You’ve probably been reading a lot about Bitcoin and the controversy over the shutdown of the Silk Road website and the arrest of its alleged owner, accused of being the overseer Dread Pirate Roberts, directing the site at which anything — much of it illegal — could be bought, sold, or traded. Intrigue, an operation in the deep shadows, a totally new frontier… it’s all the stuff of movies. Alex Winter wants to make that movie, and he needs your help to do it.

Deep Web: The Untold Story of Bitcoin and Silk Road intends to chronicle the rise of the “deep web” — the 96% of the World Wide Web that’s beyond search engines, beyond the sight of average web users, and, up until the feds came knocking, beyond the reach of the law. Using Bitcoin as its currency, sites like Silk Road became a marketplace for drugs, weapons, and “services” — yeah, even murder. It’s in the headlines right this minute, and Alex, who, of course, is the same Alex Winter you know as Bill S. Preston of Bill and Ted fame (and the Nerdist Podcast) but has also directed several projects, from TV series and movies like Freaked to documentaries like Downloaded, the story of the media revolution that resulted from Napster and the rise of downloading.

The Silk Road story is unfolding right now, and Alex is trying to raise $75,000 to make the movie. He’s got until December 20th to do so; you can back the project by heading over to the Kickstarter page. Among the premiums are digital downloads of material from the movie as it’s being shot (and the finished product when it’s ready), autographed transcripts, an autographed Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure production screenplay, all the way up to being part of the director’s commentary track to accompany the movie.

If you’re interested at all in this story — and it’s one of the most fascinating and compelling things in the news at the moment, going on under everyone’s noses yet escaping notice until now — this might be right up your alley. Again, go over to the Kickstarter page if you want to help Alex get this tale told.