"Rolling With Virgil" -- An Interview With Writer/Actor Conrad Shaw -- By Allan Raible

Conrad Shaw has a dream.  He wants to make a movie called “Rolling With Virgil” and he wants your help to make it.

Shaw, an actor, was walking around New York one day when he saw a group of musicians playing.  The musicians in question make up a band known as The Dirty Urchins.  He heard them and immediately connected to their music.  He bought their CD and it became the soundtrack to his life. 

Riding the subway one day, one of their songs came on

Conrad Shaw

and he thought he had a potential idea for a music video.  As the album progressed, he realized he had a complete narrative forming in his head until eventually he had the idea that this could be a movie, with himself as the star and with the music acting almost like a Shakespeare-ian chorus.  Shaw’s idea was to almost make it like a silent film where the songs would tell the story using 16 of the band’s compositions.  These songs can be found on their two albums, “Late As Usual” and “Romance And Apocalypse.”  He also got access to a newer song and an older one that band member Freddie Stevenson recorded with his previous outfit. 

Shaw was nervous to approach the band to get their approval, saying, “My whole philosophy is to not to show up with anything as just an idea, half-assed as it were.”  He spent months working on the screenplay before he even approached them.  When he did, they were game. Shaw hired a lawyer and worked out a deal for the rights. The whole thing hinged on them saying yes.

Shaw also hired a storyboard artist to prep for the initial jump-off and another artist to design the images on his website.  The idea was to then launch a Kickstarter to get the film made.  That Kickstarter is now open and taking donations until the end of the month.  The hope is to raise enough money to get a director and others involved.  Shaw has a producer on board to help him budget everything out.  The budget is currently estimated as $350,000.  He’s hoping to raise $70,000 with the Kickstarter.  After fees, that means that he’ll probably clear $50,000 to begin shooting.  He’s hoping that will be enough to secure more investors along the way.

The film has five main characters and a lot of extras and Shaw plans to rely on his numorous acting friends to populate the movie.  He also is trying to secure one name actor. Once the film is made, he plans to go the festival route to try to sell the distribution rights.

If you click here, you can hear my conversation with Shaw where he goes into greater detail.  It’s a loose conversation, but it’s best to hear Shaw’s passion in his own words. 

If you find this interesting, please donate to his Kickstarter.  Please support independent artists.