Kickstarter

What is "Red, White & Blueprints"? 
This is a film about the men and women who built a region, those who inherited its decline, and those who are working tirelessly to forge a new future. It is the first ever, feature-length documentary to tell the story of the Rust Belt region (also commonly referred to as the Great Lakes region or the Midwest region) of the United States. The film takes you to several major cities across the region, including Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Youngstown, and St. Louis; highlighting individuals who are working daily to revitalize their hometowns using their often limited resources.

What Have We Accomplished Thus Far? 
When we started this project in July of 2010, we had no money, no gear, no contacts, and no way of knowing where we'd end up. Two years later we have raised enough money to buy our own gear, travel the Rust Belt region twice, shoot over 150 hours of amazing footage, release the trailer you see above, and get covered in some truly amazing media (linked at the bottom of this description)! None of that would have been possible without you and others like you who saw the value in helping us tell the honest and hardworking story of the American men and women who tirelessly continue to rebuild - and re-purpose - the Rust Belt region.

• The Atlantic Cities 
• Cleveland Magazine
• Riverfront Times

Why Your Support Matters?
From the beginning, this project has been an intense labor of passion and love. Every single dime has come either from our own pockets, or the pockets of individuals like yourself who give a good damn about what happens to our hometowns as our country makes this dramatic transition in to new and untested economies. If it weren't for your support, we wouldn't be nearing the tail end of this project; it was only by the goodness of people like you that we were able to raise the early funding to buy the necessary gear, to travel the region, and to push forward.

Your pledge to this cause right now guarantees our ability to finish what we started; to deliver a high-quality film, and to start the much-needed discussion about the future of our great region. Not to mention: any pledge over $45 gets you a physical copy of the film on DVD when it's released!

So, What Still Needs to Be Done?
While we are within striking distance of the finish line, there is still a good deal of work to be done. Below is a quick breakdown of what we have left to accomplish:

• Reshoots: this is where we go out and capture any footage we may have missed the first time around, new interviews to fill gaps in the story, or just shots that we never got around to securing during initial production. 
• Editing: by far the most time intensive portion of the process, editing a feature-length documentary will take us no less than two months of dedicated manpower and focus. This is where we cut up all the interviews and footage we've collected, and weave it together to tell the story we've been gathering all this time. 
• Scoring: the musical component of making a film. We are fortunate enough to have musicians on our team who are dedicated to scoring this entire project, but that takes a lot of time and can't really begin until the editing process has been completed. 
• Duplication: once all those elements are completed, the film is ready to be put on DVD for your viewing pleasure. This takes some time and effort to prepare, and once it's out to the pressing plant, we wait for roughly three weeks (if all goes well). 

And that's pretty much it, with the exception of the ongoing marketing and promotion of the film, submission in to film festivals across the country, and other elements that are a bit further down the line. 

Where Does this $4500.00 Go?
While it sounds like a lot of money - and it is - $4500.00 covers only a portion of what we have left to do. We have been busy offline raising the additional funds needed, and if this final Kickstarter campaign is successful, we will have the needed amount to guarantee that this film gets finished the way we've always intended it to. To give you some idea of what the remaining costs look like...

• $3450.00 goes in to reshoot costs (traveling, file storage, etc)
• $5000.00 goes directly to editing this project (yea, it's pricey).
• $1500.00 goes towards scoring the film. 
• $1690.50 goes towards professional duplication (DVDs)
• $450.00 (10% of this campaign) goes to Kickstarter fees

That totals $12090.50. Add that to our initial gear and traveling costs, and you can see that making a documentary film that spans several states ends up costing a pretty decent penny! But it's all been worth it, and the end result will help us share with you - and the rest of those who view it - just how inspiring and audacious the men and women of the Rust Belt truly are.

Thank you so much for your support of our efforts. We cannot express to you our appreciation and admiration for your dedication and passion. 

Viva La Rust Belt!

Jack, Rick, and the rest of the Saving Cities team