After a lot of thought, and some discussion with my better-half, I decided to launch a different project on kickstarter.com than I had initially intended. I wanted to test the waters to get a feel for how the process worked, and to get a sense of how to best engage with an audience of potential fans/supporters. I also wanted to tackle a medium sized budget before I went after something that could buy a house in some parts of the US.

On Friday night, around 10pm, May 7th I decided I had waited long enough. I set up one key light, and I started to talk to the camera. It was really, really difficult. Pitching in person is one thing…pitching to a virtual audiences of thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of people who you couldn’t see, was unnerving. I must have done the pitch 12 times before finally settling on the last take (usually the best!). I cut the pitch video (which goes on the kickstarter.com project page) down to a couple minutes (I rambled for a while) and uploaded it to the project page.

I then spent some time crafting, re-writing and refining the project description. I had written it out in a proposal form weeks ago, but it lacked spirit (not to mention a good title), so I started to re-write.

The Elders – A Coming of Age Documentary Portrait Series

By the way in which a society behaves toward its old people it uncovers the naked, and often carefully hidden, truth about its real principles and aims.
–Simone de Beauvoir, The Coming of Age

Logline:
Through the eyes of an aging generation, The Elders examines what it really means to live, by coming of age.

**The following serves as an outline, but it is common in documentary for the story to change once production begins.

Synopsis:
A feature-length documentary, The Elders uses stylized interview portraits of elderly individuals to tell a universal story about life’s most important lessons. Thematically organized around life lessons that reflect a wide range of human emotion and experience, the film seeks to reveal a larger more complex portrait of our shared humanity.

The short film “Pat” that I shot in October of 2009 is a good example of what this film will look and feel like: http://vimeo.com/7196960

The Elders is an attempt to explore the breadth of understanding held by an aging generation. Their collective memory is fading, and while many of their more universal stories have been immortalized by literature, science, and the arts, their oral histories and unique experiences could yet yield a moving reminder of how best to live a life.

There’s more to the description, but you get the idea. The next part was really fun, and involved coming up with “rewards” for prospective donors. Part of the kickstarter philosphy is rewarding those who pledge with something tangible in exchange for their support. Some rewards are pretty zany and clever, but with a potentially somber, and often serious subject like “The Elders,” I couldn’t be too silly with the rewards. The reward had to match the quality of the project.

Here’s what I came up with:

Pledge $1 or more
Special Thanks on the film website and in the film credits.

Pledge $15 or more
HD Digital Download of the feature film; Special Thanks on the film website and in the film credits.

Pledge $35 or more
Limited edition DVD copy of the film; HD Digital Download of the feature film; Special Thanks on the film website and in the film credits.

Pledge $50 or more
Digital Still from the film; Limited edition DVD copy of the film; HD Digital Download of the feature film; Special Thanks on the film website and in the film credits.

Pledge $100 or more
Photo Book of the film’s production; Digital Still from the film; Limited edition DVD copy of the film; HD Digital Download of the feature film; Special Thanks on the film website and in the film credits.

Pledge $500 or more
VIP Tickets to the premiere and Special Producer credit; Photo Book of the film’s production; Digital Still from the film; Limited edition DVD copy of the film; HD Digital Download of the feature film; Special Thanks on the film website and in the film credits.

Pledge $1,000 or more
Aside from my eternal gratitude, a personal showing of the film with live running commentary (if you want it). And food. I’ll bring the film and the food… Plus: VIP Tickets to the premiere and Special Producer credit; Photo Book of the film’s production; Digital Still from the film; Limited edition DVD copy of the film; HD Digital Download of the feature film; Special Thanks on the film website and in the film credits.

I squared away my rewards, spell checked a few times…and then, early Saturday morning, after having another set of eyes look over everything, I clicked the “Launch Project” button at the bottom of the page. I have to say, I’ve never had so much apprehension about clicking a button. After-all, it’s kind of my reputation on the line!

More to come…stay tuned.