Steven Cantor’s “Four Down”, the true story of Nick Schuyler’s tragic boat accident, supported by a gala film

Leading Web3 entertainment company Gala Film has partnered with the production team of Four Down in an innovative financing and distribution deal for a feature-length documentary directed by Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker Steven Cantor.

Based on the New York Times bestseller Not Without Hope, written by Nick Schuyler and Jere Longman, the film tells the true story of how Schuyler survived 43 harrowing hours on an overturned boat in the Gulf of Mexico before being killed by the US Coast was rescued guarding. The tragic boating accident claimed the lives of his best friend, former University of South Florida tight end Will Bleakley, and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammates Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith.

Gala Film will finance the documentary and make it available to its online community. Gala Music and Gala Games are powered by similar ecosystems to allow fans to interact with entertainment projects. In the case of Four Down, Gala Film’s online community will have early access to exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and hands-on experiences as the filmmakers put the documentary together over the next 12 months.

Stick Figure Productions’ Cantor and Jamie Schutz, Prix Productions’ Rick French, and Dakota Media Group’s Stanley Buchthal and David Koh will produce; starring Hiram Garcia, Dany Garcia and Dwayne Johnson, who will serve with Schuyler as executive producers on behalf of Seven Bucks Productions. Gala Founder Eric Schiermeyer and COO Sarah Buxton will executive produce on behalf of Gala Film.

Pre-production of the documentary started last week. The production team is preparing the film for an expected festival run in 2024 before it is available on the Gala platform, in cinemas and via streaming.

“We couldn’t be more excited to bring this groundbreaking story from a New York Times bestseller to an immersive Web3 format with the help of the talented teams at Seven Bucks Productions, Stick Figure, Prix Productions and Dakota Media Group. Gala Film strives to provide fan-first entertainment and this is the right forward-thinking team to do just that,” said Sarah Buxton, COO of Gala.

Cantor was nominated for Best Documentary in 1994 for Blood Ties: The Life and Work of Sally Mann. In 2022, he won a Primetime Emmy for outstanding service to documentary filmmaking for When Claude Got Shot.