"Americans have no shame," says actor Juan Salles in the role of a high-rolling Spaniard betting on an unusual game in a new movie. "Whatever it takes to make money."

It's a thought that must have crossed the minds of a million television viewers as they watched reality show contestants eat worms, jump off buildings and let strangers redecorate their homes.

Now Medford resident Ray Robison has upped the ante, imagining a deadly reality show. His new independent movie "Sixes and the One Eyed King" follows six people as they play a series of Russian roulette-style games. The winner gets $1 million a year for life. The losers die.

The picture was inspired by B-movies and old TV shows. It came to Robison after an evening marathon of episodes of the old Rod Serling TV show "The Twilight Zone" one New Year's Eve with his 14-year son and his son's friends.

"It would have been science fiction 40 years ago," Robison says, "but today, with the Internet, it is possible."

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The 100-minute picture was shot almost entirely in Medford. Principal photography was completed in January, and post-production was completed by the end of February.

"Who knows?" Robison says. "Something like this may exist someplace, in some form. Cock fighting is still common. We as human beings get pleasure in seeing others suffer. Look at the gladiators. It's part of the culture."

The indie picture is Robison's second. He produced and directed the ultra-low-budget suspense thriller "Die Before I Wake," also shot in Medford, a couple of years ago.

Robison, 50, earned a degree in television production at Montana State University and worked at KTVL-TV in Medford for six years before starting his own video company, R.O. Bison, several years back.

He wrote the script for "Sixes," then hooked up with Patricia Snyder, a reporter at the Grants Pass Daily Courier who also got screenwriting credit, when she answered an ad. Snyder did rewrites, changing the script when roles were enlarged or diminished or the story took different turns, adding backstories and motivation.

"I think reporting helps," Snyder says. "An ear for good quotes. They characters can't talk like normal people."

Snyder also functioned as script and continuity supervisor, making sure there were no glitches from one weekend's shooting to the next, like say, a character having different clothes or hair in the same scene.

"I learned a lot," she says. "It's fun. It's also a lot harder than I thought. I don't think I'll be as critical of the people who get paid a lot of money to do this."

Robison has submitted "Sixes and the One Eyed King," which contains strong language, violence and brief nudity, to the Los Angeles Film Festival, which is expected to draw 80,000 attendees to see more than 175 features and shorts from June 22 to July 2.

The festival route is the name of the game for indie films, which as rentals often come later with blurbs trumpeting the festivals in which they were accepted. But it's an uncertain road, and the odds can be steep.

In the recent Ashland Independent Film Festival, 80 entries were chosen from more than 700 submitted from around the United States and overseas, counting documentaries and shorts, for odds of almost 10 to 1.

"There are over 2,000 film festivals in the United States," says Darrel Pearce, an AIFF board member and admitted film geek. "And it's still hard."

That's because the digital revolution democratized filmmaking, bringing what was once prohibitively expensive within the budget of Everyman. The budget for "Sixes" was about $10,000 out of Robison's pocket, and virtually all of it went to rent an old warehouse in Medford that served as both a set and a stage on which other sets were constructed. Everybody involved worked on spec — for free unless the picture ever makes a profit.

Sets and props on a shoestring were a challenge. Enter Medford resident Chance Larsen, a stay-at-home dad who'd studied filmmaking. He came to the project as a production assistant, showed design flair and wound up as production designer.

"Whenever we needed anything done, he just did it," Robison says. "He created these pistols that come down from the ceiling, the cuffs that restrain the characters and slit the loser's wrist. He took a load off me."

The picture is shot in a dark, black-and-white, film noir style that recalls crime movies of the 1940s and '50s. Think harsh, dramatic shadows. Nervous, sweaty closeups.

It was shot with a mid-range Canon digital camera, and color was stripped out on the computer to create the noir look. Transfer to film costs tens of thousands of dollars, but many festivals now show movies on digital video projectors, so Robison won't have it put on film unless he gets a distribution deal.

Spoiler warning.

In the movie, as the six suicidal contestants vie with each other to figure out the game, stay alive and win the money, they are faced with a system that is opaque to them. They do not know, cannot know, that they are mere pawns in a larger game, an online bookmaking operation in which international high rollers bet big bucks.

A Web cam set up by the bookmakers sends the results to the thrill-seeking bettors. Trouble begins when a subscriber recognizes one of the contestants as his missing cousin.

End spoiler warning.

Several cast members are familiar faces to Southern Oregon theatergoers. Nicole Strykowski, one of the contestants, is a Southern Oregon University graduate who was an acclaimed Laura in Artattack's production of "The Glass Menagerie" last year. Grace Thorsen, playing a Goth girl, is another SOU product. Juan Salles appears frequently as a spokesman on local Spanish language TV commercials.

Robison plans to do a final cut after he hears from the L.A. festival. He'll then submit the picture to other festivals and seek a distribution deal. He'll face tough competition.

"We all have ideas of what a narrative feature looks like," Pearce says. "Low-budget fillmmakers have to go up against what people have in their heads."

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that "independent" doesn't necessarily equate to "low budget." Pictures screened at festivals such as Sundance may have budgets in the millions.

Still, Robison is hopeful.

"This movie is much more geared than his first for getting into festivals," he says. "I think we have a good shot."

A couple of small distributors have offered Robison contracts for "Die Before I Wake," but he hasn't made a decision.

He has no plans yet for exhibiting the new picture locally, but he's feeling good about it.

"At this point nothing's come out in private screenings that I feel there needs to be a lot of changes," he says. "I think it's a good movie."

The main difference in his outlook this time around is that he's taken a leap of faith. Now he knows he makes movies.

"People are afraid of being laughed at," he says. "You have to take a chance."

Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail bvarble@mailtribune.com.