Chosen as one of two programs in the country that received the opportunity to work with Filmraiser, the Starlight Theatre Company banded together support on campus and sent them to the movies in order to raise funds.

Filmraiser, a company that helps schools profit by selling tickets to opening weekends of popular movies, chose one school from California and one 27-year-old school from Austin, Texas to participate in a beta program.

“We were chosen not only because we have tons of theaters nearby, but also for being a big school with a prominent theatre department,” treasurer of the STC parent booster club Veronica Moreno said.

Starlight Theatre Company director Marco Bazan, received an email from Filmraiser and forwarded it to Moreno. Although she went on-line and applied for the fund raiser shortly after hearing about the opportunity, there was no reply for more than a year.

Jacob Medjuck, a representative from Filmraiser, attempted to change the dynamic of the fund raiser and sold the idea to studios that getting schools involved is a viable way to boost sales for new films.

“It was his first time running this fund raiser, but he seemed very excited about it,” STC vice president and senior Riana Moreno said. “I think there’ll be very many fund raisers like this to come.”

As one of the guinea pig schools for the program, the STC received a whopping 50 percent profit of those who purchased tickets for the company. Schools who may participate in the future, however, would only receive 10 percent.

“We spread the word and it just took off,” Moreno said. “I believe we had up to 800 people in the Facebook group we made for the event and we were even able to reach alumni and families from other cities.”

On the other hand, students in the company also worked to promote the event using other outlets in addition to Facebook.

“We had our flyers posted around campus and we also advertised on social medias like Facebook and Twitter,” Riana said.

While the theatre department did manage to raise over $550, the limit on the amount of earnings a school could raise was $2,000.

“While we could’ve raised more, any money for the STC is appreciated,” Riana said. “I would say it was more than the average spirit night.”

Yet, the fund raiser was available to anyone and any theatre in the state of Texas. Therefore, the goal was possible, but advertising and short notice stood in the way of the STC’s jackpot.

“We think if we had had more time to promote it and if hadn’t been such a new thing it could’ve been bigger,” Veronica said. “I mean, it’s scary to do something that’s never been done before.”

With the fund raiser aside, the opening weekend of the movie that STC chose to promote was an instant hit. Ridley Scott’s new film, The Martian, starring Matt Damon, rose $98.8 million in its opening. The film was later named the second best opening in October, according to deadline.com.

“It was very intense and engaging the whole time; they even explained all the scientific aspects of it,” STC treasurer and junior Emma Haschke said. “Matt Damon made the best out of his situation, he had been isolated from people for about seven months and when he met back up with society it was interesting to see the change in him.”

Haschke reported to taking several non company members with her to see the film, further promoting the fund raiser. Veronica Moreno had a similarly positive reaction to Scott’s newest science fiction film.

“I loved it. I told Jacob I probably wouldn’t have gone if it wasn’t for the program,” Veronica said. “It was geared towards people of all ages. There was a guy to my left that was literally on the edge of his seat and there was a little boy in front of me that would whisper ‘yes’ every time something good would happen.”

As the film grossed a sizable fund from audiences all over the world, Filmraiser also found The Martian to be a profitable choice in their program. “The studios were just amazed after the opening weekend,” Veronica said.“They ran a poll and found that 37 percent of the people who went only went to support Bowie and probably wouldn’t have gone otherwise. They found it was a land mine for ticket sales.”

With the help of Filmraiser, as well as other fund raisers held around Austin, the theatre department works to provide for over 150 students who participate in their after school programs.