William Cusick is producing his first narrative feature, "Pop Meets the Void," by attempting to raise $35,000 on the funding website Kickstarter.

"We're really hoping to reach $50,000 before the end of the campaign," Cusicks says in a recent telephone interview from New York City where the former Salisbury Township resident lives.

Cusick's Kickstarter campaign has passed the 65 percent mark. The Kickstarter fundraising deadline is Oct. 17. If the goal is not reached, the pledged money is not activated.

Cusick plans to produce the film this winter in New York City and in the Allentown area.

Cusick, a Salisbury High School, Class of '99' graduate, received a BS in TV-Film Production from St. John's University in 2003.

"When I was a senior at Salisbury, I took my first film class at DeSales University. I started making films and directing and acting in high school.

"I had two incredible teachers at Salisbury who inspired me: Richard Marsico, my drama teacher, and R.J. Stangherlin, one of my writing teachers," says Cusick, one of nine children of Norma and Dr. Richard J. Cusick of Salisbury.

Cusick will play the role of Walter, the struggling musician in "Pop Meets the Void," for which he has written the screenplay. The soundtrack will feature songs written by Cusick, who plays guitar and keyboard.

There are about 12 leads in the cast of 40 in the film, which Cusick describes as a "multi-plot, multi-character narrative" and "a dark comedy."

Cusick says that casting is underway. "We have some exciting people in the cast," he says.

Much of the shooting will take place in apartments in New York City. There will also be "green-screen" shooting, which allows the creation of "dream-like visuals," says Cusick, who began writing the screenplay in 2010.

Cusick says "Pop Meets the Void" is inspired by the collapse of the music industry in the Internet era. Cusick wrote the songs for the soundtrack.

"I've been a member of Kickstarter for four years and have backed 18 projects. Every dollar counts. It really means a lot."

Cusick directed an award-winning 2012 experimental, 55-min. film, "Welcome to Nowhere (Bullet Hole Road)," streaming on NoBudge.com until Oct. 18.

"Welcome to Nowhere (Bullet Hole Road)" premiered in 2012 at the LES* Film Festival, New York City; received the Founder's Choice Award at the Queens World Film Festival in 2013; Best Supporting Actress award (Cara Francis) at the 2012 Dreamland International Film Festival, and was an official selection of the 2012 PollyGrind Festival, 2013 Cinetarium Festival and 2013 Scare-A-Con Festival. The film was featured in the inaugural issue of Chance, a magazine about American theater designers.

For the past 10 years, Cusick has produced, directed and designed video projects for theater, dance, opera and music performances on Broadway, off-Broadway and internationally. Cusick's video work for theater was called "mind-blowing" by The New York Times critic Jason Zinoman in 2009.

Cusick directs short films for Pantry Boy Comedy, featured on the web site, Funny Or Die, with 250,000-plus views. He's also directed music videos.