Kickstarter

Dear backers!

Thank you for making this final push amazing! We're getting there!!! While I took my mid-morning "nap of the day" -- we brought in 11 new backers and nearly $1500...thanks to you all!!!

With sincere apologies for the short notice, because we just got this confirmed a little while ago: TODAY -- in ONE HOUR -- Ben, D.J. & Nick will meet & talk to each other for the FIRST TIME EVER(!) in a live online streaming show on Spreecast with MTV Act's Alexandra Govere.

At 3pm EST, 12pm PST, 5pm in London, 12am in Pakistan, you can watch it live here:

http://bit.ly/N2zWdQ

Thanks again for all your support, and see you there!

Jonathan & Team FOLLOW THE LEADER

Top of the morning to you, amazing backers #1-#188,

For many of you, this is the second of two updates you will be receiving at the same time. In "Update #12," you can read about the campaign's progress & what you can do if you're willing to help us reach our goal in the next 36 hours.

We are so incredibly grateful for your belief in what we are doing -- and as night turns into day here in New York, we are struck by how the campaign keeps moving forward all night...thanks to the generosity of new backers from Scotland, Austria, and Pakistan. We welcome your perspectives & your input as we prepare to launch FOLLOW THE LEADER into the world. And in fact, this particular update is all about how our outreach efforts strive to bring people together to discuss their differences in a respectful way.

In this update (Lucky #13!), our Political Engagement Coordinator Amanda Kathryn Roman discusses how Follow the Leader & our interactive component Reality Check offer unique opportunities for transpartisan dialogue; and she describes what that means. Amanda is a social entrepreneur with nearly 20 years’ experience in the political sphere and a track record working with politically-engaged non-profits and in grassroots activism. She was recognized by the Independence Party of New York City as a Nonpartisan Trailblazer for her civic engagement work in May, 2012 -- and we're proud to call her a core member of our team.

Please stay tuned for somewhat more frequent updates over the course of the next day -- and for the excitement that comes naturally from an all-or-nothing campaign striving to raise over $7,000 in less than 2 days. Thank you again for your part in making what we're all doing possible!

Team FOLLOW THE LEADER

FIRSTLY: If you'd like to while reading or anytime, you can listen to one of our favorite tracks the incredibly talented Zack Martin did for the film -- appropriately titled "Coming-of-Age" -- by pressing play at the bottom of your screen. And now on to "Update #12":

To those who are making it all happen,

We welcome 34 backers since our last update – thank you, wonderful people! And thanks to you, we now stand at just over 71% of our goal with just 43 hours to go (Check out the top photo below -- trending upward!)! That's just $180 per hour until the end of the campaign in LESS THAN TWO DAYS – and we're becoming more confident we can get there!

You have already done so much! And because I know you believe in what we are doing, I hope you'll you'll help out with a final push – and that you'll tell friends & family about the important work we are doing to change the political conversation in our country for the better. It is urgent work, time-sensitively linked to the current election cycle, and I think you know by now that all pledges made already completely disappear (whoosh!) if we don't meet our goal that is now just $7775 away.

Did you realize that if every person who has already backed us figures out a way to raise $42 more somehow that we will meet our goal? Some of you have been generously adding more to your pledges – in some cases even multiplying them because you realize how close we're getting -- completely amazing of you! Some of you are also sending individual, personal emails to others you think may want to support us but haven't yet – and it's these emails that are bringing us new backers at an incredible rate. Can you go that extra mile and recruit a couple more backers at any level today?

The people you may want to write to might even be mutual friends of ours. Perhaps you want to write to a few of them individually and ask if they've supported us too? They may not be on my personal distribution list, and may not even know about the project. Thank you for including this link with any emails you send:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/followtheleader/follow-the-leader-and-reality-check-interactive

If you have Facebook and Twitter accounts, we would also be grateful if you can help continue raising awareness by pointing to the URGENT situation we're in right now – by sharing the above link via social media with an urgent call for action: “It's YOUR LAST CHANCE to support a film with the power to change the political conversation in America for the better! http://kck.st/MdPRbF”

Tonight we also received a visit from my Godmother Sharon, in with my only first cousin, from Vancouver. You know it's getting late in a Kickstarter campaign when family comes over and someone (that would be me) says “You know what I just realized – this is a gathering of five backers!” At least they thought it was funny (see below)!

Thanks again for your support – more updates will be coming very soon (including details about a last-minute opportunity for an exciting live streaming show featuring ALL THE MAIN PARTICIPANTS at 3pm TODAY as soon as we have them).

You are making a huge difference, and we can't tell you how much we appreciate it!

Jonathan & Team FOLLOW THE LEADER

Dear incredible backers,

A lot of you have asked us to share more about what Reality Check Interactive is and how it works -- and we thought our Lead Facilitator Chris Bui would be the best one to describe it.

Unless you are one of our new backers who has joined us over the last few hours, you might have already seen Video 1 of 2 that we posted this morning with a personal introduction about Chris's past experience.

Thank you again to everyone who has raised their pledge levels on this important day, and to everyone who has written personal emails to friends (including the link to HERE) to encourage them to support our work -- pointing out that we only have 3 days left OR we lose all pledges already made to this point!

American backers: You may not realize this fact, but your contributions are actually the first U.S. financing that this film has received at any point over the last 7 years. A fair-minded portrayal that represents all political beliefs on their own terms is not top of the list for support in our documentary industry -- though we have been incredibly grateful for the strong support of many gatekeepers on a personal level throughout this challenging process. AND more importantly -- thanks to you we are now turning the tide and convincing people that we can talk to each other; we can engage with people with whom we disagree in a meaningful & constructive way with real results; and we can make a difference.

Each and every one of you has already made that difference by backing us. We're grateful for what you have already done -- and we hope you will be inspired by what Chris has to say below.

With gratitude and hope for the future of our country,

Team FOLLOW THE LEADER

Good morning to you, FOLLOW THE LEADER backers!

Right now we stand at 60% of the way to our goals thanks to your generosity. Thanks to you, our first 150 backers, we are on the road to reaching our goal in 3 short days!

To help us all get inspired today and tomorrow for a final push, we want to introduce you to two of our most important team members: Reality Check Interactive's Lead Facilitator Chris Bui, and our Political Engagement Coordinator Amanda Kathryn Roman. Amanda's brief (and impressive) biography can be seen on our Changeworx company page, and we look forward to letting her introduce herself to you personally tomorrow.

Reality Check Interactive (RCI) is a major focus of our outreach efforts that are set to spark more meaningful and reflective conversations surrounding the elections. On our Fall tour – for which the basic start-up costs are part of our reason for fundraising here on Kickstarter – there will be both screenings and RCI live events. RCI offers an episodic presentation of the film where “episodes” of the film alternate with interactive voting sections. But what are interactive voting sections, you ask?

Below, Chris discusses his over 20 years of experience designing, facilitating, and implementing interactive civic engagement programs. We will be uploading another brief video (unfortunately we can't include 2 at a time here!) this afternoon, in which he talks about the unique interactive live event experience that our team has developed, and first tested earlier this summer at a workshop we held at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The premiere and initial tour schedule for Reality Check Interactive will be announced next month.

If what Chris has to say inspires you, please help us spread the word and recruit other like-minded people who care about the future of our country over the next three days. If each backer recruits just one other backer at the $25 level or above each day for the next three days: We will reach our goal.

Thank you again for all your incredible support!

Team FOLLOW THE LEADER