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The 19-year-old friends and creators of "Sam & Mattie's Teen
Zombie Movie" decided not to let another trait they share - Down
syndrome, a genetic disorder associated with intellectual
disabilities - stand in the way of their ambitions. They raised
$68,000 online to fund the project.
"We love watching movies," Zufelt said in an interview this
week. "We got started when Sam started making storyboards with
zombies and jet packs and everything."
The two developed the concept, wrote the script and are the
principal actors.
The project began taking off after they shared their ideas with
Suchman's older brother, Jesse.
"I heard Sam talking about a movie scene he'd thought up and
then he pulls out a notebook full of storyboard sketches," Jesse
Suchman said. "They had the whole thing mapped out."
Jesse helped the two set up a page on Kickstarter, the website
where entrepreneurs, social crusaders and creative types solicit
crowdfunding donations for their projects.
In addition to the $68,000 in cash, donations have come in from
the movie industry to support the project. Panavision, a company
specializing in motion picture equipment, sent a camera. Silver
Scream FX Lab, an Atlanta company that does movie special
effects, sent a make-up team.
The two teens met about 10 years ago while participating in the
Special Olympics and became friends. Suchman is in high school
while Zufelt attends Roger Williams University, a Rhode Island
school with a program for people with intellectual disabilities.
They spent the summer filming around Providence and other Rhode
Island locations and expected to wrap up shooting in the next
few days.
"They're the writers and the stars," says Tim Forster, a New
York video producer who volunteered to work on the project.
"Everything is under their control. They'll sit down with a few
people in a room and talk about their ideas, the action and
dialog. Someone jots it all down and we flesh it out."
While the teens shoot their movie, Forster and others are also
filming a documentary on their project.
"It won't be about people overcoming disabilities," said Jesse
Suchman. "What we're trying to show is that disabilities don't
matter."
(Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Trott)
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