Today, we are launching a Kickstarter campaign to help fund a second season of Abnormal Fixation, our award-winning, indie web-series.
And yes, I am humbly asking for your help to make it successful. We need you!
In a creative career that has spanned roughly three decades, I have never before had my hand out to ask for money, (and yeah, I probably picked a bad time to start, given all trade-warring now going on...)
But there seems to be an opportunity here to take a low-budget, independent creation that is a proven commodity, that people like (180,000 views on our season finale!) and take it to the next level, with new locations, improved equipment, special effects, and so on.
I learned while making Abnormal Fixation last summer that location rentals, location insurance, and catering eat up most of the small indie film budget, and our Kickstarter tells the story of how I raised the money the first time around.
Long story short, I sold on E-bay a veritable life-time of my sci-fi toys and collectibles.
This isn't a sob-story. The fact is, I'm 55, and you can't take your toys with you. At least the last time I checked.
And I have seen too many posts on Facebook about men my age passing away suddenly, leaving behind a sea of collectibles for the surviving spouse and children to somehow sell or otherwise dispose of.
So, it was a good trade in my thinking, selling collectibles (and hopefully sparing my family that indignity...) AND raising money to create a story that I really cared about and wanted to make.
I wouldn't choose differently today if I had the chance. Bringing Elvis Bragg, Season, Alyssa, Mark Missouri, Bleeder, The Professor and Dr. Carol Carroll to life has been one of the great joys of my career.
But, alas, even E-Bay has its limits.
To make season two of Abnormal Fixation visually and tonally different from Season 1, we need to take chances, go to new frontiers, and show a different world.
For me, that's what this Kickstarter to raise $15,000 dollars is really about -- just enough funding to create a worthy successor to our first season, and to mix things up a bit, and keep it fresh and interesting for both those of us who create it, and I hope, the audience that enjoyed the first season.
Are we good for it?
To answer that question, you have to look at the record, I suppose. In one year's time, Abnormal Fixation has:
*won over 26 awards at Film Festivals, and received more than a dozen nominations.
*produced and released six half-hour episodes to critical acclaim.
*had over 500,000 views on YouTube.
*Been released on an app for streaming on Roku and Amazon.
Frankly, if you had told me ANY of those things would happen when I first imagined the low-budget web series, I would have said "I wish."
But now, I want to build on this success, and "wish" for a bit more.
So, again, I'm not in the habit of having my hand out.
But...if you are a fan, if you like my work, if you enjoyed Abnormal Fixation Round One, or are just curious what we will make next, please think about contributing to our Kickstarter.
I appreciate your help, and would love to welcome you to the AF team!
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