An independent film company based in Ayr is asking the public to help complete a supernatural horror movie that could become the starting point for a much larger franchise.
Fulfilment Pictures is seeking support for Initial Contact, a short film already backed by Creative Scotland. The movie was filmed across Ayr and Callander earlier this summer and is now the subject of a crowdfunding appeal.
A supernatural thriller filmed in Scotland
The film is described as intense and claustrophobic. Its story centres on a priest posing as a lawyer while interviewing a woman accused of killing her family.
As the conversation develops, the woman may be revealed as a sinister, otherworldly presence. The story explores grief, guilt and faith, while also serving as a proof of concept for a larger horror franchise currently in development.
Director and producer Robin De Vernon Ryding said the team had been developing the film’s world for years and saw Initial Contact as “the beginning of something much bigger”. The production, he said, was intended to feel unsettling while retaining emotional weight.
He also highlighted the importance of making the film in Scotland with a Scottish cast and crew.
How the crowdfunding appeal works
Fulfilment Pictures has raised more than half of its £20,000 crowdfunding target and is encouraging further contributions before the campaign’s matching deadline.
Donations made before August 25 are eligible for Creative Scotland’s Crowdmatch scheme. Under the scheme, public contributions can be matched pound-for-pound up to £10,000, subject to the scheme’s limits.
Members of the public can support the production through its Crowdfunder campaign.
Writer and producer Lauren De Vernon Ryding said Scotland’s film industry was receiving attention from major productions, but argued that ambitious projects should also be developed by Scottish filmmakers and independent companies.
She said the team wanted to demonstrate that filmmakers did not have to leave Scotland to tell ambitious stories. For Fulfilment Pictures, completing Initial Contact would provide both a finished short film and a foundation for the wider horror project now in development.