By now, you’ve all heard about our Kickstarter for an Oscar® campaign, and if you haven’t, you can learn more here.

Our Campaign to Give Back to You

Let’s face it…we all know that sometimes Kickstarter campaigns can tire everyone out.

Since we don’t believe in asking without giving, we’re working to provide something of real value every day we bug you to join our effort to fund our Academy Award® campaign.

So far we’ve given back some free motion graphics a tip on getting more FB likes for your own Kickstarter projects, and this post with the best blog posts we found, helping us earn $20,000 in just 48 hours, a benefit screening for Team Lucy, some behind the scenes drama as we decided to change our Kickstarter video, and our piece Facebook Ads for Filmmakers.

Today, we want to give back with some specific support for another Kickstarter project the community should know about.

Down and Dangerous

“A smuggler bleeds like anyone else. He just gets more chances to prove it.”
–awesome line from Down and Dangerous kickstarter video.

Zak Forsman is making a very personal movie about his dad–who was a COCAINE SMUGGLER! Seriously. That’s one way to get our attention!

Kudos, Zak, for being honest about the subject matter and embracing it instead of hiding from it.

A fellow Raiders of the Lost Ark fan, Zak explains that his dad…

“…explained to me at a young age what a director was. He sat me down in front of classics like Casablanca and Beau Geste and shortly thereafter he and my mother put a videocamera in my hands. Flash forward many years later, my father has since passed, but his influence is as strong as ever. Maybe stronger.”

As for his dad’s line of work, Zak says…

“My dad had a brief career in the cocaine trade as an independent smuggler. And what made him unique were the creative methods he used to pull off a dozen scams from South America that were so ingenious that the person carrying the load always had an out – they could walk away free and clear if the cocaine was discovered at Customs. He was uniquely principled for this line of work and always put people first. While Down and Dangerous is not an adaptation, it’s his adventures and life lessons that serve as the spirit and creative spark behind this new movie.”

Zak Used Our Free Graphics

Zak also took advantage of the free graphics we gave away from our kickstarter campaign (still active — please pledge if you haven’t.)

You can see them used in the video below for Zak’s Kickstarter campaign:

You can watch a whole tutorial and download the free graphics files Zak uses in the video here.

Are We Crazy?

Some people have said it’s just plain dumb to spotlight another Kickstarter campaign while we’re in the middle of our own.

But the fact of the matter is, when it comes to indie production, we’re all in this together.

When Zak succeeds (and we believe he will) it’s a win for indies everywhere.

So have a look at the campaign for Down and Dangerous, and support Zak Forsman — a true indie.

By now, you’ve all heard about our Kickstarter for an Oscar® campaign, and if you haven’t, you can learn more here.

Our Campaign to Give Back to You

Let’s face it…we all know that sometimes Kickstarter campaigns can tire everyone out.

Since we don’t believe in asking without giving, we’re working to provide something of real value every day we bug you to join our effort to fund our Academy Award® campaign.

So far we’ve given back some free motion graphics a tip on getting more FB likes for your own Kickstarter projects, and this post with the best blog posts we found, helping us earn $20,000 in just 48 hours.

A Risky Move

Today, we’re going to let you in why we made what may be our riskiest move to date: we changed our Kickstarter video.

Success?

We still have 39 days left in our Kickstarter campaign, and so far we’re at $46,415.

Thanks to many of you, we reached the bare-minimum goal we needed to get through DocuWeeks™ ($37,000) in just 5 days and 5 hours. We were stunned, and grateful beyond words.

The Dream…

has always been to far surpass our Kickstarter goal, and to use this campaign as a new way to distribute an independent film.

How?

You probably know we’re big fans of Jon Reiss and his book Think Outside the Box Office (check out video number 2 here.)

In his book, Jon breaks down how to distribute a movie yourself, in theaters across the USA, for around $100,000.

That amount from Jon’s book is what we’re shooting for.

So Why Change Our Video?

Clearly, the original video has done well.

We’re already about $10,000 over our initial goal, and people everywhere are connecting with Steve and his message that “It’s never too late to chase your dreams.”

But to truly chase the six figure dream, we had some big issues we felt needed addressing.

1. People Thought Our Campaign Was Over

   Many, many people sent emails asking if they should still give, or asking why they should give if we’d reached our goal.

   And those were just the people we heard from.

   Even though our initial video illustrated our hope to far surpass our Kickstarter goal and bring Steve and the movie to theaters everywhere, that message was not landing with people.

   We had to re-emphasize that point.

2. The Stakes Have Changed

   Our initial video focused on the immediate stakes: if we don’t make $37,000, we get nothing, and no rewards go out (Kickstarter is an all or nothing platform.)

   Since we’re a good distance past our goal, the video no longer works.

We felt we needed to focus on the next step in Steve’s dream: bringing the movie to theaters everywhere.

3. You Have to Ask for What You Want

   Our old video focused on $37,000.

   It was time to offer people a better explanation of why we hoped to raise $100,000 in our main video…and more important than that, ask for it, loud and clear.

   You can’t expect to get what you need if you never ask.

A Big Update, Not a Brand New Video

The original video is full of material that comes directly from our hearts, and we had no intention of losing those moments.

So we shot an “update” that we added to the front of the video with Steve answering the big question (“Is it over?”), kept the important information about Dying to do Letterman for people who are new to the project, and focused less on DocuWeeks™ and more on Steve’s dream to play in theaters everywhere.

Will it Work?

Head on over, have a look, and let us know what you think. 39 days to go… please help us get there.

If you haven’t already, please pledge to our project. As little as one dollar will get you a comedy mp3, and $50 and above includes a personalized I’M DYING TO button hand-written by Steve, and a copy of the special edition DVD with tons of extras.

You can pledge here.

Best,
Joke and Biagio

Many of you have written in to ask about Steve’s health.

In today’s update, Steve and Biagio talk about Dying to do Letterman and the role humor plays in Steve’s every day life.

Has it kept him healthy? In good spirits?

Steve comes clean about living with cancer.