THE STORY

“Uncle Sam Isn’t Real” is a comedic narrative short film set in a world exactly like our own but with ONE exception- much like Christmas has evolved over the past century into a commercial phenomenon, so has July 4th evolved into “Amerimas.” On Amerimas Eve, Uncle Sam flies all across the country on his eagle, Artemis, delivering presents to the good patriotic girls and boys. Or at least so says all the Moms and Dads….

But our 9-year-old protagonist, Valerie, is getting a little suspicious about all of this. How could Uncle Sam possibly make it across the country so fast? Wouldn’t the eagle get tired?

As her questions grow in number, so does her family’s attempts at shielding the truth from the young girl. But when she finally figures it all out, how will she react? How will her FAMILY react? IS Uncle Sam real?

“Uncle Sam isn’t Real” is a story about many things.

It’s about the 9 year old inside of us all, grasping to hold on to our childhood beliefs and naivety.

It’s about the parents who grasp even HARDER to hold on to their children’s youth, not ready to see them grow up.

It’s also a satire on the crazy things in our world we have come to see as completely normal, like telling our children that a fairy sneaks into their house at night to trade their discarded teeth for quarters.

It’s a story full of a lot of laughs, a lot of heart, and a LOT of red, white and blue.

WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL

We feel our project has a refreshing point of view about an experience almost all of us have gone through at some point in our life.

But aside from the script which is near and dear to our hearts, our film also opens with a fantastic animated sequence, created to look like the classic Christmas TV specials we all know and love (cheesy song included!).

Of course, with such a detailed and time-consuming aspect to the film as animation, the budget must adjust as well. Which brings us to our next point….

THE FINANCES

Most of our crew is comprised of talented youngsters with big ideas and really, really tiny bank accounts. We are putting in $1,000 of our own savings, which to us is a LOT of money, but will need so much more to pay for the following:

• Actors- $500
• Props/set design- $250
• Animation- $250
• Craft Services- $300
• Costuming- $200
• Sound Mixing- $350
• Score- $150
• Equipment rental- $500

There are many costs that will come along the way that we could use MORE than the $2,500 allotted above for, such as distribution costs, entering the film into festivals and travel, so getting even more than our budget donated would be beyond belief amazing!

ABOUT US

Bridget Green (Producer, Co-Writer, Co-Director)

Bridget is a 2011 Journalism graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. After graduating last May, she went on to work on the Production staff for A&E’s reality program “Shipping Wars,” and now works as Production Coordinator for the Austin-based Video Production company, Buckalew Media. She has an intense love for spaghetti westerns, ACTUAL spaghetti, and the musical styling’s of Phil Collins.

Jara Wallace (Editor, Co-Writer, Co-Director)

Jara is a huge film nerd, which to us, means he is awesome. A recent film graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Jara has written two feature-lengths scripts, and has worked on countless short films as well as the independent features “Blacktino" and "Incendiary" which showed at numerous film festivals including SXSW. He also has worked at the Alamo Drafthouse in their creative department.

Alex Walters (Production Coordinator)

Also a 2011 Journalism graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Alex  is a go-getter if there ever was one. Working at Austin production company Arts+Labor throughout her college career, Alex also produced a television show for TSTV, UT’s cable TV station. After graduating in December, Alex worked as Entertainment Coordinator intern for the Austin Rodeo. This is a lady who can get anything done…and can wear four-inch heels while doing it.

Edward L. Wittlif (Animator)

Edward is a 2012 film graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. These days he works as a freelance animator and illustrator under the production pseudonym "WTF Prom," but he's been drawing pictures to bother his friends far longer than that.

HOW IT ALL WORKS

Kickstarter is an amazing opportunity for us to see our film come to life after years of dreaming about it! However, it does have one catch- if we do not get all of our $2,500 budget donated in 30 days, we will receive NONE of the donations and all money given will be returned to each donor.

We CAN receive more than our $2,500 budget though, and could greatly use it to help the film live up to its full potential!

ANYTHING you can give will be appreciated more than you could ever imagine, and if you can’t give financially right now, just spreading the word, this page and our video is a huge assistance!

For each different dollar-range donated, you will receive a token of our appreciation related to the movie (see the column to the right for more information).**NOTE: FOR INTERNATIONAL DONORS, PLEASE MESSAGE US AT THE BELOW EMAIL ADDRESS FOR INFORMATION ON SHIPPING COSTS, ETC.**

Please feel free to let us know if you have any questions about our film or about the Kickstarter process at unclesamisntreal@gmail.com

 We cannot wait for you to see “Uncle Sam Isn’t Real” at a film festival near you….we just need a little help to get it there!