Hello to you all! Hope the holiday was fantastic!

THIS UPDATE IS IMPORTANT! That is why it has sentences in all capitals and exclamation points! BECAUSE IT ACTUALLY IN ALL REALITY IS INDEED VERY IMPORTANT...

What do I really need to do as far as fund raising goes for the next 12 days? I need to raise about $2,000 more and then will have the extreme generosity of a few individuals covering the rest, BUT THIS WILL ONLY HAPPEN...ONLY...IF WE GET THERE!

I know this can be achieved and I am thankful and faithful that you will over the next 12 days do your best to help spread the word and make this happen. This will be a 12 day period where every hour will become what I've dubbed "The Magic Hour". This will be a time where one donation every hour is my goal - THE SIZE OF THE DONATION IS NOT IMPORTANT, BUT A CONSISTENT STREAM OF DONATIONS COMING IN WILL GET THIS PROJECT FUNDED!

Please believe it can be done and have the knowledge that it cannot be done without YOU.
I know this and I continue to send out great thanks and all the positive energy I can muster!!!

Let's spread the word and get people donating, and if you can take the time to show them or explain how easy it is and your reasoning for doing it, that would be nothing short of amazing!

I know we can get there together! I know it!

THANK YOU ALL!

- Michael

Hey guys,

First, thanks for spreading the word, keep at it, it works slowly but surely!

AND - I have really good news! There are a few people willing to help ensure that this project gets funded if we can meet them half way. So, we reach $3,000 and we reach our goal thanks to these incredibly generous individuals!!!

This is really exciting, and I am incredibly thankful! Now is a great time to get the word out on the project and make a strong push over the next 20 days to get there.

I know that most of you won't read this until well into the day Wednesday, but if we can break $1,000 by this weekend, it will really show we have good odds at making this happen!

At this point everything outside of fund raising is set for the films, including the shoot dates, director, cast and crew, locations and housing. I will update the main page with more details about all of this soon!

I hope you all have a lovely holiday and again I say THANK YOU! I see some of you spreading the word a lot and it means a great deal. For those of you who donate for a friend or just out of wanting to show support for the project I can't thank you enough. In the end all of us are making these films together, and I won't forget that.

- Mike

Hello again,

Just to warn you this one will probably end up being a decent length, so read it when highly-caffeinated :)

I have been trying over the past few days to write an update for you guys to really capture and explain my feelings for this project. To be perfectly honest, I've struggled to do so. I've struggled because of the fact that there are more words than I could ever write that truly capture the emotions they coincide with.

Over the past few days however, I've had several talks with people and much has come about in conversation having to do with the project. The first thing I wanted to address was this...

"You're trying to raise $6,000 in 25 days?...That's impossible."

My response to this was fairly simple: "No. I don't think it is."

I feel that things only become "impossible" to a person when they believe that it is. I believe the goal here is very possible. I have 100% faith that it can be accomplished.

A few days ago I posted an update to see if we could double the number of backers on the project over 48 hours, now we didn't reach that goal, but four additional people backed the project. That's progress, that to me is continuing to move forward toward accomplishing the goal. That only makes my belief that this is possible even stronger.

Another conversation I had was with a friend who is also an artist, and they talked about a feeling of being alone in the current place in their life, and that made them feel like they had lost most of their creative spark - "Creating something is an act of love, and it's motivated by the same thing, love." I agree with that, and being in a similar place to this person, I wondered what was driving me on this project, and I quickly realized that all of you are that love.

Each time I get an email about a new person backing the project, or someone who can't donate money offers some other way to help, I feel overwhelmed by the compassion and support, the love that is being given freely. That is a very important part of this process, of creating this project and bringing it to life. It is actually probably the most important thing behind making this happen.

Friends have been posting updates on their Facebook pages and trying to get more people involved, and I am incredibly thankful. I know it might not seem like much without an immediate response, but I hope you'll continue to do so, and greatly appreciate you taking the time.

With all the talk of emotion and love, I can also help explain I think the motivation of the characters and the story behind Morning.

Morning, is a film that centers around two individuals meeting in the middle of the night for no other reason than one choosing to speak to the other, and from that point they decide rather than be alone without another person in their lives, they will stay together until morning. This is a case of two people lacking love, being in search of something other than themselves, and maybe not finding an answer but developing new questions. This is something I feel many of you can relate to, and it is very accessible to find a bit of yourself in each of these people.

A History of Lovers sits at a bit of the opposite end of the spectrum, two people traveling are staying at a motel for the night. This is a glimpse into a world, or moment in time, where nothing exists other than the love between two people. These two find themselves in a state where they don't have to question anything, they can just be what and who they are to each other.

Art will always parallel life and such, but the thing that thrills me is the generosity and willingness to share, which I can give back to you the best way I know how, by creating something that hopefully will have an impact on you.

These two short films are important to me for several different reasons, but the ability to open myself to others through my art is definitely at the top of the list.

At the moment I don't feel that anything is impossible, and once again I have to say THANK YOU for that. Something someone perceives as being small can at times be the biggest thing in our lives. These films will be made, and I cannot wait to share them with you!

Joe, Rachel, Kelly, Sharon, Ann-Marie, Stacey, Yvonne, Rick, Teresa, Chris, Travis, Sue, Jack, Meredith, and Fisher - THANK YOU!

Let's keep spreading the word and getting more people involved, we can show people just how possible things are.

Hello.

So for the next 48 hours, a great thing would be to double the number of backers on the project.

2 days, 2 times the number of backers, and you get not 1 reward, but 2!

How does this work?

If you have already backed the project and get one more person to back it in the next 48 hours, you get an additional reward of 5 short stories I have written sent to you with your backer reward, along with an additional thank you.

If you decide to back the project within the next 48 hours and get one person to do so along with you, you also get the extra reward!

Any of these new backers can donate as little or as much to the project as they choose.

These are some stories I have spent a long time working on, and eventually plan on putting into a collection, but you get to be the first to read them! So please help spread the word, and help us double the number of people backing the project in the next 48 hours!!!

I know we can do this!

THANKS as always,

- Mike

Hey you guys!!

So to those of you who have already backed the project I am continuing with a full heart to say THANK YOU! For those considering, or those you lovely people pass the project info to, here are some details.

If you are thinking about backing the project, it is crucial we make some progress and continue to move forward! It is important to back the project early, we currently have 4 weeks left and below I am going to break down how I know this can work...

1) We get as many people involved as possible.
- I can't thank you enough for spreading the word on the project, and continuing to do so will only help us reach our goal!
- Explain to people that they can back the project for as little as $1, and it will make a difference! The $1 donations help keep the promotion of the project on KICKSTARTER on many of the main pages of the site.
- Most projects on the site are funded by getting more than 150 people to back them, and in our case the more the merrier! Chipping away by having more people is a great way to accomplish this, so you all spreading the word means a great deal to me.

2) People back the project early on.
- If people are waiting, or saying "If they get close to the goal, then I'll back the project to help them reach the goal", let them know it helps more to back the project now! We only receive funding if we reach the goal by the deadline of Dec. 15th, and you are only charged when that happens. You are not charged when you make the donation.

Just following these two simple steps we can do this! I have absolute faith we will make this dream a reality, and again cannot thank you enough for being a part of it!

I am going to post another update later today with more info on the films, and a bit of a statement as to what creating the work means to myself and the people involved. I am eternally grateful for your generosity and spirit!

THANK YOU!

So I have some nerve issues when recording these things, but I did it in one shot, so we can all get past that :) Check out the video now on the project page for a little personal update on things, and be sure and spread the word about the project!!

A million thanks! Let's keep this rolling!

Hey all, just wanted to let you know that I will be posting a video update soon with more details on the project, and will explain the time crunch to reach our goal by December 15th (this is mostly due to having to shoot at a specific time to have the cast and crew we want).