Delayed D&D Documentary KS

[papercut]

Hello all,

As you may or may not know there is a cool D&D documentary being produced:

http://www.kickstart...s-a-documentary

The purpose of this thread is to see if Reaper can add some sizzle to their steak (which they clearly have). It seems that Kickstarters gets alot of extra rub when another KS or non-KS pitches in with something else cool and related. What better than some of some fine fine OSR products or a historic fig? Reaper Bones backers have the S&W pdf, how about the Monster Book pdf going to the documentary backers? An adventure of Thorkie's or two? Red Tide? Realms of Crawling Chaos? Barrowmaze I? Adventures Dark & Deep recent tome? Myth & Magic Player's Journal? ACKS preview? Tome of Adventure Design Chapter II? Serl's C&C Dungeon Buillder? Random Dungeon Generator Poster pdf? Other awesome goodies that slip my mind?

It would be exciting to see Reaper do a limited edition "Zagyg" figure- based on the old TSR wizard, but stoutish with glasses for the drive. Reapers molds cost >$100 for them and each fig costs ~$1 in materials in metal. Maybe the documentary should commission them Reaper! Gail Gygax seems to be on board, maybe she would grant permission to using the name Zagyg

The documentary drive needs help, it is 1/4 of the way there with 10ish days to go. Check out the video clips on the drive, they are pretty cool and worth viewing.

Cheers

[Darsc Zacal]

I've been keeping an eye on this kickstarter for a while. It's too bad it's not doing so well. I'm surprised it has so few backers. I would have thought that there'd be enough of us longtime players around to make it a success.

 

Unfortunately that doesn't appear to be the case.

 

:(

[papercut]

It seems their pricing is out of whack. $25 for a Dl? Too much. Let's see if they will add a cheaper option for a Dl.

[Lastman]

Given the vast amount of free podcasts, blogs, anecdotes, and youtube videos already addressing this subject, I don't see a lot of demand for a documentary.

[AubreyE]

I saw this also a few weeks back, but I agree with papercut here, $25 for a digital download seems ridiculous. I've kickstarted far more labor intensive videogames for much less. Looked interesting, but not worth it for me.

 

For what it's worth, I'd definitely consider a digital download at the $10-$15 range.

[papercut]

Well good news, they added a $15 download option! I encourage everyone to check out the KS and watch the clips they have already posted. It looks top knotch!

[Talae]

In for $15

[AubreyE]

In for $15

 

As am I

[GregR]

What everyone's take on their comment that $150k doesn't include editing, music, paying for the archival footage, and mastering? What will they achieve if they raise the goal other than a pile of raw footage (without the archival footage)? It's just not clear to me how they'll be producing a final product without getting $250k according to their estimates.

[papercut]

From their post on Dragonsfoot:

 

 

 

All excellent, excellent points. You're correct about us needing more than the $150K that we are asking for on KS. We're probably looking at a solid half a million dollars when all is said and done. With all the post production work, music, archiving and some marketing and sending to film festivals, we will need more than what we are asking for. We decided on the $150K goal as it was truly the minimum we needed to continue. Beyond any money that we might be getting from KS, our objective is still to approach private investors to raise capital to finish the film. The initial $150K pays for us to travel the country and get the interviews we need to tell the story properly.

 

But as you may imagine, finding and dealing with private investors changes the dynamics of the film and how we make it. It no longer is our project and for better or for worse, we would have to listen to our investors as they will be making sure that their investment is protected. Which is why the crowd-funding path is infinitely more attractive as it allows us to make the movie we want to make (which hopefully translates to the movie we all want to see).

 

That being said, we have exhausted our efforts and our bank accounts to get us ourselves to this point. The three of us (James and Anthony, my fellow producers) are into this project beyond time and energy as we've sunk a bunch of money already into it. But that's what you do when you love a project and want to see it finished. We would love nothing more than to hire some PR firms to blast the news about the KS, but our funding limitations prevent us from doing even that. It's frustrating, for sure, as we've all put our hearts and souls into this project and then to watch other gaming-related films who are also raising funds on KS, raise more than double their asking price...but the truth, I'm certain, is that they must have worked their asses off and crafted an incredible KS campaign. They kicked our asses. And more power to them.

 

There's a podcast that described us as "good film-makers, but poor Kickstarters". It's so apt in a way as the fact of the matter is, we have never done anything like KS before and we've made a ton of mistakes. But we learn and try and fix those problems as we go. As it is, we're nearing $50K and that's a lot of money. Unfortunately with how KS works, as you all know, it's not nearly enough.

 

It has been a grand experiment in a way. Whether it fails or succeeds we'll have to wait and find out. But for now, our biggest take-away is that we now know that there are people out there like yourselves and everyone on this thread that are awaiting the finish of the documentary. That will be incredibly helpful when we start on the long, dark road to seeking investors. They will see that there is a demand for the film. We hope to cultivate our community and build support so that when we do finish, there will be an eager audience in place.

 

Oh and also, to your point on making ourselves available, you're absolutely correct. We have reached out to many forums including Reddit or even here in the hopes of making ourselves available to anyone who has a question. But everyone is slow to respond. We get the feeling sometimes of throwing a party and having no one show up. It's exciting when we get responses from everyone on this thread. There's no question you are all passionate about the game. And it's precisely for everyone here that we've set out and will finish this film.

 

Andrew

 

PS Do please email us at [email protected] if you have any questions or ideas you'd like to share.

 

http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=57766&p=1274051#p1274051

[WhatAboutBob]

What everyone's take on their comment that $150k doesn't include editing, music, paying for the archival footage, and mastering? What will they achieve if they raise the goal other than a pile of raw footage (without the archival footage)? It's just not clear to me how they'll be producing a final product without getting $250k according to their estimates.

 

A good portion of that can be raised later through traditional means (grants, production houses, rich family members...). It is a lot easier though to get the rest of the money though if you have the travel and leg work done ahead of time.

 

Right now, it is actually looking like this has a fair chance of making it to the $150K and beyond. They are getting large pushes from outside media now, and will likely get more in the last few days. Big names like Forbes and Kotaku have taken up the banner to move it forward and I Watch Stuff has given it a generally positive spin (more often than not they make fun of movies and movie trailers). As a result, the past 2 days have raised more than the previous 25 (likely today will raise more than the previous 26 when the day closes out). The full $250K might be a bit of a stretch for the type of product that they are selling - but I could see it getting really close to that without too much of a problem.

[Corporea]

just pledged. thanks for the info!

[papercut]

Dinged and still going!

[kimbers]

I really like what they've done so far. I will wait patiently for this.... well, try to.

 

My friend just finished a feature length film recently so I know how much hard work and effort goes into something like this, and how much of a labour of love it is for the people behind it. And how time consuming production can be once the filming gets done (his friends banded together for his own kickstarter on Pozible to fly him to GenCon - from Australia - where it was shown this year!)

 

I just get a kick out of seeing my name on IMDB... even if I'm just a silent extra on screen for a few seconds :)

[prophetic_joe]

I was just curious as to whether anyone had any update on this.