Utah Crowd-Funding: 'Dragon Warriors' takes flight

The Utah Crowd-Funding project is back after a hiatus last week — and we're battling dragons.

Filmmakers Stephen Shimek and Maclain Nelson have shot a feature-length fantasy-adventure comedy, called "Dragon Warriors," in Salt Lake City — 90 percent of it in a warehouse using green-screen technology.

The movie follows two brothers — the naive warrior Camilan (played by Nelson) and his bounty hunter brother Ramicus (Adam Johnson) — who are pressed into service to rescue a princess, Lady Ennogard (Kaitlyn Doubleday), from the clutches of an evil wizard (played by James Marsters).

Marsters is the most recognizable face in the cast, especially to fans of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and its spin-off, "Angel" — in which Marsters played the vampire Spike.

Also appearing, in a cameo, is Luke Perry, formerly of "Beverly Hills 90210."

Utah moviegoers will recognize Nelson from last year's "The Saratov Approach," in which he played one of the kidnapped LDS missionaries. Johnson has also done his time in Mormon Cinema, with parts in "The Singles Ward," "The R.M." and "One Good Man."

Shimek and Nelson, who wrote and are directing the film, have taken to Kickstarter to raise post-production funds. The money will be used to finish the special effects, add a musical score and polish the sound design.

The filmmakers are trying to raise $200,000 in their crowd-funding campaign. So far, they have taken in $31,342 in pledges, and their deadline is May 19 — 20 days away.

Benefits for donors range from a digital download of the movie's poster and theme song (for $5) to an executive-producer credit (for $10,000).

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If you have a crowd-funding project you'd like mentioned on The Cricket blog, email it to: spmeans@sltrib.com. Be sure to put "crowd funding" in the subject line.