News
Riot Studios Starts Production on Believe Me
AUSTIN, Texas – Aug. 5, in the year of our Lord 2013
– Riot Studios—creators of the surprise hit documentary BEWARE
OF CHRISTIANS—begins filming today in Austin on its first
feature film: BELIEVE ME. Comedy, satire, heist movie. BELIEVE
ME poses a simple question: “Why believe someone just because
they have a microphone?”
Featuring Alex Russell and Zachary Knighton in a cast of rising
stars, BELIEVE ME is the debut feature of Riot’s award-winning
director Will Bakke.
“BELIEVE ME questions the power we give people just because they
have a platform,” said Bakke, who also co-wrote the film. “We
ask the question in a comedy about four college guys who see
that people automatically follow authority, then these friends
figure out how to use that for their own gain.”
In BELIEVE ME, Sam Atwell (Russell) stands on the stage as
thousands of fans go wild. Smart, charismatic, handsome, he
moves them with his message, and when he calls for donations to
his charity, the money pours in.
And by the way, Sam doesn’t believe a word he’s saying.
Just months earlier he was a typical college senior focused on
keg stands, hookups and graduating. But a surprise tuition bill
threatens his dream of law school and leaves him thousands of
dollars in the hole. Convincing his three roommates they can
make a killing exploiting the gullible church crowd, they start
a sham charity and begin campaigning across the country, raising
funds for a cause as fake as their message.
But Sam's got girl problems. He cares about Callie, the tour
manager, who actually believes what he’s saying. When Callie
discovers where the money is going, it's Sam's moment of truth.
On the final night of the tour, before a packed auditorium but
alone in the spotlight, it’s time for Sam Atwell to figure out
what he really believes.
“BELIEVE ME is a parody on religious scandals,” said Co-Producer
and Co-Writer Michael Allen. “It holds up a mirror for viewers
to see themselves and their assumptions from a new perspective.”
“There’s a reason 84 percent of us believed in Santa Claus as
children,” Bakke said. “It’s because parents told us he was
real. The question isn’t why did we fall for it. It’s why do we
keep accepting something as true just because someone says it
is.”
Besides Russell and Knighton, BELIEVE ME features Johanna
Braddy, Miles Fisher, Sinqua Walls and Max Adler, with
Christopher McDonald as Ken.
With a 20-day production schedule in and around Austin, BELIEVE
ME begins filming today and wraps Aug. 25. The film launches in
theaters in 2014.
BELIEVE ME is produced by Alex Carroll and co-produced by Sandya
Shardanand, Gary Cogill and Steve Markham, with John Rutland as
director of photography and J.C. Cantu as casting director.
Riot Studios made headlines in 2012 with the unique content and
distribution model of its second documentary BEWARE OF
CHRISTIANS. The film followed Riot’s Bakke, Allen and Carroll
around Europe as they gathered man-on-the-street interviews
about Christianity and Christians—part college road comedy, part
thought-provoking dialogue on how trying to follow Jesus in the
21st century might look. Bypassing typical film distribution,
Riot pioneered a “name your own price” model on a nationwide
tour of college campuses.