Gags the clown is getting his own feature film
Break out the black balloons. Gags just got bigger.
The creepy clown who went viral last year after photos of him lurking in Green Bay showed up as part of a marketing campaign for a horror short is getting the long-form treatment. He’ll star in his own feature film to be shot next month in the city for release in 2018.
Adam Krause, the Green Bay writer, director and producer behind the original “Gags,” was approached by Chicago producers last fall about turning the Gags phenomenon into a feature-length movie. They liked the short and were impressed by the social media campaign that grabbed headlines worldwide and helped spark a string of scary clown sightings in cities across the country, Krause said.
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He and friend John Pata, a filmmaker who shot a feature film in Oshkosh in 2011, wrote the movie together. It’s set in Green Bay during a single night in which the mysterious Gags is wandering around the city.
“It takes place during the Gags the clown pandemic, if you will — that week when the pictures went viral and everyone was kind of losing their mind. You had so many different takes on the story,” Krause said. “What was really important to us for the feature was, you know the big clown craze that kind of came after the Gags pictures spread through the country essentially? We wanted to kind of encapsulate that entire craze into our script, because we felt Gags was such a big part of that moment. It was kind of ridiculous actually, how that spread across the country. We definitely wanted to get every viewpoint that came with that craze.”
The film will follow four groups in relation to Gags: the police officers managing the craziness happening in the city; the news reporter and crew trying to find the clown to get their exclusive; a group of high school students using Gags as a reason to dress up as clowns and pull pranks; and “the headhunters,” people who aren’t happy about the clown creeping out their community and want it stopped.
“Obviously, I can’t get into too much more,” said Krause, who will direct, “but we lead up to a really fun third act.”
Cameras will begin rolling in early May for three weeks of shooting at a wide variety of undisclosed locations around town. The project has the full cooperation of the city, Krause said.
Local talent has been cast through The Belle Agency; extras will be needed for several scenes.
“There’s a lot of talented people in Green Bay, and it’s kind of cool to utilize as many of them as possible,” Krause said.
The film has also landed Lauren Ashley Carter, a well-known indie horror actress whose credits include “Jug Face,” “Darling” and “Premium Rush.”
The film’s producers have the necessary funding for the project, but it’s still considered “very low budget” in comparison to mainstream Hollywood releases and even some of the bigger independent films that come out of Los Angeles, Krause said. The movie has secured Film Green Bay, the nonprofit organization behind the Green Bay Film Festival, as its fiscal sponsor. That allows donations to the project to be 100 percent tax deductible, a move that Krause hopes will encourage local businesses and companies to contribute.
Krause is also interested in establishing partnerships with businesses for product placement in the film. Luna Coffee in De Pere has already signed on to donate coffee to the cast and crew each day of shooting and will make a special Gags blend of coffee to sell.
The “Gags” short has won acclaim on the film festival circuit, with Gags himself in demand for red carpet appearances. It was accepted into the recent Wisconsin Film Festival in Madison — “a huge personal goal” for Krause — and won best short honors (both juried and audience) at the Twisted Dreams Film Festival in Milwaukee. It also took the audience award at the Night Terrors Film Festival in Denmark, as in Copenhagen, Denmark, where it sold out two screenings.
“Apparently Denmark has a huge Gags following. It’s pretty awesome,” Krause said. “It was pretty surreal this little short film I made in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is getting an audience in Denmark. It’s just nuts.”
The goal for the feature-length film is national and worldwide distribution, Krause said. That Gags is already an established brand from the viral marketing campaign makes the possibility of wide distribution a better possibility, he said, but the quality of the film still has to deliver.
For Gags fans clamoring to see the short that started it all, Krause hopes to release it as an on-demand option online for a three-day period. It would then be pulled and wouldn’t show up again until as a bonus feature on the DVD of the feature film.
Before filming begins, there’s the no-small matter of making Gags a new mask that’s a replica of his original.
“When I made the first one, I never thought I’d have to make a second one,” Krause said. “I was just kind of shooting from the hip.”
kmeinert@pressgazettemedia.com and follow her on Twitter and Instagram @KendraMeinert
Want to be a part of the film?
The Gags movie is looking for local extras to be part of filming in May, with most scenes shot at night. Send an email to blackballoons2016@gmail.com.
Local businesses and companies interested in product placement in the film can contact filmmakers at the same email address.
To make a take-deductible donation to the project, go to gagsfilm.com/donate.