Above, a short movie, “Mr. Gracie,” based on a character from the upcoming independent film, “Happy Baby,” which will be shooting in early 2013 in Detroit.

Stephen Elliott: writer, activist, and filmmaker.

Stephen Elliott is a writer and movie-maker with an online following that grows daily. In addition to seven published works of fiction, including his novel “Happy Baby” (2004) and his most recent, a “true crime memoir” called “The Adderall Diaries” (2009), he is Editor-in-Chief of the online literary magazine, The Rumpus.net. He supplements the Rumpus offerings with near daily emails to his server list, which has formed grassroots support for his effort to use Kickstarter to raise funding for the movie version of “Happy Baby,” which will shoot in Detroit early next year if the project reaches its goal. I had occasion to speak with Elliott during a recent scouting trip through Detroit, and have watched as his Kickstarter project inches closer by the hour to the $85,000 goal. In its final two days, the project could use support to gain funding and bring a movie project to Detroit with a director that truly appreciates the landscape, not just the tax kickbacks.

Elliott in discussion with actor James Franco on the set of his debut movie, “Cherry.”

In Elliott’s own words: “I think Detroit is beautiful, and incredibly friendly to artists and filmmakers. There’s just so much art, so much creativity everywhere. Some of that is from the depopulation that occurred. Not in a tragic sense but there are buildings that have been preserved that might have been repurposed otherwise. So all of those things. It’s a great place to make a movie.”

Good luck to Mr. Elliott, all of your fans are looking forward to seeing you achieve your results!

You can check out the “Happy Baby” kickstarter here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/706884381/happy-baby-the-movie.