Rising Tide Media Group on Making Films Outside Hollywood — Jarrod Christman and Daniel P Riley

Support - Go Fund Me https://www.gofundme.com/f/where-even-shadows-fear-to-tread-indie-film What does it take to build a film production company completely outside the Hollywood system — from pre-production to post-production, scriptwriting to sound design — on a shoestring budget with no studio backing? Jarrod Christman and Daniel P. Riley from Rising Tide Media Group join Icon Presents to answer exactly that. Rising Tide's mission is simple and ambitious at the same time: create a thriving creative ecosystem for independent artists who are making great work and getting zero support from the established industry. They handle everything in-house — scripting, production, sound design, mastering — and use their own projects as proof of concept that this model actually works. Their first project, The Ballad of Missouri Bill, was a period piece shot on a genuine shoestring budget — in real snow, during COVID restrictions — about a lawman seeking adventure and revenge after a traumatic event. It was proof that you don't need a studio to tell a compelling story. You need a vision and the willingness to figure it out. Now they're back with their next project — Even Shadows Fear to Tread — a serial killer thriller with a premise that immediately grabs you: the first three victims aren't random. They're retired special operators. Elite fighters. And someone is taking them out one by one. We get into the full concept, the GoFundMe campaign raising funds to start production, and why they chose to go directly to the community to fund this one. The conversation gets bigger from there. We dig into the risk-averse nature of major studios, why Hollywood keeps failing audiences with bloated budgets and recycled ideas, the concept of "failing forward" and why learning from failure is the only real path forward for independent creators, and Eric July's Rippaverse as a blueprint for what happens when you stop waiting for permission and just build. This one is for every creative who's been told their idea is too risky, their budget is too small, or their audience doesn't exist yet. 📍 Support the GoFundMe for "Even Shadows Fear to Tread" — link in description 🎬 Watch "The Ballad of Missouri Bill" on major streaming platforms 🌐 iconpresentspodcast.com for more interviews with independent musicians, comic creators, writers, and filmmakers Like, comment, and subscribe for more conversations with the creatives building something out of nothing.