Kickstarter From The Front Lines: The Video
“It’s all about the video. Make an awesome video.”
This is probably the most common piece of advice you run into when researching effective Kickstarter campaigns. And it makes sense. The video is going to be the centerpiece of every Kickstarter, the first thing most people see, the thing people share and the primary metric by which your project and, more importantly, by which you yourself will be measured.
But saying “Make an awesome video” is a lot like saying, “Get lots of people to give you money.” It’s not wrong, but it’s not super helpful, is it? It doesn’t tell you how to do anything and probably very few people set out to make terrible videos on purpose.
Kickstarter From The Front Lines: Preamble
I’m going to try to keep a journal of my experience with running a Kickstarter for a new feature film titled “Love Letter” which I have co-written and am producing. The hope is that if this thing is successful other artists, engineers and entrepreneurs might find something valuable they can take to their own crowdsourcing campaign. And if it is unsuccessful hopefully they (you?) can use this as an example of what not to do.
One More Thing
I’m finally reading the Steve Jobs biography, after letting it sit on my desk since Christmas. And I’m really fascinated by it, and the story is masterfully told. But it does make me wonder. Is it possible to come to know a person more without coming to like him less?
The Random Adventures of Brandon Generator
Edgar Wright is a hero. He’s a certified, ridiculous genius. His new project “The Random Adventures of Brandon Generator” may be the internet’s raison d’être (that’s right, bitches, I can be pretentious in multiple languages!). If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a neo noir motion comic web series…thing, about coffee and writers block and coffee and madness and coffee and coffee. It’s drawn by Tommy Lee Edwards, narrated by Julian Barratt, he of The Mighty Boosh, and most importantly written by Edgar Wright and…you.
The audience writes prose, leaves voicemails and draws monsters and things on Brandon’s notepad and Wright takes these contributions and weaves them into the story and, more than that, uses them as a scaffold to construct the narrative. The result is REMARKABLE. I know this because I’m totally remarking on it right now.
Anyway, it’s fairly pointless to keep talking about a thing when you could just go watch it and be much better for it.
What I do want to do, though, is present the two prose entries I wrote for the second episode. Neither made it into the story and that really is fine. I TOTALLY misunderstood what they wanted out of prose entries and instead of building on themes present in the first episode and presenting ideas that could move Brandon forward I wrote completely random shit that amused me. And since these things will probably never find their way anywhere else I thought I’d just go ahead and post them here in case you guys might enjoy them.
First was something that was just meant to feel weird and noir. I think I nailed it but, then again, I usually do think that.
She was as blonde as she was brunette, you just couldn’t tell under all that red hair. She spoke French with an Irish accent and she floated, which wasn’t at all the strangest thing about her. Once, while making love, she recited the periodic table to me.
Second was a thing that made me laugh.
Kangaroos cannot hop backwards. I remember reading that. I’m sure of it. So either my mind is playing tricks on me or this kangaroo is. And, either way, he’s got a gun.
Anyway. Brandon Generator is good fun. You should all watch it.
E
Oh, Boy
Sometimes ambition means that your mailbox is quantum super positioned. Schrödinger’s career is in there. The next chapter of my life is both alive and dead inside a tiny, tin box until I open it and look. And mostly it’s bills and the new Rolling Stone. So I’ll open it again tomorrow. Bring on the awesome
Last night, talking about Johnny Carson on American Masters, Joan Rivers said, “Everyone stabs everyone in the back in this business.” It’s not true, guys. That’s just something people who stab people in the back say.
Robert Downey Jr. Can’t Wear the Suit Forever
I don’t believe that there is an actor more viscerally connected to a character in modern cinema than Robert Downey Jr. to Tony Stark. Tobey Maguire’s Spiderman was fine but I can separate those two with ease. But RDJ is Tony. Tony is RDJ. They are one.
But he can’t wear the suit forever.
Whoever comes next is obviously going to be compared to Downey, and that person will lose, because losing is what happens when you are compared to Robert Downey Jr. So what I’m thinking is, why bother getting a good actor just to lose? Why bother getting an actor at all?
Why not just give it to me?
I would look GOOD in that armor.
E for Iron Man.
Awesome Day 2012
As longtime heroes know, today, the 24th of April, is my birthday. But that’s not important, what is important is that it is also, not by coincidence, Awesome Day. It is the one day each year that I ask you all to set aside just for awesomeness. The fact that this thing isn’t on mainstream calendars baffles me. If you’re new to the concept I’ll explain by way of reblogging in just a sec, but for the heroes old and new alike, please do take this day and honor it with kindness and greatness and, you know, awesome. Honor it in ways big or small, however you like. Be great for yourself, for a friend, for a stranger, just be great. I know you’ve got it in you. I see it every day.
I love you all. Happy Awesome Day everyone!
From Awesome Day 2009:
So Awesome Day is upon us once again. For those who are new to my ramblings or those who do not catalog each of my glorious syllables in a special, perhaps gilded, mind-drive (for shame!) Awesome Day is part of my continuing, global and lifelong mission to turn things I hate (in this case my birthday) into things that kick ass (in this case Awesome Day).
765 Words About “No Strings Attached” vs its Script “Fuckbuddies”
I’ve been hearing for, I dunno, hours about how genius Elizabeth Meriwether’s OG script for “No Strings Attached” (née “Fuckbuddies”) is so I decided to finally get my hands on a copy. And you know what, yeah, it’s pretty damn dope. This wasn’t a surprise since Ms. Meriwehter’s show “New Girl” is one of the best things on the TV. It’s so nectar. And, because comparing and contrasting is fun, (Shut up, it is. Do a blind taste test of every tequila on the market and tell me if you aren’t having fun by the time you take your fifth or sixth shot.) I went ahead and watched “No Strings.” And, honestly, the movie isn’t bad.
It’s not genius but most things aren’t and “No Strings” has its moments. I was particularly into the final shot, to be honest. A little cheesy, maybe, maybe a lot cheesy but romantic comedies are made of cheese and you love cheese and you know it so stop acting like that’s not why you’re there. The final shot (SPOILERS) turns on the idea that, maybe, for some people holding hands is more intimate and more daring than fucking and that’s cute and sweet in context. And, sadly, it’s a sentiment to which I can relate.
What I Watched Last Week
I’m going to try to keep a short diary of the movies I watch each week, mostly so that I can look back over it in coming years, but also to help motivate me to watch more and better movies. So far I’m not off to a GREAT start, but I’m working on it. So…what i watched this week: Our Idiot Brother. This Means War. All Star Superman. The Woman In Black. Bronson. In a Lonely Place.
To list the television I watched would get too long and embarrassing. If you really want to know just ask or, if it’s easier, just think about all the shows where someone who isn’t police solves a crime and assume I saw it.
Also, I don’t do movie reviews because of screw that, but I will say that Tom Hardy’s performance in “Bronson” was HUGE. One of the best I’ve ever seen. It was really something.
