest work, “Shaw Boyz” earned the 2019 ISA Bronze Award for Best New Web & Media and the Official Selection, while the music video Notice directed for Hip Hop artist J Read, “Everything,” earned them the 2019 Audio Shoot Unsigned Festival Award for Best Hip Hop Music Video. For more info, please contact them at Paul@TheNoticeBlog.com, or visit www.thenoticeblog.com to see more work.

Suswana Chowdhury | Producer | 1st AD 

Suswana Chowdhury is a first-generation Bengali-American born and raised in Queens, New York. A multimedia artist and journalist, Suswana works full time as a digital marketing video and audio producer where she manages high budget productions. Most recently, Suswana acted as the executive producer of an independent short film titled "Dawat" which is currently running on the film festival circuit. She is committed to serving her communities through her work, dedicating her time to develop projects particularly narrative films and documentaries that are reflective of the diverse world she has grown up in. Passionate in her belief that education is a human right, Suswana also actively fundraises to build sustainable and accessible education for girls in India with WE Charity.

Katrina Ann Reid | Producer | Production Manager 

Katrina Reid is a dancer and performing artist based in New York, by way of Georgia. They collaborate with a range of artists, who explore performance at the center and edges of dance, theater, ritual, and film. Her work has been presented at Issue Project Room, Knockdown Center, the Current Sessions, AUNTS at NYU Skirball & Beach Sessions, BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Dance Chance Atlanta, Florida A&M University, and as a 2016-2017 Dancing While Black Fellow with Angela’s Pulse & BAX. Katrina has been a part of projects by NIC Kay, Phillip Howze, Emily Johnson, David Thomson, Okwui Okpokwasili, and Peter Born, Jonathan González, Marguerite Hemmings, Megan Byrne, and Third Rail Projects, among others.

Pierre Jean Gonzalez | Producer | Acting Coach

Pierre Jean Gonzalez is a New York-based actor, singer, and producer hailing from the Bronx, NY. Since a very young age, Pierre has worked in many theatrical productions. Currently Playing Alexander Hamilton in the National North American Tour of Hamilton. Some favorite credits that have influenced Pierre include In The Heights and The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. He has also appeared in episodes of NCIS: NOLA, Gotham, and P.O.S.E. Pierre received his BFA Acting Conservatory from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. 

"Let’s not forget to still create and cherish Black stories. Because, if we don’t write our stories, someone else will?"

Regardless of who is in office, the images, subjects, and approach in this story are crucial in the challenging harmful practices/beliefs that led us to where we are today.

We witnessed Stacey Abrams deliver Georgia to the Democrats with her “Fair Fight 2020” initiative. We witnessed Black churches and seniors hand Biden the Democratic Primary in South Carolina. And we witnessed a Black Woman single-handedly turn the tides of the 2020 Presidential Debates with a simple reminder to an interrupting Vice President Pence, that she, was “Still Speaking,” declares Paul Notice, Writer, Director and Executive Producer of Willow, “And yet, this still is not nearly enough of these people reflected in our movies. We need to see more images of Black Women in power. We need to depict them as the saviors they are in real life, on screen.  We need a film like “Willow.

There’s a reckoning happening - and it’s not restricted to policies, but across all industries, including film. “Willow” is a reckoning with America's obsession with White Supremacy.

It’s taken me 7 years to get to this point, and with your contributions - we can make yet another iconic Black film.  One that doesn’t just speak to where we are now, but is already deconstructing a path we could take in the future.

We understand that we are in a global pandemic, and have currently planned for production to start in 2021. Pending any changes in COVID-19 prevention regulations, we will be implementing the following measures to ensure the safety of our cast and crew:

• Mandatory 2-week quarantine before production.
• We are following production guidelines in the state of New York.
• We will be offering masks and gloves to everyone.
• Limited cast and crew size.
• Following the SAG-AFTRA regulations
• Hiring a Health & Safety Officer

Because of the 2-week quarantine for out-of-state travelers - We’re casting exclusively from New York City. 

Local actors and crew only need to submit a negative test, within 48 hours of the shoot - 

along with an at-door temperature check. We’re also following SAG-AFTRA safety protocols, which require that you must have a Health Safety Supervisor present at all times, along with a HEPA-certified Air Filter, Separating the production crew and cast into two separate zones (Zone A & Zone B). For the least exposure and contact possible between folx, and so on and so forth. 

Keeping things local, and by the book Has been a big benefit for this production.

Special Offers: