Etsy has Regretsy. Pinterest has WTF, Pinterest? Now the Daily Dot is proud to present Kickstopper, a series highlighting the most bombastic and absurd projects seeking support through the popular crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter.
Kickstarter Hollywood hopefuls, let the trials of Chris Moran teach you a lesson. If you’re going to try to crowdfund a film, it’s best to know where the money’s going.
“This is really my first film,” Moran told the Daily Dot. “I’ve been studying the art aspect of it, so I’m not exactly sure how much it’s going to cost to do everything, but I do know that the camera I want to rent goes for about $500 a day.”
Moran is a week into fundraising the production of 10 Minutes in the Life of Raymond Lee, a single-set short film that will find Lee, an affable southern character played by Moran with an “overzealous, take-life-as-it-comes” personality, handling the rigors of managing an eccentric family.
“Raymond Lee is one of the first characters of mine that I really fell in love with,” Moran said. “I grew up in Texas, so I know a lot of people who have the same personality. They don’t really hold their feelings back. He’s just kind of a nice, lovable guy who tends to try to face problems head on and not play the victim. I love his accent, too.”
He’s going to be the only person who exists inside this world. Everything else is going to be phone calls from the inside out. I have a rough outline of what I want to be going on, but when I’m in the character is when the best emotion comes out. My acting has to be at its most spontaneous.
Aaaaaaand, scene. That’s the story behind 10 Minutes in the Life of Raymond Lee.
Just to recap, we’re looking at a 10-minute movie about one guy in one set, with the only known expense coming in at $500 a day.
The price tag on this production: a cool $10,000, or, to break it down a bit, $1,000 per minute of Raymond Lee’s life.
Not surprisingly, Moran’s had a rough go raising the funds necessary to start production on the film. Over the last week, he’s yet to raise a single penny.
The drought actually has Moran reconsidering his Kickstarter presentation, which right now is bare bones thin with a 10-minute improvisational video in Lee’s character and a paragraph about the film’s premise.
“I really need to do the video a little bit better so that you can get a better idea of what I want to do with the film and what the character’s about,” he said.
As the good Raymond Lee would say, “Yer dern tootin’!”
Kickstopper: 10 Minutes in the Life of Raymond Lee
- Location: Denver, CO
- Summary: An improvisational actor wants to raise $10,000 to produce a movie about an affable southern man.
- Goal: $10,000
- Amount raised as of press time: $0
- Days left: 26
- Best buy: $25 earns backers a thanks in the movie’s credits. (Yes, the rewards on this project are embarrassingly thin.)
Photo via Kickstarter
