About
"Shrouded Destiny: A Star Wars Long Tale" - Pilot Episode
DKK 211,519
316
Watch the pitch HERE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=227BgM_tXmc
WATCH THE 7 MINUTES PROMOTION SCENE HERE! (1 YEAR IN THE MAKING)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB72G7JdW-I
Now that we have your attention...
Welcome to the world's most ambitious job application!
Imagine Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The Raid movies and The Wire wrapped in Star Wars?
Welcome to "Shrouded Destiny: A Star Wars Long Tale" - A 5 Season Series set in the Star Wars universe more than 500 years before the Star Wars Luke Skywalker Episodes.
Let me be blunt. There is no Star Wars project outside Disney/Lucasfilm that has the scope and ambition of this project.
We're not looking to make a simple fan production that will help us get a little taste of Star Wars magic. We want to create Star Wars magic on an official basis. We make the first episode and Disney will make the rest! *FINGERS CROSSED*
BUT right now we're outsiders trying to get a meeting with Disney and Lucasfilm to get them to take us on, so we can create a 5 Season Series under their official brand and what better way to invite yourself in by making one awesome pilot episode to showcase your vision, conviction and skill?
THE STORY:
521 BBY: There is a philosophical dispute in the Jedi Order. A fragment of Jedis have parted ways with the established Order due to the archaic ways of the institution that has been at the heart of the Galactic Republic for centuries.
"The Citadel" is built on the volcanic planet of Lola Sayu as a response to Jedis falling off the path initiating a galaxy wide hunt for the “Rogue Jedi”. Jedi Consulars are dispatched to convince the “Rogue Jedi” to return to the Order or capture them and return them to the Citadel for imprisonment.
In the Outer Rim territories where the Republic holds little sway, the Jedi Order has commissioned the aid of the Bounty Hunter’s Guild to help guide the Jedi Consulars in areas, where they have limited experience. This is the story of the Bounty Hunter, Tulek, who, unbeknownst to the Jedi Order, has a special interest in capturing Jedi Knight, Okana Vidai...
WHY?
Obviously, I love Star Wars. But even more than that I love good storytelling. And I've got a story that I have been working on for more than two years that can literally change the way Star Wars is viewed for many years to come.
Disney owns Star Wars. They have the capacity and desire to make many stories in that universe for many, many years. And with such a rich and expansive universe to explore and with a world inhabited by so many Star Wars fans spanning different generations, cultures, and tastes, I figure that telling stories in only a PG-setting is limiting the possibilites of the property.
So I want to present Star Wars to the older generation. To the adults.
Because for how long can adults keep insisting that the "Clone Wars" animated show is among the best Star Wars out there? There's a whole audience type out there that isn't being catered to by the Star Wars franchise and that's where this story comes into play.
At some point the stories must evolve. Their tone. Their seriousness. Their sense of dread and peril. In a way I want to ensure that we can keep telling Star Wars stories to fans throughout their lives.
WHAT?
So we're looking to make a 45 minutes pilot episode. It's going to be a calling card for the world and Disney/Lucasfilm especially to have them call us in and have a meeting.
A meeting that will lead to the creation of a 5 Season Series that will rival the very best of drama, fantasy and sci-fi that the Golden Age of TV-shows has to offer.
So yeah, this is a job interview for an opening I'm attempting to create myself. Or not entirely by "myself". We have a jaw dropping team of industry heavyweights and newcomers ready to make a mark.
Over the course of two-three weeks (not in one stretch, but expanded out) we're going to be filming this episode that will see characters in spaceships, a custombuilt bar (and a massive bar fight scene with wires and an international stunt crew) and some of Denmark's most impressively beautiful nature. And yes, we're trying to avoid the classic "forests of Star Wars" fandom as much as possible.
WHO?
Another round of bluntness. You're not going to be excited about this campaign's succesful end based on my presence alone. At least not right now.
No, this has always been about the team and who do we have on display?
Arguably our biggest star is Lars Mikkelsen, who plays President Petrov on "House of Cards" and Charles Augustus Magnussen of the recent BBC Series "Sherlock Holmes".
A character written specifically with him in mind and a courting over two years from my side finally found us an opening, so we could do it. I'm exceptionally proud of securing this talent for the pilot episode. Read that story here:
https://www.facebook.com/sarwarsstarwars/posts/776339865891329
Daniel Stilling, DFF, (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0830269/) is our director of photography, who has worked in Hollywood for 15 years and with titles like "The Martian", "Scrubs", and "Criminal Minds" on his resumé amongst many other productions, I'm sure that the level of experience alone will help create a beautiful visual style.
Troels Rohde Jørgensen is the sound designer and has two Day-Time Emmy-nominations to his name based on his work on "Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures".
Laûren Okadigbo is one of the leads who has performed stunts in movies such as "Wonder Woman", "Justice League", "Ready Player One" and other productions, but she is also a talented actress with great potential that we will aim to showcase in this pilot episode.
Joon Poore is our stunt choreographer leading a team of international stuntmen and women whose credits are varied with such works like "Vikings", "Hardcore Henry", "Lilyhammer", a ton of video games and live performances and much more.
And there are a lot more. An SFX-team working to create realistic alien masks and hands; costume designers creating costumes for EACH CHARACTER FROM THE BOTTOM (even the extras); a VFX-team creating a visual style to match the movies; an award winning playwright is a consultant on the script - Veterans and newcomers alike, the standard is set incredibly high and the team is only getting bigger.
We want the viewers to be more excited for this than any of the major shows on HBO or Netflix.
WHEN?
We're aiming to shoot in September of this year. So that's soon. But with all things movie and especially all things movie involving volunteers, because EVERY SINGLE PERSON ON THIS PRODUCTION is a volunteer, unforeseen things can happen.
The producers and I are chasing down a lot of private investors.
These investors will be providing the majority of the budget, but we are engaging the public as well, because this is not just my project. This is ours.
WHY?
If you're thinking why the "Why" question appears twice, then you've gotten a peak inside my mind. Because this is the most important question of all.
With so much free content or exceptionally cheap content out there, why would you want to invest in this project?
Because we hopefully share the same passion for this question. For me, a story is not interesting, if I don't know "Why" I am watching the people on screen. "Why" are these people doing the things they're doing and "Why" should I care?
I don't write villains. Or at least that's a principle I want to uphold throughout my career.
I don't believe that stories where the writers have already decided that one is the hero and the other the villain are the way to go about competent and compelling storytelling.
Not anymore.
Now we want heroes. Heroes who have compelling and believable reasons to behave the way they do... and then pit them up against other heroes. This is where the drama lies.
This is where my passion lies. To present fates and destinies unraveling before your eyes and you in serious doubt as to who you're cheering for.
"Why" can't we all just get along? "Why" can't we all just forgive and forget and live together in harmony?
Because we're all right. And we're all in opposition. And that is the crux of my entire venture with this pilot episode and this series.
Star Wars can be high drama. Star Wars can be soul wrenching tragedy. Star Wars can be exhilarating visceral action. Star Wars can be funny. Star Wars can be shocking.
Star Wars can contain everything from the best you know and with your support...
"Shrouded Destiny: A Star Wars Long Tale" will be just that.
WHERE?
We're shooting this pilot episode on location in Faxe Lime Stone Quarry and other places in Denmark that give you a view of Denmark unlike you've ever seen before. We'll also shoot in a studio, where we'll build a bar that will house the biggest scene of the episode set to rival the biggest studio ventures. I'm not saying we're going to be succesful in rivaling it, but that's what we're setting out to do. Does that seem like an oddly unambitous attitude? Check the next section as to what we can do about that...
WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY MONEY, YOU STUCK-UP, HALF-WITTED, SCRUFFY-LOOKING NERF HERDER?!
This is such an important question! I would have preferred it in a nicer tone, but beggars can't be choosers.
We have a lot of different posts to fill and honestly, we set the crowdfunding amount pretty low compared to what we actually need.
Another moment of bluntness:
We are hopeful that we get somewhere between 100% and 200% above our requested goal. The reason we set the number "so low" (must... not... pun...) is because of the psychological effect. If we set the number low and get some big donations in quick, the donation bar fills up quicker.
It's the "full restaurant/empty restaurant" phenomenon. If you walk past a restaurant that is full, you'll be inclined to walk in and try it out, since so many others are doing the same.
An empty restaurant and you'll think that something fishy is up. In the latter example the empty restaurant is not a seafood restaurant.
We are not here to manipulate or lie to you. The art of illusions is something reserved for storytelling and everything outside that NEEDS to be REAL and HONEST.
So the more money you decide to give, it will quite literally translate into a better episode. And the better an episode the better a chance of Disney and Lucasfilm to have that meeting with us.
If we don't get the total amount we'll cannibalize funds from other posts, but as you can see, there are some very essential posts here to be filled out and every Danish kroner counts. Each US dollar roughly translates to 6,5 DKK.
PERKS
A lot of the stuff is in the process of being made, but you can at the very least see the awesome posters that we have from the promotion scene:
The more money you send to this production, the more we can care for detail and quality. And I know that some of the prices are steep, but we'll certainly deliver products of a very high quality to warrant the price as well. We have the people to do it. ;-)
We will also be shooting new character posters for the two other main characters played by Lars Mikkelsen and Laûren Okadigbo and also myself in our new costumes for the pilot episode.
Those perks will be added as a stretch goal. :-)
BACKGROUND:
I've always been fascinated by the world of Bounty Hunters. After reading the book "The Bounty Hunter's Code" I found that there was a very intricate and surprisingly bureaucratic world that I knew I could tell in an interesting fashion in the same style of "The Wire".
This book was a massive inspiration for how the Bounty Hunter's, Tulek (which will be played by me, Shahbaz Sarwar. Watch my showreel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL2IKWBwGvk), background would inform the character's decisions throughout the episode.
The book "The Jedi Path" held an important line that really defined for me what the core of this story is: The shade of darkness in an otherwise shining beacon of light.
The Jedi Order is allowed to take Force Sensitive children from families without their consent, since some Masters argued that the child (often an infant) is consenting to being taken by the Jedi Order through the mere fact that the child IS Force Sensitive.
I found this to be dangerously arrogant and for anyone who is a parent this must resonate even deeper. Look at your child. Imagine not having any contact with that child anymore, because a magically powered government agency came to claim your son or your daughter for their purposes without you wanting it to? Without your child wanting to?
From this way of thinking we find the tragedy of the story that would have huge ramifications that could be presented over 5 seasons. This pilot episode merely touches upon the subject, but come back to this page after watching the season finale almost a decade from now. I believe in storylines that are well-thought out way in advance.
FINAL NOTE
I've been "working" (working means getting paid and that hasn't happened too much, I can tell you that...) as an actor for 14 years and have only recently begun making a mark for myself, but for more than 11 years, I've been working part time at the Copenhagen Central Station as a ticket seller, which has kept me going for so many years.
That means that I obviously have limited funds and I've already invested a lot of my own money into this, because I believe that this project is worth investing in.
Like I've always subscribed to: "You have to invest in yourself, before you ask others to do the same".
In the end I only have my words and my promise as a person of honor, humbleness and, ironically, towering ambition that I will deliver on my promises and then some, if you will only lend me your faith... and give me your money.
You're not doing this for the perks. You're doing this, because you want to join me on a crazy journey, also known as the world's most ambitious job application.
Denmark is full of talented people, but we are crushed by our fear of speaking up and daring to dream and dream big. But though I am born and raised here... That mentality has not manifested itself into my mind or my heart.
I am here to realise the dreams that others don't dare to work towards.
By accomplishing my dreams others will want to move towards achieving their own dreams and in this way, we're continuously helping people be better versions of themselves than they were before.
And this is my most valuable contribution to not just my fellow artists, but my fellow human beings. Let's dare to dream big, speak big and deliver big.
We all gain from it.
PS: Just so you don't think this is a vanity project that has one purpose, which is to make me look amazing and wonderful and all that... Here is some leverage for you.
Risks and challenges
Since all of this is a volunteer based project we run the risk of people getting paid work that gets in the way of the production.
Having a high profile actor like Lars Mikkelsen on board working pro bono is also very dependent on the fact that one of the other productions he's on contract to do doesn't get fast tracked all of a sudden.
The weather is also a stress factor, since Denmark isn't known for its great weather (the Promotion Scene was shot in the first weekend of August 2017 and we had booming sun and spouts of rain over the course of hours), so some of the outdoor scenes could get postponed.
Getting the studio where we build the bar is going to cost on the weekdays and we'll get the place for free during the weekend... if no one else books it there. So that's another risk.
All in all... The more money we secure the more chances we have of securing all the moving and floating parts to ensure a steady ship.
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Funding period
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