Gabriel's Back Pages
Los Angeles, California | Film Feature
Documentary
In 2012, we lost my brother Gabriel to suicide. A filmmaker, songwriter and artist, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 19 and struggled for 20 years against the preconceptions about who he was and what he was capable of. All he wanted was to tell his story. This film is his story.
Gabriel's Back Pages
Los Angeles, California | Film Feature
Documentary
1 Campaigns | California, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $30,252 for post-production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
130 supporters | followers
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In 2012, we lost my brother Gabriel to suicide. A filmmaker, songwriter and artist, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 19 and struggled for 20 years against the preconceptions about who he was and what he was capable of. All he wanted was to tell his story. This film is his story.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
***We are still accepting donations! Please visit Gabriel's Back Pages to learn how you can get involved. And thank you for your support!***
In the fall of 2009, my brother Gabriel and I decided to make a film together. It would be a documentary exploring the subject of mental illness and would examine both the experience of living with a mental illness and the stigma and misconceptions surrounding it (as fed by societal ignorance, the media and even the medical establishment itself). We felt we were in a unique position to talk about the subject; Gabriel had been living with the diagnosis of schizophrenia for nearly two decades, and as a brother and sister filmmaking team we thought we could give both an insider’s and outsider’s perspective on the subject.
Then on June 24th of 2012, I received a call from my mother that Gabriel had leapt from his 59th floor balcony to his death. He left his glasses, wallet and cigarettes on the table. He did not leave a note. “No words” everyone said to us.
Since Gabriel left us, I have struggled to find the words. To put the pieces together. I did relentless Google searches on schizophrenia, read first person accounts and scoured the DSM5 learning only what I knew before: that there is no explanation, there is no cure, and that 20% of people diagnosed with the disease attempt suicide. But it wasn’t until I began to delve into Gabriel’s creative work, that I began to see his life and his world from his unique perspective. Reading his scripts and watching his films, a narrative began to emerge: the story of his life as he saw it, his “hero’s journey.” I have since come to appreciate how this narrative kept him going as long as it did, how in fact we all have narratives that help make sense of our lives. That we may all be, to some degree, on the spectrum of mental illness and delusion.
The structure of the film is guided by Gabriel’s own telling of his life story, alongside interviews with the people closest to him: our parents, his friends, mental health providers, as well as the people with whom he was fascinated (many of whom became characters in his fictional world).
Throughout the film I find ways for him to tell his story posthumously, bringing the viewer along on my own detective’s journey through his art, writings and films. My aim is not only to honor the original vision for our film by exploring mental illness “from the inside and the outside,” but also to discover what his life can teach us about storytelling as a key to survival.
For his screenplays and essays, I plan to use artistically rendered storyboards and live action recreations. Together they provide insight into how he authored his “hero’s journey,” and the evolution of his illness from childhood until his death (illustration below by Rob Tokar).
This material works alongside archival footage of his own documentary exploration of mental illness (he conducted a series of interviews on the subject of mental illness after he was first diagnosed), as well as my interviews with him, myself, our parents, his case workers, and the real-life people on which the characters in his fictional worlds were based. These narratives intersect and collide with Gabe's own story-telling, growing into more fully realized and fantastical stories, opening a window into the world of schizophrenia… from the inside and the outside.
Currently, all interviews for the project are complete and we have a two-hour rough cut of the film. Thanks to our generous producers Butcher Bird Studios who have donated their talent, equipment, studio space and expertise we are about 6-12 months from bringing Gabriel’s Back Pages to the screen.
Next steps include the following:
- Working with a storyboard artist to bring key scenes from Gabriel’s screenplays to life
- Bringing in actors to record scenes
- Creating the films’ original score
- Adding a consistent graphic package
- Sound editing
Our current goal is $20,000. With your help this amount will help us to get us over the first hump of post-production. Should we exceed our goal, we’ll be able to seamlessly move on to phase two. Here’s a breakdown of our “stretch goals”:
· $25,000 covers the cost of color correction
· $30,000 gets us through a final editing pass
· $40,000 pays for a trailer & legal clearances
· $50,000 allows us to cover the cost of film festival submissions and promoting the film, ensuring it get to the widest audience possible.
JOIN OUR COMMUNITY & SPREAD THE WORD
We’d love your support in spreading the word to individuals and organization who will benefit from seeing this film! Here’s how you can help:
- Spread the word on social media & to your mailing list
- Reach out to organizations that you think would be interested supporting this project
- Join our mailing list at GabrielsBackPages.com to continue to be part of our community. and receive updates about the progress of the film
- If you know of artists (editors, musicians, illustrator, graphic artists) who might be interested in donating their services to help bring this project to completion, please encourage them to reach out directly at GabrielsBackPages.com
Thank you for support of this project and for helping reduce the stigma around mental illness!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Voice Talent
Costs $2,376
In order to bring Gabriel's screen plays to life I'm bringing together a team of incredibly talented actors willing to work for scale.
Sound Editor
Costs $4,000
Working with archival footage is beast when it comes to sound! Hiring a sound editor makes a huge difference quality of the final film.
Storyboard Artist
Costs $5,000
To bring Gabriel's perspective to life, we are having a storyboard artist render frames of essential scenes from his screen plays.
Composer
Costs $5,000
Music can make a or break a film! This will allow us to hire an amazing composer to bring the the movie's soundscape to life.
Graphic designer
Costs $3,624
We're hiring an artist who can mimic Gabe's style to create an original look for the film's text assets.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Carmen Elena Mitchell (Director/Executive Producer) is the creator of the award-winning, critically acclaimed web-series The Real Girl’s Guide To Everything Else (profiled on NPR),and has shot and edited more than 40 documentary shorts highlighting advancements in aging services, including Joyful Hearts about the therapeutic power for music for Alzheimer’s patients, a profile on the first same sex couple to move into Wesley Palms Retirement Community, as well as a videos exploring the subjects of ageism and “creativity under quarantine.” Podcast credits include The Ethic and Video Podcast (producer) and The Tunnel of Truth, True Report on Gender and Race in the Reading Room (editor). Carmen was a recipient of the MTV/Pocket Books Short Fiction Award and a semi-finalist for narrative feature at Cinequest and Visionfest.
Luis Arturo Reyes (producer) is an executive producer, writer and partner at Butcher Bird Studios. His work straddles the divide between traditional filmmaking and the new media landscape, pioneering content in livestream, VR, and interactive media, while also driving creative and production for innovative and impactful projects in TV, narrative film, and documentaries. Notable projects include original television pilots for comedians Brian Regan and Reggie Watts respectively; Above and Beyond, a video-rich interactive experience at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum; Next Level with Lexus, a Twitch influencer game show; Geeked Week, a five-day promotional event for Netflix; and Untethered: My Passion, a short documentary series featuring people driven to excellence in their field. Luis has also produced many other short documentaries for institutions such as Covenant House, Descanso Gardens, Pasadena Playhouse, among many others. In 2018 he edited and helped produce Until They're Gone, a documentary about landmine removal in Cambodia, directed by Christopher Lockett. He is currently producing Lockett's next documentary The West Without Water. Luis also pushes the envelope in live performance as the creative force between the long-running anthology series True Crime in Los Angeles at The Three Clubs in Hollywood.
Steven Calcote (producer) Steven is an award-winning writer/director/producer who launches ground-breaking film, television, commercial, and web projects for such clients as Netflix, Airbnb, National Geographic, Amazon, Canon, Intel, Adidas, VW, Meta, and BuzzFeed. He created Orbital Redux, the world’s first real-time interactive live streaming sci-fi drama, which ran on Legendary Digital’s network, Project Alpha and now shows on DUST. An expert in the latest digital filmmaking technologies, animation, VFX, AI, and interactivity, Steven continues to push the envelope for original entertainment. His work has been recognized by the Telly Awards, Spikes Asia, and the International Academy of Web Television Awards.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
***We are still accepting donations! Please visit Gabriel's Back Pages to learn how you can get involved. And thank you for your support!***
In the fall of 2009, my brother Gabriel and I decided to make a film together. It would be a documentary exploring the subject of mental illness and would examine both the experience of living with a mental illness and the stigma and misconceptions surrounding it (as fed by societal ignorance, the media and even the medical establishment itself). We felt we were in a unique position to talk about the subject; Gabriel had been living with the diagnosis of schizophrenia for nearly two decades, and as a brother and sister filmmaking team we thought we could give both an insider’s and outsider’s perspective on the subject.
Then on June 24th of 2012, I received a call from my mother that Gabriel had leapt from his 59th floor balcony to his death. He left his glasses, wallet and cigarettes on the table. He did not leave a note. “No words” everyone said to us.
Since Gabriel left us, I have struggled to find the words. To put the pieces together. I did relentless Google searches on schizophrenia, read first person accounts and scoured the DSM5 learning only what I knew before: that there is no explanation, there is no cure, and that 20% of people diagnosed with the disease attempt suicide. But it wasn’t until I began to delve into Gabriel’s creative work, that I began to see his life and his world from his unique perspective. Reading his scripts and watching his films, a narrative began to emerge: the story of his life as he saw it, his “hero’s journey.” I have since come to appreciate how this narrative kept him going as long as it did, how in fact we all have narratives that help make sense of our lives. That we may all be, to some degree, on the spectrum of mental illness and delusion.
The structure of the film is guided by Gabriel’s own telling of his life story, alongside interviews with the people closest to him: our parents, his friends, mental health providers, as well as the people with whom he was fascinated (many of whom became characters in his fictional world).
Throughout the film I find ways for him to tell his story posthumously, bringing the viewer along on my own detective’s journey through his art, writings and films. My aim is not only to honor the original vision for our film by exploring mental illness “from the inside and the outside,” but also to discover what his life can teach us about storytelling as a key to survival.
For his screenplays and essays, I plan to use artistically rendered storyboards and live action recreations. Together they provide insight into how he authored his “hero’s journey,” and the evolution of his illness from childhood until his death (illustration below by Rob Tokar).
This material works alongside archival footage of his own documentary exploration of mental illness (he conducted a series of interviews on the subject of mental illness after he was first diagnosed), as well as my interviews with him, myself, our parents, his case workers, and the real-life people on which the characters in his fictional worlds were based. These narratives intersect and collide with Gabe's own story-telling, growing into more fully realized and fantastical stories, opening a window into the world of schizophrenia… from the inside and the outside.
Currently, all interviews for the project are complete and we have a two-hour rough cut of the film. Thanks to our generous producers Butcher Bird Studios who have donated their talent, equipment, studio space and expertise we are about 6-12 months from bringing Gabriel’s Back Pages to the screen.
Next steps include the following:
- Working with a storyboard artist to bring key scenes from Gabriel’s screenplays to life
- Bringing in actors to record scenes
- Creating the films’ original score
- Adding a consistent graphic package
- Sound editing
Our current goal is $20,000. With your help this amount will help us to get us over the first hump of post-production. Should we exceed our goal, we’ll be able to seamlessly move on to phase two. Here’s a breakdown of our “stretch goals”:
· $25,000 covers the cost of color correction
· $30,000 gets us through a final editing pass
· $40,000 pays for a trailer & legal clearances
· $50,000 allows us to cover the cost of film festival submissions and promoting the film, ensuring it get to the widest audience possible.
JOIN OUR COMMUNITY & SPREAD THE WORD
We’d love your support in spreading the word to individuals and organization who will benefit from seeing this film! Here’s how you can help:
- Spread the word on social media & to your mailing list
- Reach out to organizations that you think would be interested supporting this project
- Join our mailing list at GabrielsBackPages.com to continue to be part of our community. and receive updates about the progress of the film
- If you know of artists (editors, musicians, illustrator, graphic artists) who might be interested in donating their services to help bring this project to completion, please encourage them to reach out directly at GabrielsBackPages.com
Thank you for support of this project and for helping reduce the stigma around mental illness!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Voice Talent
Costs $2,376
In order to bring Gabriel's screen plays to life I'm bringing together a team of incredibly talented actors willing to work for scale.
Sound Editor
Costs $4,000
Working with archival footage is beast when it comes to sound! Hiring a sound editor makes a huge difference quality of the final film.
Storyboard Artist
Costs $5,000
To bring Gabriel's perspective to life, we are having a storyboard artist render frames of essential scenes from his screen plays.
Composer
Costs $5,000
Music can make a or break a film! This will allow us to hire an amazing composer to bring the the movie's soundscape to life.
Graphic designer
Costs $3,624
We're hiring an artist who can mimic Gabe's style to create an original look for the film's text assets.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Carmen Elena Mitchell (Director/Executive Producer) is the creator of the award-winning, critically acclaimed web-series The Real Girl’s Guide To Everything Else (profiled on NPR),and has shot and edited more than 40 documentary shorts highlighting advancements in aging services, including Joyful Hearts about the therapeutic power for music for Alzheimer’s patients, a profile on the first same sex couple to move into Wesley Palms Retirement Community, as well as a videos exploring the subjects of ageism and “creativity under quarantine.” Podcast credits include The Ethic and Video Podcast (producer) and The Tunnel of Truth, True Report on Gender and Race in the Reading Room (editor). Carmen was a recipient of the MTV/Pocket Books Short Fiction Award and a semi-finalist for narrative feature at Cinequest and Visionfest.
Luis Arturo Reyes (producer) is an executive producer, writer and partner at Butcher Bird Studios. His work straddles the divide between traditional filmmaking and the new media landscape, pioneering content in livestream, VR, and interactive media, while also driving creative and production for innovative and impactful projects in TV, narrative film, and documentaries. Notable projects include original television pilots for comedians Brian Regan and Reggie Watts respectively; Above and Beyond, a video-rich interactive experience at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum; Next Level with Lexus, a Twitch influencer game show; Geeked Week, a five-day promotional event for Netflix; and Untethered: My Passion, a short documentary series featuring people driven to excellence in their field. Luis has also produced many other short documentaries for institutions such as Covenant House, Descanso Gardens, Pasadena Playhouse, among many others. In 2018 he edited and helped produce Until They're Gone, a documentary about landmine removal in Cambodia, directed by Christopher Lockett. He is currently producing Lockett's next documentary The West Without Water. Luis also pushes the envelope in live performance as the creative force between the long-running anthology series True Crime in Los Angeles at The Three Clubs in Hollywood.
Steven Calcote (producer) Steven is an award-winning writer/director/producer who launches ground-breaking film, television, commercial, and web projects for such clients as Netflix, Airbnb, National Geographic, Amazon, Canon, Intel, Adidas, VW, Meta, and BuzzFeed. He created Orbital Redux, the world’s first real-time interactive live streaming sci-fi drama, which ran on Legendary Digital’s network, Project Alpha and now shows on DUST. An expert in the latest digital filmmaking technologies, animation, VFX, AI, and interactivity, Steven continues to push the envelope for original entertainment. His work has been recognized by the Telly Awards, Spikes Asia, and the International Academy of Web Television Awards.