How the West was Won

I am Richard 'Chomps' Thompson and this is the start of something big. While my career has spanned live stage, voice over, film, and contemporary art installations, as a writer I still find my Hearst poet heart touching upon the stories I want to write and film. If you don't know, I was fortunate to receive a dollar baby license from Stephen King to adapt, write, and film "The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands', shaping the core elements of the story into an adaptation as a 'Southwest Folk Tale', employing a widespread cast of talented members of the community that highlights a more truthful take of the diverse nature of the southwest truly was. This creation saw a slow burn tale of PTSD and war in a post-civil-war southwestern town that told a heartbreaking story of solitude and trauma, all while still maintaining the supernatural and chilling atmosphere found within Stephen King’s short story of the same name.

My personal goals are to tell stories that use surreal, supernatural, or subtle elements as a mask over social inequities in a manner that allows those who don't typically suffer from real life examples in a way that challenges the worldview, they hold but never felt in a manner that subtly disrupts their perspective, following in a similar voice to Jorden Peele or Alfred Hitchcock. And this is now coming into my next feature: Bleeding Silver.

Bleeding Silver is a stylized horror-western anthology set in a supernatural post-Civil War boomtown, exploring identity, guilt, and survival told through the eyes of a bounty hunter and pursued outlaw, an aristocratic outsider, and a gifted showgirl, as each narrative delves deeper into folktales of a haunted boomtown founded by a former slave-turned-magnate, E.L. Dunn, who owes a debt to the devil and doesn't want to pay up.

Bleeding Silver is uniquely positioned to deliver studio-quality production value at an independent budget through a strategic combination of Arizona and Louisiana’s robust film tax incentives and Richard “Chomps” Thompson’s established network of professional production partners. Arizona offers up to 30% in production rebates through qualified expenditures, while Louisiana’s incentive program provides 25–40% in transferable tax credits for eligible film work — both allowing for significant budget optimization.

Leveraging long-standing relationships with regional production houses, rental facilities, and resource pools, the film benefits from in-kind donations and deeply discounted access to top-tier gear, crew, and post-production services. This unique advantage means Bleeding Silver can achieve a higher production value at a fraction of the cost compared to similarly budgeted films, without compromising creative ambition or technical quality.

The film’s anthology story setup further enhances fiscal efficiency. By structuring production into tightly focused, self-contained narrative segments, we can schedule with surgical precision, reduce location changeover costs, and maximize cast and crew utilization. This model not only supports leaner, more disciplined budgeting, but also sharpens narrative pacing, delivering a more engaging and immersive experience for audiences. The result is a project that is both artistically ambitious and fiscally responsible — offering investors a production with built-in safeguards, premium creative appeal, and market-ready cinematic craftsmanship.

This is the first blog of many, and I can't wait to begin sharing all the constant news as we begin moving forward on this adventure together!