I won't bury the headline. After much consternation, I've decided to give to the Kickstarter for The Great Kingdom. It was not an easy decision. I've tried for a few weeks to get answers to various questions and I still feel like I'm left wanting. But in the end, I want to see both movies get made. So I'll dig into what little money I have and see what pittance I can provide.
And even though I do so with a twinge of...regret isn't the right word...dissatisfaction? Nope, that's not right either. I guess I'm still searching and it appears the only way I'll get the answer I'm truly looking for will be to get this thing funded and completed. So I suggest all twelve of you who read this go and given them a buck or two and get it over the finish line. It's late in the process, and as I write this they are just over half funded. Let's see if we can get it over the finish line successfully.
What do I think will help, other than an all out media blitz? Differentiation. What do I mean by that? Well, it is the answer I've been looking for from the beginning I suppose. Tell me...hell, tell everyone, how this movie is so different. The Q&A linked to in the comments of the previous post was a good start...but it's just a start and it was 8 days before the end of the Kickstarter. More! Use your updates on Facebook, Kickstarter, etc. to tell us more about this incredible story at which you keep hinting. Do it now!
Those not directly invovled in the production may want to get this thing spread outside the normal geek channels. For example, I'm going to talk to my brother about giving some money and spreading the word in his circles. He's a geek as well, but not a gamer. So the rest of you need to think of people that might be interested and get them involved.
Reticence? Yeah...maybe that's the word...
Why are you still here reading? Go. Now. Do.
It will be a close one, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, I mostly put the legal stuff up because I wanted to make sure people could view these documents independently and not just the ones provided by one side--although I am curious why the responses or the decisions haven't show up there yet--maybe it comes under another search. Since both sides have to be mum it's probably the most neutral place for them. People will read and make up their mind--and despite the claim of factual reports of "he said she said", that's pretty much all we can get--there are two sides here. Alleged doesn't mean true but it also doesn't mean false--it will take the courts to decide upon that and any additional evidence to come out.
I think regardless of who's right or wrong in the argument--the fact that there's a disagreement at all has hurt them. From what I've seen, the biggest challenges are overcoming the following.
* There are people who would like to back it, but feel loyal to the first one and feel this is interfering with it.
* There are people annoyed with all three individuals for "splitting the party", and while they will not cancel the first backed project, they will be less likely to back an additional project.
* There are people who don't want to risk their money when there's pending litigation. Because, if litigation continues, and it turns out that the claims of the original doc camp are correct--then this second project will get shelved and some money might be lost. It's easy to be enthused about something but there are risks involved in any Kickstarter project and this is one of them. That's the main reason why I shared those links--people need to have their eyes open and see the risks.
* There's Kickstarter Fatigue--2012 was a big year for KS, but money can be tight nowadays, and I think it's a lot harder to convince people.
Personally, I think they botched the timing of this project if they wanted better promotion. If they had just waited an extra month, they could both hit ComicCon and GenCon and solicit people there which would have been extra promotion, and there would be a lot more news coverage.
Thank you Jim! Thank you SO MUCH for your helping make The Great Kingdom a reality. I appreciate it was not an easy decision to make. I'm speechless to tell you the truth. Thank you, and thanks for your advice as well. I think that people understanding that these are two different documentaries with different subject matters is very important to get across as well.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's like I feared, and the reason why I warned people.
ReplyDeleteThe D&D Doc camp won an injunction against The Great Kingdom, which is why the Kickstarter page and Facebook page have disappeared. More details at this link
http://goo.gl/N9aqd0