Kickstarter

[sigh] pathetic.

That's the defeated, deflated voice inside my head.

The voice that exits my head via sound waves, and (in this more figurative context) from my fingers via this computer's keyboard, however, expresses a different perspective than his internal twin.  This voice speaks for taking chances and big swings and, at this point, shrugs off failure as part of the process.  This outward facing voice focuses on silver linings and upsides. This voice was the one you heard from late last night, who told you of a three part silver lining to this decidedly unkickstarted cloud.  To recap, if the glass is half-full it consists of:     

1a) increased visibility through old/new media coverage - more than one Huffington Post article, more than one mention in WIRED, and inclusion on various blogs

1b) social media buzz - via Michael Pollan, Tom Colicchio and more.

2) more than 130 incredible people from across the US and other parts of the world who are enthusiastic enough about the film to commit real money to it.

I was coy about the third part of the upsided triumvirate, because I was still slightly unsure about it. Yesterday I wrote,

     "3) (Titanic - minus the iceberg) Can't reveal this one yet, but we're excited."

This upside has now been confirmed and I'm happy to tell you that the campaign, although technically unsuccessful, attracted the attention of two additional contributor/partners who want to support the film at a level that exceeds what we would've collected through Kickstarter had we reached our goal.  For various reasons they cannot / will not contribute via Kickstarter, which is disappointing, but they are contributing nonetheless, which feels incredible.

Let's hear it for the win-loss! (or maybe it's more accurately a loss-win)

In any case, this gives us what we need to complete the film.  Apologies, but my internal voice has something to say,

     "you know they're going to think you're lying."

No they won't.  Why would I lie? That would be insane.

     "To soften the blow ... Who could blame you really."

I would blame me.  That's crazy.

      "c'est la vie"

This really is true. And I want to sincerely thank all 134 people who pledged to back the project for helping me to keep working on the outreach until this bit of serendipity unfolded.  You have my sincere gratitude.  Once the time on this campaign expires your cards will be relieved of your pledge to our project.  But, I will be in touch as soon as possible with instructions on how you can still secure the rewards for which you've already pledged - should you still want them.

You can continue to track the project on the RESISTANCE FB page If you haven't done so already please 'like' us there.

Thanks again and best wishes to you and yours.  Stay tuned for more and be looking for RESISTANCE to launch sometime (if all continues to go well) this summer!

michael 

Ok ... so we've raised about 15% of our goal and there's less than 24 hours left.

Unless something major happens soon it's looking as though we won't hit our target, which is disappointing (embarrassing, deflating, more than slightly humiliating etc.)  There are definitely things I'd do differently that I only now appreciate, but you know what they say about hindsight ...

... but wait, there's an upside.  I was about to write, "there's always an upside," but that's not true. In this case, however, we're fortunate enough to have one (an up-side, that is). 

Our !!Upside!! actually has a few facets.

1) (huge) increased visibility through old/new media coverage - Huffington Post, WIRED, various blogs - And through social media buzz - via Tom Colicchio, Michael Pollan and others.

2) (enormous) There are now more than 130 new people from across the US and other parts of the world who are enthusiastic enough about the film to commit real money to it. Even though they (i.e. you) likely won't get charged since Kickstarter is an "all or nothing" proposition.

3) (Titanic - minus the iceberg) Can't reveal this one yet, but we're excited.

So at the end of the day, literally the end of today, if we're not successful in terms of our funding goal the campaign is a net positive when this new momentum and visibility are taken into account.

That said, while there's still time there's still hope of something happening! so please continue to spread the word!

More soon. 

Until then, I remain, yours in earnest.

Michael