Stage 4: Braving Uncertainty

A lot has happened in the last few months with our documentary STAGE 4: BRAVING UNCERTAINTY.  

We have finished principal photography and with the help of all who have donated we have a completed first edit that we are very happy with.  We’ve also picked up a new producer named Stefano Gonzalez, whose production company Transgress Films is helping with various production services.  Lastly, we now have a fiscal sponsor, From the Heart Productions.

Having a fiscal sponsor gives our film and our donors a major opportunity: Any future donations made toward STAGE 4: BRAVING UNCERTAINTY will now be 100% tax deductible.  From the Heart Productions is a 501 (c) non-profit that helps filmmakers get their films funded through grants, fiscal sponsorship and crowd sourcing. 

Through crowd sourcing, favors, discounts and out of pocket costs we were able to raise almost $15,000, which has allowed us to shoot and now be deep into the editing process. 

What happens next?  It is time to  conduct test screenings, picture lock and color grade and finally
submit to film festivals.

We are doing a new crowd sourcing campaign to help finish our film.  With production almost complete, we are trying to raise an additional $12,000 to help with post-production (editing, graphics, sound mix, stock footage) and our festival campaign.  To everyone who has supported us up to this point, we are eternally grateful.  We are very proud of the edit that we have as of today and look forward to sharing it with you.

FILMMAKING TEAM

Lisa Runnels - Executive Producer/Subject

Until her diagnosis with cancer, Lisa worked extensively as a sales coordinator and event planner. She is now focused on keeping her cancer at bay by maintaining a healthy attitude and lifestyle. She also enjoys spending time with her family and working on this documentary. 

The Runnels Brothers - Writer/Directors/Editor

Greg and Mark have been working together creatively since the early 1990’s.  In 2007 their feature film YOUTHANASIA was acquired by York Entertainment and is available through Netflix.  THE LAST ALLEYCAT, their second feature film, was completed in 2016 and is currently being shopped for distribution.  They are award winning filmmakers, with their short film BREAKFAST WITH BUKOWSKI winning the Slamdance Social Shorties Festival and HOP DREAMS won last years’s Alameda International Film Festival for best short documentary.  They have received numerous grants to make films and videos, including a National Endowment for the Humanities.

Stefano Gonzalez - Producer 

Stefano Gonzalez is a Writer-Director-Producer with an MFA in Motion Pictures and Television from the Academy of Art University.  His short script, HOW TO KILL SOMEONE YOU HATE, won Best Short Film and Best Directing awards at the 2014 Epidemic Film Festival.  REBEL CHILD, directed by Juan Davis and co-produced by Stefano, won Best Emerging Artist award at the 2015 Pictoclik Film Festival in San Francisco.  Gonzalez also formed his own production company, Transgress Studios, LLC. in order to be behind the camera full time. 

Richard Ross - Sound Mixer/ Sound Designer

Richard Ross AES, composer, location production sound mixer, audio post production engineer, sound designer, and flautist, holds a Masters Degree in Music Composition from the University of Oregon at Eugene with an audio engineering background. Richard has done production sound, audio post production, and sound design for more than 20 film projects and commercials and engineered many audio recordings.  Richard provided the sound mix and design for the Runnels Brothers’ feature film THE LAST ALLEYCAT and their short documentary HOP DREAMS.