What is “I Heart Shakey?”

I Heart Shakey is a low budget feature film that we produced using a lot of love and support from friends and family.  Despite our limited funds, we did our best to make a film with high production values, even shot in state-of-the-art 3D, and are proud that we were able to collaborate with some of the coolest and funniest actors around.  The film stars Steve Lemme (a comedian from the popular comedy troupe Broken Lizard), 12-year-old phenom Rylie Behr, a rescue-dog named Ebony, Steve Guttenberg (Police Academy franchise), Beverly D’Angelo (Entourage, National Lampoon’s Vacation), Alfonso Arau (who played the classic comic role “El Guapo” in Three Amigos), and a host of Chicago-based actors like Second City’s Andy St. Claire and Jefferson Award winner Janet Ulrich-Brooks.

I Heart Shakey is a family film…made by families…for families, which will be released in theaters and On Demand in June 2012.  With the pending launch of the film, we need your help now….

As you may know, making movies is the ultimate collaborative effort; hundreds of people have contributed to this movie to make this dream a reality.  While we’re thrilled the film will get a theatrical release by reputable distributors, we need help funding the film’s marketing to bring awareness to our Father’s Day Release. 

When a film is released, the filmmakers essentially have “one shot” – a brief window – to make the biggest splash they can make.  This is why studios spend millions upon millions of dollars in marketing their films.  With that in mind, we are cranking up our grassroots marketing machine, and marketing dollars will help us immensely get the word out about our film. 

Lastly, to all of you who have contributed to the film already or are working with us now, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  What an amazing journey it has been so far!!

What’s the story about?
I Heart Shakey is a family film about a 35-year-old widower named J.T. O'Neil, his precocious 10-year-old daughter and their devoted mutt Shakey.

After moving from a small town to Chicago and missing the fine print in their rental contract, J.T. is forced to try and get rid of his lovable pooch. Shakey and Chandler won't have it and hatch a plan to keep Shakey and teach J.T. a valuable lesson about loyalty and the importance of keeping family together.

Who is our target audience?
We hope the whole family will enjoy the fruits of our labor!  For these reasons and others, the film was recently awarded the Dove Foundation Family Approval Award.

Why this story?  From the Director….
Hi Everyone, Kevin here.  In 1992, DeAnna and I adopted a puppy born on a farm in Chaplin, Connecticut.  "Chaplin" seemed an appropriate name given his birthplace, but also we would come to know he was a tad on the wild side and quite a character.  So, we figured the name suited our new pup just fine.  After graduating film school, I made the big leap from NYC to LA, and the first apartment I moved into didn’t allow dogs.  Thinking more about my career and being a bit intoxicated by Hollywood, my first instinct was to get rid of my trusty mutt, Chaplin. 

A kennel or animal shelter just seemed too cruel for Chaplin, in my opinion.  But, I thought I could appeal to a nice family and find Chaplin a good home.  We plastered the town with homemade flyers extolling Chaplin’s virtues:  loyal, fun-loving, smart…and we got some agreeable responses from people who wanted to take in Chaplin.  Or so they thought….  In each instance, after dropping off Chaplin at his new home, less than 24 hours would go by and I would inevitably get a call from the prospective owner telling me in an unpleasant voice, “Come get your mutt.”  Chaplin, I would come to figure, was acting out because of his loyalty to me!  After a handful of failed attempts, I got the message and accepted Chaplin and I were meant to be together.  I did the smart thing – and moved to another apartment.  Chaplin died here in Chicago from old-age in our care after many years serving our family.  One of the best choices I ever made was keeping that ornery but loyal mutt around!

Chaplin inspired the creation of Shakey….

This was the first feature film I directed…a film that allowed me to explore the importance of sticking together as a family.  Whether those family members have two legs or four, there’s a lot to be said for loyalty in my book! 

Thanks, kc

            HELP US GET THE WORD OUT

Specifically, we need help navigating the world of marketing…a world where hustle can go a long ways but is not without costs.  The following are some examples:    

• Talent Travel and Lodging Costs:  We're hoping to be able to fly some of our actors to various VIP events throughout North America.  For example, there will be an "I Heart Shakey" Day at a Toledo Mudhens game (AAA farm team for Detroit Tigers), but we need to get the talent there including Ebony, our rescue dog who plays Shakey, and her owner!
• Marketing and Promotional Items: We have several talented and motivated marketing interns that need promotional materials to help build awareness in their towns.  These "soldiers" are willing to donate their time and energy, but we need to pay for the copies, in some cases the designs, put gas in their cars, flyers in their hands and fun promotional items so that they can help us reach our target audiences. 
• "Bus Tour": If we can afford it, we'd like to take Shakey, Rylie and Steve on a four or five city bus tour in the Midwest.  Our hope is to put on live speaking engagements for people who want to know the actors & filmmakers, know how the film was made, etc.    
• Screenings:  To build awareness, we need to spread the word on a grass-roots level and organize screenings to help our target audience hear about our film.  To do this, we have to rent a theater and this costs....well...money.

Closing

Those of you who know us or the film know we’ve put our heart and soul into I Heart Shakey.  Helping us with this last phase - marketing - would mean the world to us!  We appreciate you taking the time to check us out and please donate if you can. 

All The Best,

Amarok Productions