This is Crowdsourcing Mornings! This post takes place every weekday morning and highlights one crowdsourcing project I liked from Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or other crowdsourcing websites.
Please read our crowdsourcing guidelines at:
https://geekalabama.com/media-kit-pr/geek-alabama-crowdsourcing-guidelines
Amber Nash (Pam Poovey on ARCHER) and Colin Mochrie (WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY?) and a bunch of other wonderful humans have banded together to make a movie that stars Luke Davis, a very talented actor that also happens to have special needs.
Luke’s dream is to have a career in acting but there aren’t a ton of roles for actors with disabilities… so we decided to make one ourselves!
How To Ruin The Holidays is a full length movie done on a tiny budget.
It’s an adult comedy about family, and it’s a Christmas movie about being different.
As a team we’ve been making short films and web series together for a long time. And we’ve been doing improv comedy shows together even longer. But a few years ago something happened.
In 2017 we partnered with the Spotlight program (which provides opportunities for actors with special needs) at the MJCCA in Atlanta to create a short film: THAT WAS AWESOME! That project sparked everything for us.
And it was awesome! We were blown away by the response from audiences and festivals. And most importantly we were lucky enough to meet Luke who is an incredible actor… and has also become a good friend. We knew we wanted to keep going down this path together. We were inspired by the idea of creating comedy that includes people we’re not used to seeing on screen.
From writer/producer Kevin Gillese:
“My younger brother Mark has a developmental disability… which basically just means he needs a little extra help with things that for you might be easy. When I was the best man at his wedding a few years ago, I told the crowd “Mark has taught me that our differences make us stronger, not weaker, no matter what mainstream culture would have us believe.” And I think that’s a message that still needs to be heard today, but yelling at random people in the street doesn’t seem to be working. So instead of TALKING ABOUT the change we want to see in the world, we’re going to BE that change by making this feature length film.
How To Ruin The Holidays features a character with special needs that is played by an actor with special needs and is written by me based on experiences with my brother. That level of authenticity is what makes this project so special, and it’s also the reason that it’s an adult comedy filled with all kinds of swearing and inappropriate situations, because I think it’s important that we stop treating people with developmental disabilities like they’re children! I also think it’s crucial that this film be so funny and easy to watch that audiences don’t even realize there’s a social agenda behind it, that’s how I think we’ll really be able to start making change happen.”
As of May 10th, this project has raised $105,000 of their $100,000 goal. This project has 11 days left to raise as much as it can. For a pledge of $10, you will get a link to the movie to watch online. For a pledge of $25, you will get a link to watch the movie, digital movie script, and digital poster copy. To learn more and to pledge money, go to: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/howtoruintheholidays/how-to-ruin-the-holidays?
Categories: Crowdsourcing Mornings Stuff
