COLUMBUS (WCMH) – Two Columbus teenagers are hoping to take on the big screen as they prepare to create their second feature film.

It’s a project they say will prove that high school film can be just as good as Hollywood. But, in order to make it, they’ll need something teenagers don’t have a lot of: money.

“This has the potential to be the best thing we ever created,” Marco Montoto said. At just 15 years old, he’s already accomplished a lot. Montoto and his partner, 17-year-old Mesach Malley, have been making movies for years.

“I started when I was 12. He [Malley] was making the movie ‘The Red Crystal’ and he brought me on as a supporting actor for the film,” Montoto explained. “We worked on various short film and web series, which I had some hand in writing as well as acting in.”

Montoto considers himself more of an actor while Malley is a strong producer. It took two years for them to create their first movie.

“In 2014, we finished shooting the primary photography for the film,” Malley said. “There was a huge learning curve to taking the footage that was captured and turning that into a movie.”

After the film was completed, the pair moved on to new heights with a five-episode sitcom.

“It was one of the most exhausting things. I just fell on the floor; I couldn’t go anymore,” Malley said. “But, at the end of the day, it’s so much fun.”

Malley has turned his home into a makeshift studio where he and Montoto can write scripts, analyze characters and make sets. Now, they’re getting ready to shoot their next feature film, called ‘Insurrection.’

“It’s a world that is after a nuclear war has happened,” Malley said. “So, there is a totalitarian regime that has arisen out of the chaos.”

The teens get their inspiration from things they’ve seen and then turn it into their own. The ‘Mission: Impossible’ franchise and several sci-fi television shows are major influences in their work.

While their projects don’t have as large of a budget as Hollywood films do, the projects do come with a price tag. The wo ware working to raise $40,000 for production costs and hopefully compensate some of the crew members, which is something they haven’t been able to do before.

For more information about the film or to donate, click here.