The Price of Staying Is Coming Soon. Here Is How to Enter the World.

The clipboard in the fluorescent light is almost ready.

Outlaw Poet Digital Films is launching the Crowdfundr campaign for The Price of Staying — a bureaucratic horror feature based on the novel by Ellie Burdg. The option is signed. The calendar is locked. The team is assembled. And the corridor is longer than it looks.

We are not asking you to fund a dream. We are asking you to enter a system.

What If Your Employer Owned Your Body From Birth?

That is the question at the center of this film. Adrian Vale believes his Ascendent status is a reward. He is wrong. After a compliance screen at a company mixer, he learns his BioValue has dropped below maintenance cost. He is stripped of his benefits and sent to Swift Serve, a fast-food facility where the Six-Minute Rule governs life and death. If you collapse, you have six minutes to recover before you are declared inventory.

Adrian meets Marisol. She is working to pay off the debt of her deceased family. When the system takes everything, Adrian discovers there is still one variable it has not priced. What follows is not on any compliance screen.

This is not a dystopian fantasy. It is a Tuesday with better lighting.

Curious what your own BioValue would be? The Halcyon Continuance Holdings preliminary assessment tool is now live. https://www.outlawpoetdigitalfilm.com/biovalue

The Campaign Structure

We are funding in two phases.

Phase 1: The Development Seed — 35,000 US Dollars. This locks script polish, professional casting, E&O insurance, our Production Design Bible, and a composer advance for Eric Emerson. The option agreement is already executed. This phase builds the foundation.

Phase 2: The Production Bridge — 85,000 US Dollars. This unlocks only after Phase 1 succeeds. It funds the 18-day Colorado shoot, equipment, post-production, and festival deliverables.

We will never ask you to fund a bridge we have not built.

Bookmark the campaign now: fnd.us/thepriceofstaying

The Crew Is Still Growing

We are not just building a film. We are building a team that treats each other like family, not employees.

If you work in production, post, sound, art, or camera and you want to work on a project that refuses to look away, we are still accepting crew applications.

Read the full Crew Call here: https://www.outlawpoetdigitalfilm.com/post/crew-call-the-price-of-staying-is-hiring

The People Bucket is the first and last priority. Every department head is locked under our Radical Transparency and Radical Alignment policies. You will know what is happening. You will know why it matters.

Casting Calls Are Coming

We will be announcing casting for our leads and supporting roles in the coming weeks. We are looking for performers who understand that the most terrifying acting is not screaming.

It is the silence after the clipboard clicks.

The clipboard in the fluorescent light is ready. The system is open. Enter at your own risk.