Energy BBDO Programmer Tries to Make Movie Before Literally Going Blind

By Bob Marshall 

Meet Jack Marchetti, a young programmer at Energy BBDO who dreams of directing a gritty crime drama (with a Nine Inch Nails soundtrack maybe) set in Chicago. The only problem, aside from getting enough money to make this movie come to life, is that Jack is battling Cone Rod Dystrophy, a rare disease he was diagnosed with at six-years-old that, in some cases, leads to total blindness.

Jack’s vision seems to have stabilized, with steady sight deterioration year-over-year. The same was true a few years ago for his brother, who was also diagnosed with the disease and quickly found himself walking with a cane and attending a school for the blind. Jack is frightened because, hey, who wouldn’t be? This shit sounds terrifying! So with a new Kickstarter campaign, Jack is hoping his dream can come true before he completely loses his vision.

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Now, Marchetti isn’t just some kid off the streets who doesn’t know anything about film. In fact, his original script got some props from Scriptshark.com, who says, “Superb dialogue is combined with a Spartan yet effective written voice, forging, by the conclusion of the script, a finished product that seems to harbor substantial potential and artistic merit.” Potential! Merit! That, along with Marchetti’s writing getting him to the season three Project Greenlight semi-finals has gotta count for something. Also, famed comic book author and novelist Neil Gaiman even tweeted a link to Marchetti’s Kickstarter page.

Read more about Marchetti’s condition and potential film on Film Courage and the Chicago Reader, and help fund Marchetti reach his $100,000 goal before Aug. 25 here. You’ve probably contributed some pretty stupid things on Kickstarter before, so why not change it up and fund something cool for a change?

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