Campaign: Complete

WE 

DID 

IT!

Thank you for helping us reach our crowd-funding goal. We are so grateful and are even more excited, determined and inspire to make this movie!

(#nerfletendersunite) 

Live-Thank-A-Thon

On Sunday, Oct 21st America Young (and associates) subjected April Wade 60 hours of Geekification. It was the FIRST EVER LIVE-A-THON and it got us nearly 70% of the way to our funding goal! 

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20th, (6pm - midnight PST) we will complete our campaign wit the FIRST EVER LIVE-THANK-A-THON!

CLICK on the link below to contribute to TheMakingofCMD!

CONTRIBUTE!

 * Help us prove that innovation in social filmmaking and orignial storytelling is not only what an audience wants, but what it deserves!

 * Join in with America as she (and her associates) show April “The Way of the Geek!”

CLICK on the link below to contribute to TheMakingofCMD!

Live-THANK-A-Thon Schedule!

Your hostesses: April Wade (@actoraprilwade) & America Young (@America_Young)

TUESDAY, November 20th

6pm
We go LIVE and STAY LIVE for 6 hours! Our IndieGoGo campaign wraps up at Midnight... help us pull through and get us over the threshold! Our cast is announced and begins to shuffle in...

7pm
Table Read of ACT I
  Get an exclusive look at this script we have all been talking about.
 
10pm
We look back and reflect, over pumpkin pie, getting a chance to go over the names of all those who have contributed so far.


11pm 
The FINAL COUNTDOWN begins!

Wrap Up Videos!

We are in awe of the masterful work of Jeremy Romero who has graciously taken over our video wrap ups and has made them AMAZING.

Re-live ALL the Live-A-Thon memories at YOUTUBE.COM/THEMAKINGOFCMD

And watch us "Gangnam Style" below:

Live-Thank-A-Thon Schedule!

  Live-THANK-A-Thon Schedule!

Your hostesses: April Wade (@actoraprilwade) & America Young (@America_Young)

TUESDAY, November 20th

6pm
We go LIVE and STAY LIVE for 6 hours! Our IndieGoGo campaign wraps up at Midnight... help us pull through and get us over the threshold! Our cast is announced and begins to shuffle in...

7pm
Table Read of ACT I
  Get an exclusive look at this script we have all been talking about.
 
10pm
We look back and reflect, over pumpkin pie, getting a chance to go over the names of all those who have contributed so far.

11pm 
The FINAL COUNTDOWN begins!

Re-Live the Live-A-Thon!

Jeremy Romero is GENUIS.
Could this video be any cooler? I don't think so!

Cramming for the Test

Many of you are curious if they managed to actually "Geekify" me.
The jury is still out...

I am going to be given a last and final quiz during our Live-Thank-A-Thon: TUESDAY, NOV 20th: 6:00pm-11:59pm

To prepare for it, I'll be watching some of my personal highlights of the Geekification: Battlestar Galactica and Dr. Who. 

But, I can't imagine doing it alone!  I will be live-tweeting from the @themakingofcmd account while I muscle through it.  Join me, will ya?

2pm: Friday, Nov 16: Battlestar Galactica miniseries Part 1
2pm: Sunday, Nov 18: Battlestar Galactica miniseries Part 2
2pm: Monday, Nov 19: Dr. Who: Vincent, Gridlock

http://comicbook.com/blog/2012/10/22/america-young-on-her-geekify-telethon-and-why-its-happening/

http://www.nerdist.com/2012/10/pickstarter-our-favorite-crowdfunded-projects-1021/

Amazing blogs from Fantastic people!

With less than two weeks left to go in our indiegogo campaign, we took a moment to re-live the live-a-thon by reading these blog posts. And smiling.

Thank you all!


http://angiehulme.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/live-a-thon-aka-the-success-of-awesome/

http://willinglycrazy.blogspot.co.at/2012/10/strange-bedfellows-or-how-i-learned-to.html?m=1

http://aradinsc.blogspot.ca/2012/10/the-awesomeness-of-liveathon.html?m=1

http://eslkevin.blogspot.com/2012/10/april-goes-geek.html?zx=9e253502efe60ddd

We love you!

Wow. Do we have a lot to be grateful for!
By the numbers:
 - The 1st ever Live-A-Thon
 - Clocked 60 total hours
 - Ended Live-A-Thon with 67% of our goal achieved - and 25 day to go!
 - 150 funders gave so graciously to our campaign
 - We had 340,000 live views

Thank you! We love you!

 

You can still contribute at indiegogo.com/geekify for the next 22 days!

It's alive! It's ALIVE!

CLICK on the link below to contribute to TheMakingofCMD!

 {WATCH LIVE Sunday, Oct 21st @ 10am thru Tuesday, Oct 23rd @ 7pm: 60 hours of Geekification}

 CONTRIBUTE!

 * Help us prove that innovation in social filmmaking and orignial storytelling is not only what an audience wants, but what it deserves!

 * Join in with America as she (and her associates) show April “The Way of the Geek!”

CLICK on the link below to contribute to TheMakingofCMD!

Live-A-Thon Schedule!

April Wade and America Young have been friends and colleagues for years ...and it turns out that they don't actually have a lot of interests in common. America is a self-proclaimed geek (seriously, google her, it's obvious). April doesn't claim to be 'cool,' but since she's never read a comic book, she is definitely not a geek. Join us as we attempt to "geekify" the only person you've probably met whose only knowledge of Star Wars is from watching Spaceballs as a child.

Your hostesses: April Wade (@actoraprilwade) & America Young (@America_Young)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21st

10am
We go LIVE and STAY LIVE for 60 hours! Our IndieGoGo campaign launches with much fanfare. Geeks begin to assemble...

11am
Star Wars: Episode IV
    associates: 
        Eliot Sirota (@OneEyedJedi)
        John M Keating (@jkeats, playing "John Dorn" in CMD)
        John Merchen, Nick Oberlander, Christina Snider (geeks)
        Corey Wish (semi-geek, April's Husband who has put up with her non-geekiness for 
            too long)
        Pete Wade (@askcoachpete, April's Dad: he will answer for why his daughter turned
            out so "cool") 
       
1:30pm
Kevin McShane will be drawing Bad Caricatures ($5 for a drawing and an apology)
    associates: Kevin McShane (@kmcshane) 


2pm
Star Wars: Episode V
    associates:  see above

4pm
Star Wars: Episode VI
    associates:  see above again (these geeks are in it for the long haul!)

7pm
A (probably heated) Star Wars discussion as we build a X-Wing out of LEGOs.
    associates: 
        movie discussion led by Kevin McShane (@kmcshane)
        lego session led by John M Keating (@jkeats, playing "John Dorn" in CMD)

10pm
Spaceballs

11:30pm
Spaceballs wrap up: Now that she has actually seen Star Wars, will April appreciate Spaceballs more or less? Is she starting to change into an honest to goodness geek?

MONDAY, OCTOBER 22nd

8am
Star Trek: Insurrection, complete with Early Grey and detailed explanation
    associates:  Dean Karasinski (@deanographics)

11am
Firely- Serenity pilot episode
    associates:  Kenny Mittleider (www.geekyfanboy.com)

1pm
Firely- Out of Gas episode
    associates:  see above (Kenny is in it to win it!)

2pm
Magic: The Gathering lesson and gameplay
    associates: 
        Eric Collin Campbell (@8BitEric)
        Juan Manuel-Rocha (@comicsoncomics)

4pm
We make every qeeky attempt we can to play an actual round of Muggle Quidditch.
    associates:  Tennyson Stead (@tennysonestead)

5pm
Battlestar Galactica- episode 1
    associates:  Sam McCoy (our writer!)

6pm
Battlestar Galactica- episode 2
    associates:  see above

7pm
Battlestar Galactica- episode 3
    associates:  see above again (Sam McCoy is a BSG machine!)

8pm
Saints Row 3 lesson and gameplay (if April actually picks up on the lesson...)
    associates:  Steve Jaros (@SteveJaros, Studio Creative Director at Volition-Inc)

11pm
Harry Potter (via audio book) as the two lovely ladies make SuperHero masks and probably fall off to a very peaceful slumber...
    associates:  John M Keating (@jkeats, playing "John Dorn" in CMD)

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23rd

8am
X-Men and Thundercats cartoons
    associates:  Sam McCoy (our writer!)

9:30am
The Last Airbender cartoons
    associates:  see above

10:30am
Anime Marathon (Lord help us all.)
    associates:  Sam Weller (@cravesam)

1pm
Dr Who - Blink
    associates:  Gabriel Diani (@GabeDiani)
 
2pm
Dr Who -  The Girl in the Fireplace
    associates:  see above

3pm
Dr Who - Midnight
    associates: see above again (Gabe is in it for the long haul!)

4pm
FINAL MOVIE of the TELETHON as VOTED on by YOU, the contributors.  What will it be??
  * (Original) Planet of the Apes
  * Willow
  * The Last Starfighter
  * Scott Pilgrim vs The World
  * Star Trek - Wrath of Khan   
    associates:  Sam McCoy (our writer!), Nick Oberlander (geek)

Telethon Schedule!

April Wade and America Young have been friends and colleagues for years ...and it turns out that they don't actually have a lot of interests in common. America is a self-proclaimed geek (seriously, google her, it's obvious). April doesn't claim to be 'cool,' but since she's never read a comic book, she is definitely not a geek. Join us as we attempt to "geekify" the only person you've probably met whose only knowledge of Star Wars is from watching Spaceballs as a child.

Your hostesses: April Wade (@actoraprilwade) & America Young (@America_Young)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21st

10am
We go LIVE and STAY LIVE for 60 hours! Our IndieGoGo campaign launches with much fanfare. Geeks begin to assemble...

11am
Star Wars: Episode IV
    associates: 
        Eliot Sirota (@OneEyedJedi)
        John M Keating (@jkeats, playing "John Dorn" in CMD)
        John Merchen, Nick Oberlander, Christina Snider (geeks)
        Corey Wish (semi-geek, April's Husband who has put up with her non-geekiness for 
            too long)
        Pete Wade (@askcoachpete, April's Dad: he will answer for why his daughter turned
            out so "cool")
       
1:30pm
Kevin McShane will be drawing Bad Caricatures ($5 for a drawing and an apology)
    associates: Kevin McShane (@kmcshane)


2pm
Star Wars: Episode V
    associates:  see above

4pm
Star Wars: Episode VI
    associates:  see above again (these geeks are in it for the long haul!)

7pm
A (probably heated) Star Wars discussion as we build a X-Wing out of LEGOs.
    associates: 
        movie discussion led by Kevin McShane (@kmcshane)
        lego session led by John M Keating (@jkeats, playing "John Dorn" in CMD)

10pm
Spaceballs

11:30pm
Spaceballs wrap up: Now that she has actually seen Star Wars, will April appreciate Spaceballs more or less? Is she starting to change into an honest to goodness geek?

MONDAY, OCTOBER 22nd

8am
Star Trek: Insurrection, complete with Early Grey and detailed explanation
    associates:  Dean Karasinski (@deanographics)

11am
Firely- Serenity pilot episode
    associates:  Kenny Mittleider (www.geekyfanboy.com)

1pm
Firely- Out of Gas episode
    associates:  see above (Kenny is in it to win it!)

2pm
Magic: The Gathering lesson and gameplay
    associates: 
        Eric Collin Campbell (@8BitEric)
        Juan Manuel-Rocha (@comicsoncomics)

4pm
We make every qeeky attempt we can to play an actual round of Muggle Quidditch.
    associates:  Tennyson Stead (@tennysonestead)

5pm
Battlestar Galactica- episode 1
    associates:  Sam McCoy (our writer!)

6pm
Battlestar Galactica- episode 2
    associates:  see above

7pm
Battlestar Galactica- episode 3
    associates:  see above again (Sam McCoy is a BSG machine!)

8pm
Saints Row 3 lesson and gameplay (if April actually picks up on the lesson...)
    associates:  Steve Jaros (@SteveJaros, Studio Creative Director at Volition-Inc)

11pm
Harry Potter (via audio book) as the two lovely ladies make SuperHero masks and probably fall off to a very peaceful slumber...
    associates:  John M Keating (@jkeats, playing "John Dorn" in CMD)

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23rd

8am
X-Men and Thundercats cartoons
    associates:  Sam McCoy (our writer!)

9:30am
The Last Airbender cartoons
    associates:  see above

10:30am
Anime Marathon (Lord help us all.)
    associates:  Sam Weller (@cravesam)
 
1pm
Dr Who - Blink
    associates:  Gabriel Diani (@GabeDiani)
 
2pm
Dr Who -  The Girl in the Fireplace
    associates:  see above

3pm
Dr Who - Midnight
    associates: see above again (Gabe is in it for the long haul!)

4pm
FINAL MOVIE of the TELETHON as VOTED on by YOU, the contributors.  What will it be??
  * (Original) Planet of the Apes
  * Willow
  * The Last Starfighter
  * Scott Pilgrim vs The World
  * Star Trek - Wrath of Khan   
    associates:  Sam McCoy (our writer!), Nick Oberlander (geek)

...and the pitch!

We are holding a LIVE telethon OCT 21, 22 & 23rd to raise funds for The Concessionaires Must Die and our 'making of' live stream.

April Wade and America Young have been friends and colleagues for years ...and it turns out that they don't actually have a lot of interests in common. America is a self-proclaimed geek (seriously, google her, it's obvious). April doesn't claim to be 'cool,' but since she's never read a comic book, she is definitely not a geek. Join us as we attempt to "geekify" the only person you've probably met whose only knowledge of Star Wars is from watching Spaceballs as a child.

 * Help us prove that innovation in social filmmaking and orignial storytelling is not only what an audience wants, but what it deserves!

 * Join in with America as she (and her associates) show April “The Way of the Geek!”

Special thanks to John M Keating for the awesome flyer!

...here's the wind-up...

For the last 6 months or more, we have approached a ton of fabulous financiers who were always just moments away from funding us, we get excited, I post something vague on facebook about our progress... and for one reason or another, nothing has hit. This is NOT new or unique. I've been working in Los Angeles for a decade and it always seems impossible to fund an independent film - and in the last few years, the level of difficulty has skyrocketed.  We gambled on starting our journey by building an audience (which consists of a wonderful collection of intelligent fans and nearly 600,000 live views from just a few pre-production meetings). This gamble has paid off creatively and opened many, many doors for us. We've unlocked huge sponsorship donations for production. Just haven't cracked anyone's safe - yet.

Nearly everyone we know has suggested that we do a Kickstarter campaign for this project. They suggest that if there EVER was a project in the history of crowd-funded projects that was absolutely MADE for Kickstarter, it is this one. And they are right.
But, we've resisted. And resisted.
Until now.

We have schemed a great scheme that will squelch many of our reservations about crowd funding in one single bound: 
A LIVE TELETHON: The Attempted Geekification of April Wade by America Young and Associates!

We get about 1-2 Kickstarter requests from our friends a day. We simply don't want to innundate the ones we love. But, you know what? If they love us, they WANT to help. They've told us so. Plus, we've put a ton of thought into making this movie and the making of experience something that a lot of audience members would connect to - so, we have faith that there are people that are willing to pitch in that aren't related to us.

Kickstarter puts your goals and your progress out there for all to see which means that you not only live proudly with a success but you can also live publicly with a failure. In short, our egos are on the line here. Ultimately, we decided that we weren't going to let our fear (and pride) get the better of us. We are risk takers - because without that element, we would never be able to create. It is who we are, so we might as well get cozy with it and wear our hearts on our sleeves and jump head-first into the uncertainty.

Lastly - and MOST IMPORTANTLY - we didn't just want to stand there, hat in hand, telling you that what we are trying to make is more interesting or better than any of the other thousands of projects you could choose to fund. We have been committed to GIVING the audience an experience and cringe at the idea of turning around and asking for money in return. The cold hard fact is this: if we don't have any cash, we simply cannot make the movie, no matter how many amazing sponsors we have been able to attach. So, what we want to do is add value to this project, to create a 'pitch' that is entertaining, pushes our own limits and gives you a really unique and super fun experience in exchange for your very hard-earned money. Not just "perks" - but an event that you can really sink your teeth into.

So, clear your calendars and stay tuned. Oct 21, 22 and 23rd are going to be a ball!

John M. Keating Talks. A lot.

Want a little entertainment to start off the week? Our own John M. Keating (playing John Dorn) did a fun interview with LATalk Radio. Enjoy!

http://www.latalkradio.com/archives/Mary-091812.mp3

THIS John M. Keating, yes. The handsome, talented, funny one.

How are we supposed to decide?

We've met with all of our potential DPs. And are still just as undecided as we expected we'd be.

Our AMAZING options are:
Jen
Nick
Dave
George (video below)

Maybe you all can weigh in while we make sure that they all love us as much as we love them and are actually available our shot dates...?  Comments are welcome!

Video chat by Stickam.com

Cooking with Fire

THIS JUST IN!  We have a movie theater location!

With this MAJOR item in place, now we are cooking with fire!

Written by the lovely and tenacious Zaki Rubinstein:

"We are so so so excited to announce our shooting location!  After calling almost every movie theater in and around Los Angeles the amazing generous folks at Santa Rosa Entertainment Group http://www.srentertainmentgrp.com have offered to let us shoot in two of their amazing locations: Plaza Stadium Cinemas 14 in Oxnard and Roxy Stadium 11 in Camarillo.  I can not reiterate enough how wonderful dealing with them has been.  They are all "film people" and completely get what we are about and where we are coming from.  The Vice President Mark Tietsort was a member of Second City (a premiere improve theatre group and school in Los Angeles) and wrote screenplays before moving out of Los Angeles to become a team member at Santa Rosa Entreatment group.  The owner's son also will be joining our crew in the post production department.  We are so excited to take you, the audience, with us when we go to scout the location.  Stay tuned for more info about our great locations."

Free Fall

I apologize for the lack of blog posts. I pinky promise that we haven't forgotten about any/everyone. You are all very much on the forefront of our minds.

When we started this project and invited the audience to join us on the ENTIRE, REAL process of making a movie, we jumped without a net. We are pretty confident that we were going to land on our feet...filmmakers are a lot like cats, I guess. Right now, we are in free fall - and though it doesn't surprise any of us just how long and far that fall is, I wanted to give you all a quick update, while we are still wafting about in the atmosphere.

 * Sponsors are coming on board left and right - and we will be announcing which ones as soon as we have some official contracts and whatnot.  They are waiting on shoot dates from us.

 * Our theatre search is THIS CLOSE to yielding a positive result.  Hooray for Zaki!

 * We have one more DP to introduce you to, then we will be making that choice.

 * As soon as we lock in new dates, we will be checking with actors on their availability - so announcements will be soon on that topic. I know!  I can hardly wait, myself!

So, what's stopping us from catapuling straight into production??

Two things:

 - Cash.  We have a few possible partnerships in the works, but Hollywood doesn't move nearly as fast as Hollywood says that it does in Hollywood movies. 

 - Me. I am currently the biggest wrench in the CMD works. As stated above, Hollywood doesn't move fast - until it does. A (sort of secret) project I've been pitching around and slaving away at is barreling forward like a freight train that I am just barely keeping pace with it. As it is clipping at my heels, I haven't had much time to put into CMD and that will just get worse.  The good thing about that is that I simply CANNOT WAIT to share this next project with you all... and I will... Oh, boy, will I.

So - where does that leave CMD? It leaves it shooting in November/December. Worse tragedies have befallen indie films than having to push a few months (It is actually quite normal) ...but most of them don't do so with an audience actually watching them.

Which is to say: We are so sorry.  AND: You're welcome.

This is a unique view of film making, which means that the journey is frustrating.  For all of us.

Thank you for jumping with us, trusting us with your time and energy.  But, mostly, for believing in us. In truth, THAT is the net.  We are not motivated by all the people who said we couldn't do it - we are motivated to deliver for those who believe that we can.  And we will.

In November.