Hello!
We are Betwixt Productions, a group of young creators who collaborate across the country in order to create compelling narratives delivered through multiple platforms.
Our previous show, The Writing Majors, was a literary-inspired web series inspired by the lives and works of various classic authors. The three main characters were Emily Dickinson, Jane Austen, and Oscar Wilde who lived together as college roommates.
The Writing Majors was a wild, spur of the moment adventure created out of a passion for literature and a desire to create for the web. It was not heavily planned, and very little money was put into it. We didn’t really know what to expect once we actually started to upload the videos; but, as the show aired, an incredibly supportive community gathered around the story and characters, and we knew this was something we wanted to do more seriously. One year later and here we are again, collaborating on a story we hope will be bigger and better than before!
So we would like to present to you our latest web series… Horizons!
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What is it about?
Inspired by an HG Wells short story and an enduring literary trope of star-crossed love, Horizons is a futuristic vlog series that takes place 100 years after a series of apocalyptic events have ravaged the world, rendering nearly all of the earth’s surface unlivable and leaving only a handful of Survivor Cities to carry on. Every remaining city was inundated with people fleeing from destroyed lands, and with ever diminishing resources and space, each had to devise a creative solution to endure the load and bring order to the chaos.
Our main character Leo Paine lives in the 6th survivor city known as Horizon, which has adopted a unique system known as “Day and Night,” under which half of the population “lives” in the city beneath the sun; the other half beneath the stars. Nocturns and Daylighters live in essentially separate worlds within the same city with their own businesses, schools, and daily operations running at alternating hours.
When Leo, out shooting a documentary about Horizon for his senior thesis, misses the last Daylighter bus home and finds himself trapped in the Nocturnal world, he is terrified—until a badass but uncommonly kind Nocturn girl named Stella feels sympathetic and leads him through the night on an unexpected journey of realization of the less-than-perfect reality of their two worlds.
The world of Horizons doesn’t end with Leo and Stella, though! If we hit our fundraising goal, it will be opened up to viewers in an interactive game, in which players will be able to create post-apocalypse identities, communicate with the “Horizon government,” and build the other survivor cities together on social media and other online outlets!
That sounds amazing!
Doesn’t it? We are so excited to bring this new project to you, but we need your help to get it ready for release.
What can we do to help?
The Betwixt team does not make projects like this for the money. We do it because we love it and we love all of you. So we are not asking for piles of cash or your whole life savings, we only want to make back some of the money that we have personally put into the show, so we have the ability to create content in the future, and give you the opportunity to get some sweet perks!
So where are the funds going?
We’ve kept our expenses as minimal as possible considering the scope of the show. But even with raiding local costume closets and eating a diet of microwave pizza and ramen, there were certain expenses we couldn’t avoid over a month of filming. We have already purchased the following: costumes, set pieces, lighting and sound equipment, food, gas, printing, a website, music, graphic design, and a little bit of marketing. No one working on this project has been paid any money, and they do not expect any.
What would you do if you made more than your goal?
That’s a good question. Our transmedia producer has some fabulous ideas to make this show an interactive experience even within this budget, but with a bit more money to work with, the interactive and marketing elements could take on a whole new level. Any funds beyond that we will use toward future Betwixt projects; including investing in better equipment and software.
The Cast:
- Leo - Alex Tolar
- Stella - Carly Hayes
- Gil - Cody McCoy
- Noah - Andrew Gordon
- Summer - Samantha Hayes
- Andy - Chance Nichols
- Huxley - Darian Bengston
- Ara - Nicole Billups
- Knox - David Moreland
- Lucie - Kaylin Rogers
- Andromeda - Taylor O'Keefe
- Luna - Tori Citro
The crew: Shelby Stillwell, Ashley Corral, Sarah Sparkman, Danny Rivkin, Alyssa McCoy, and Devin Sullins.
The Transmedia Interactive Experience:
Horizons will not be limited to video episodes. We aim to include other forms of storytelling through the use of social media and interactive gaming elements. With these different mediums we hope to expand the Horizons story world, allow for different points of entry into the narrative, and make it an overall more immersive experience. Some examples of this could be a core character having a Twitter account or you receiving an official document from the Horizon government as a part of the game.
Not only do we want to expand the story, we also want to invite our viewers to help us build it. Horizon is the 6th survivor city, but there are others out there that have yet to be created, and we want your help. Our team will still have final say as to what can be made canon (we don't want to break the narrative), but we hope your imaginations can help our futuristic world flourish! If you so choose, you can role-play as a character from Horizon or another survivor city, while both creating and discovering information about this narrative universe.
More details about how this process will work will be explained later on in the campaign. We are still working on finalizing our plan and we don't want to give out information prematurely only to change it later.
By donating to the campaign you will automatically be added to an email list which we will use to invite people to participate. If you are not donating, but still want to be on that list then you can fill out this quick form: http://goo.gl/forms/DP3QhfZvfU
If at any time you have additional questions, you are welcome to ask our transmedia producer about it using her Twitter handle @DannyRivkin.
The Perks:
All of the team members at Betwixt are so grateful that you are taking the time to donate to our project. We thank you for watching and for donating, and because we love you all so much we have created some extra special perks in your honor. Everything is digital, so don't worry about adding on any international shipping fees.
Some of the perks may be a little unclear based on the very short descriptions we had to fit into small boxes. The $1 perk is self-explanatory, but the rest could use some expansion. Let's break it down:
$5 - Yes, we made a production vlog. We didn't want you to miss out on all the action! This will be a series of behind the scenes videos where we introduce the actors, do some shopping for costumes and set pieces, that sort of thing. You will have early access while all non-backers will have to wait. And yes, we will have a special backers thank you. This will either be in the form of a video or a special page on the website.
$10 - We have a lot of scripts, and while we can't send you all of them we can pick out our favorites, have the cast and crew sign the covers, and then scan and send them to you in PDF form.
$15 - Our costume designer is amazing, and he made some fantastic sketches in preparation for the show. We also worked with a fabulous illustrator on a city map for Horizon, and she made a few versions before we settled on a final draft (the final map will be posted online). You will receive downloads of both.
$20 - One of our favorite perks to offer you is a copy of the show itself! Relive Horizons over and over again with HD downloads of all of the core episodes.
$30 - So you want to be a hardcore Horizons fan? Well there is no better way then to listen to our exclusive audio commentary where we share our secrets and behind-the-scenes stories that are probably too embarrassing to tweet about. This perk will include more than one audio recording, but we can't tell you how many there will be yet. If there is anything in particular you want us to talk about, tweet to us @BetwixtMedia.
$50 - We have multiple options for $50 and a limited amount of each. If we run out, we will work on new perks to supplement these. Here are the three options:
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A character backstory: The interactive elements of Horizons will invite you to role play along as a citizen of one of the surviving cities.You can be a fictional citizen of Horizon (Nocturn or Daylighter, it's up to you), interact with other game players, and help us build the Horizons universe. With this perk we can help you get started by writing a unique backstory for your character, written by the author of the show!
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A costume design: See the above paragraph. The only difference is that instead of a backstory, our costume designer will design a unique costume for your character and send you the sketches (not an actual physical, wearable costume).
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Sponsor a bonus video: We have some ideas for bonus videos we'd like to share with you, but to make them a reality we need your support! Want to know how to get Stella's look or hear in-depth character discussions with the actors and author? By choosing this perk you will make one of these videos a reality and be credited as its sponsor.
$250 - YOU ARE AN AMAZING HUMAN BEING. And also one of our producers, because anyone that is willing to donate this much should be a part of the team. This is not a symbolic gesture; you will actually be credited as a producer. If you do not want to use your own name, we can instead replace it with the name of your business/company or really any name that you decide to give us (within reason).
Thank you so much for believing in us.
But wait... aren't you forgetting something?
No lovely viewers, we did not forget about our existing fanbase, aka. The Writing Majors fans. In fact, we wanted to offer you something extra special. Because this campaign is about our new project, we are offering the Writing Majors perks as standalones so that you can pair them with a Horizons perk. Not every Horizons viewer will also be a Writing Majors viewer, and we want to make sure that everyone gets the perks best suited to them.
Our two Writing Majors perks are:
$10 - Download videos of Emily, Oscar, and Jane reading excerpts of their work. By this we mean our actors reading works by Emily Dickinson, Oscar Wilde, and Jane Austen while in character. Pretty cool right?! You can't find these anywhere else.
$20 - Those videos weren't enough for you? Well it's a good thing we have more to offer. Along with the above perk, you will receive the rules to Epic Scrabble as well as downloadable PDF scans of Emily, Oscar, and Jane's school work. See their notes, scribbles, and ideas all in their own handwriting.
Have an idea for another perk that you want us to add? Tweet to us @BetwixtMedia!
NEW PERKS:
We are thrilled to announce some brand new physical perks! There is a limited early bird supply, so claim yours now before the price goes up!
One of our producers is good with a laser cutter, and has designed some items exclusively for this campaign. First up is a the Z Jewelry perk. You will receive one necklace and a pair of hook earrings in the shape of the Z from the Horizons logo:
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NOTE: Blue color is just to show contrast.
For the Laser Cut Items perk you can choose ONE of the following options: 4 coasters, 4 bookmarks, or 2 personalized luggage tags.
You will be able to choose any combination of designs you want! Here are some examples of what they might look like:
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NOTE: Examples are not to scale and final designs may look different. Items will likely be made out of wood or acrylic. You can see first round cardboard prototypes in our campaign updates.
For the Big Bundle perk you will get all of these items (coasters, bookmarks, and luggage tags oh my!) along with the Audio Commentary perk.
* If you have already donated to the campaign and would like to add on one of these new perks, we have discounted versions available. Please contact us with the email you used when backing the project and we will send you the link.
Risks and Challenges:
Don’t worry, we are going to get this show to you no matter what. This campaign is mostly meant to reimburse the money we have already spent on production, and to assist with marketing and post-production. If we do not meet our goal there will probably be little marketing beyond our social media accounts, and our final videos will not be as high quality as they could be. We also will not have extensive transmedia elements and an additional website for the show itself without these funds.
We want you to watch the show as soon as possible, and we will be working hard to finish it so that we can begin releasing it soon after the end of this campaign. There is always a possibility for delay, as most of the people working on the project are students or have full time jobs.
Additional Questions:
How many episodes will there be?
A little more than 40 with some additional content.
Will you still recieve funds if you don't reach your goal?
Yes. We have opted for flexible funding which means we do not have to meet the goal in order to receive funds. No matter what happens, we are so thankful for any amount that we end up raising.
When should we expect our perks?
Some will be available quickly and others not for a while. Perks that will be available relatively soon: the various thank yous, the production vlog, and the exclusive illustrations. The perks that will take a little longer: the Writing Majors perks, the personalized backstories and costume designs, and the sponsored bonus videos. Finally the perks that you will not receive until the show has ended: signed scripts (we don't want to give away spoilers!), audio commentary, and the downloads of the episodes.
Other ways to help:
Share our project on social media! Tell your friends! Tell your family! Tell the world!
You can follow us online here:
