It’s a lazy Saturday morning when most people are mowing their lawns and cleaning their homes and a peculiar meeting is taking place in the living room of a large Victorian home in the south end of Logansport, Ind.
But the upkeep of this home has been severely ignored, and the light bulb illuminating this room is gasping for its last bursts of light as it blinks on and off all too frequently. This group of 10 or so people, many of whom seem to have seen better days, are gathered around two card tables that have been pushed together, sitting on old fold-out chairs and a couple of tired, worn out couches.
The topic of this meeting is a movie, a movie that these people will put their heart and souls into for the next year with no promise of any pay for their efforts, no guarantee of any compensation whatsoever. This does not seem to bother anyone.
Ideas, thoughts and laughter bounce off the old walls and fill the room as these people act like there is no other place they would rather be than right here, right now.
There’s Donna Neuman, the movie’s publicist, and a mother of three. There’s Greg Fauvergue, he works at a local factory and is the director of photography. And there is Mark Racoup tucked away in one of the couches, holding a little notepad, quietly listening to the commotion of the room.
Racoup is lost somewhere in his 40s, his hair unkept, his glasses don’t fit, his clothes faded and out of style. And today he has a severe ear infection that is deafening 80 percent of his hearing but you wouldn’t know that by looking at him. His intelligent eyes and reassuring smile will deceive you.
Racoup is the reason everyone is here today. He is the creative force and driving determination that has formed and molded this notion that moviemaking is possible and within reach of anyone.
Just ask Hollywood veterans John Astin, Jason Carter and Richard Biggs. Astin played Gomez Addams on The Addams Family, Carter starred on television shows such as Babylon 5 and Guiding Light, and Biggs starred in Days of Our Lives and Earth: Final Conflict. All three will be starring in this movie.
Racoup’s father has said that from the age of 2, he has been in love with the movies. When he asked his father how movies work, his father replied, “trick photography.” Racoup has been trying to figure that out ever since.
“It’s something that he loves to no end, and I’m glad I get to share it with him,” says Lynn Racoup, Mark’s wife of over 20 years.
Influenced by Batman, Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies, Mark made his first film as a freshman in high school. He later graduated from Ball State with a degree in Filmmaking and went on to work in the film industry for a few years. That environment did not serve Racoup well.
That led him back to Logansport where he started his own production company, MagicHouse Productions, and went into business for himself, starting from square one.
But Logansport is not Hollywood. Movies are not supposed to be made in a small industrial town in the middle of Indiana. And there certainly have been struggles.
“When we first started, we raised a lot of eyebrows and people did laugh at us,” says Mark Racoup. “But out of every 20 people that said it can be done, one person would believe, and they came aboard.”
Racoup also explains that big name stars, integral to a films’ success, are hard to convince to come to Indiana. Investors don’t want to take the chance on unknown filmmakers. Money is always scarce and he has to work part-time to make ends meet at home.
“We drive the oldest cars around, to help make the movies,” said Racoup. “My father and wife have been so patient and supportive.”
But many things have worked well for Racoup. He found that there was a huge, talented pool of local people who were dying to make a movie. He had over 200 people work on his last film, Starship 2: Rendezvous with Ramses.
He has yet to make a profit on his movies, but by his ideas and passion, has been successful in convincing investors to finance the films entirely. The investors include both local people as well as those from Hollywood.
“People in Hollywood are always shocked when they hear what we have going on here in Indiana,” said Jeff Ello, who was director of photography on Racoup’s last film and has worked with MagicHouse for a couple of years.
Racoup describes the movies he makes a a form of “escapism” and wants people to “forget about the real world for a while.”
When asked why he does this, why make movies in circumstances that seem crazy to most people, he responds with conviction and ease that it makes him feel young and invigorated. It doesn’t matter what sacrifices he has to make because he loves what he does.
This love has been contagious and has invaded the hearts and minds of everyone around him. These people sitting in this room today are all here because Racoup has given them the opportunity to be a part of something special. Something they can create that is bigger than themselves. Something that is more than their day-to-day lives. They believe in Racoup and themselves.
As the meeting concludes, excitement and anticipation for the future is in evident in everyone.
Revenant, Racoup’s seventh movie, a classic sci-fi horror movie about a crazed killer will be starting production soon. As everyone files out to go home, its obvious that these people are extremely grateful to be apart of this, a Racoup himself so eloquently sums it up for everyone;
“It’s definitely worth it.”