Riggs: Net financial impact of “1,000 to 1” production will likely be “close to zero”
By Jennifer Kiebach, News and Web Editor
President Janet Morgan Riggs
Production of “1,000 to 1: The Cory Weissman Story” will likely have little, if any, financial impact on the College,
President Janet Morgan Riggs said at the Oct. 4 faculty meeting.
Responding to a question from a faculty member, Riggs said that although the College had “a couple hundred thousand” dollars invested in the movie as of that week, that amount was constantly decreasing as more individuals offered to loan funds for the project.
“In the last three weeks we’ve had some new people state their interest in supporting this project, and some others increase their commitments,” Riggs said via email when reached for further comment this week.
At least one new investor has stepped forward since the faculty meeting.
As of Oct. 10, Riggs was unable to provide an exact dollar amount for the college’s financial investment in the movie due to ongoing conversations with individuals interested in loaning money for the making of the film.
The movie, which is a production of Gettysburg College subsidiary Gettysburg Great Productions, has a budget of about $1 million.
“Ideally, the College’s commitment after all of the loans would be zero,” Riggs said this week.
If the College does have to contribute to the cost of filming, Riggs expects it will make up this cost in revenue from movie sales.
Additionally, individuals who loan funds for the movie will only recover their investments if the film makes a sufficient profit to cover any costs taken on by the College.
“The College gets paid first,” Riggs told faculty at the Oct. 4 meeting.
Riggs believes that investors have been willing to take this risk due to the movie’s highly regarded cast and production crew, which includes producers Bruce Gordon and Bob Burris, director Michael Levine and actor David Henrie.
The inspirational nature of Weissman’s story, she said, also played a large role in drawing support from the College community.
Due to this ongoing financial support from investors, Riggs expects that the net financial impact of the movie on the College will be “zero or close to zero.”
In a best-case scenario, the College could even gain some revenue from the project.
Riggs emphasized, however, that money was not the motivating factor in the College’s decision to bring Cory Weissman’s story to the screen.
“I want to be clear that from the beginning, we have believed that making this film will be excellent for the College’s visibility and reputation,” Riggs said. “That has been the primary motivation from the start.”
“1,000 to 1” tells the story of Gettysburg College student and basketball player Cory Weissman, who suffered a stroke during his first-year season.
Filming is currently underway and is expected to conclude within the next two weeks.
