The campaign has ended!
Thanks to everyone that supported
Still want to contribute?
Check out our In-Demand campaign!
A Fat Wreck is a documentary looking at the punk rock record label Fat Wreck Chords. Through examining the origins of the label, the business practices of the label's owners, and some of the first bands that signed to the label (Lagwagon, Propagandhi, No Use For A Name, Strung Out, and Good Riddance, all of whom have been interviewed for the movie), A Fat Wreck explores what independence in the music scene looks like, how a group of people created family through this most unlikely of success stories, and how it's possible for a record label to prosper in an uncertain music industry by working ethically.
***DISCLAIMER**** A FAT WRECK is a FAN MADE and FAN FINANCED FILM! Although Fat Wreck Chords has been very supportive they are NOT involved in the production in any way!
***THE "A FAT COMP" is NOT the soundtrack to the film. It is a FAN-MADE Tribute compilation to Fat Wreck Chords. ***
Well, what little we had left after all the piles of cocaine and prostitutes, we had to use for bail money for a particularly interesting box social. Ha!
Actually the perks, shipping costs, paypal fees, indiegogo fees and taxes (Yes, crowd-funding money is taxed as ordinary income by the IRS) took up a little less than half of the amount we raised.
The rest (and some more of our own money) was spent on basic filming equipment, travel to obtain over 70 interviews across 4 countries, 5 states and countless cities, Shipping and digitizing over 90 hours of archival footage, pictures and posters. We also paid several talented professionals for their time and effort on behalf of the film.
We have been able to stretch the original funds to the max with the unending support of our volunteers, who have transcribed most of those 70 interviews (resulting in a 600 page document) and have assisted in shooting interviews and helping with the motion graphics and editing.
Jeremy Frye - Emmy Award winning Motion Graphics Artist
Sounds like you got this, why do you need more money?
When we launched the original crowdfunding campaign we intended to make a small but rad unofficial documentary short about the influence that Fat Wreck had on the punk scene and to so many of our friends.
We have since moved beyond having just the fans’ perspective. We now have enlightening interviews with Fat Mike and Erin Burkett, as well as with key members of classic Fat bands, close friends, and critics. We have also received access to Fat Wreck Chords’ archives, which allows us to tell a deeper, more enriched story—the most important part of any good documentary.
The other part of what we consider a good documentary is how the story is presented. All in all, from a dramatic standpoint the Fat Wreck Chords story is, to be frank, pretty boring. They made good records, treated everyone right, and are still around putting out amazing records. But there were some challenges and losses to overcome, and the documentary covers those as well.
The story of Fat Wreck Chords is, above all else, about chosen family, doing things outside of the normal systems, and having fun doing it.
And that's how we are going to tell it.
We could stop right now and this film would be badass, but there is still some time to do some next level shit and we want to go balls out!
Here is a list of "next level" shit that we need to go "Balls Out!"
With so many great stories we wanted a way to visually tell them without having to watch a talking head for minutes on end or just resort to the standard doc tropes of just cutting to old photos and videos (we will have some of that too, of course).
Turns out Jennie Cotterill is not just an amazing musician and one of the lead singers for Badcop/Badcop, but she is also a prolific artist. One of the many things she does is make puppets. When she made the suggestion of having her make some puppets for the film our heads exploded. I knew I had to see a Fat Mike Puppet reenacting some of the better stories we were told. Plus don't all of us want to see a Muppets-Style Fat Mike in bondage?
So some of this money will be going to pay for the materials and labor to create several amazing original puppets.
Check out some of the mock-ups
After the puppets are complete we will use them to shoot cinematic re-enactments using narrative filming techniques as a final layer.
For a particularly interesting story in the film, we felt to tell it correctly, we would need to have a certain amount of animation in the film...
We are very excited to be teaming up with COREPOPS for the animation portion of the film. COREPOPS has been featured on ADULT SWIM and has made "animated bumpers" for MTV2
An important final step to any film is the final color and sound mixing. Think of these things as the final coat of wax that makes your car shine and look complete after a detail!
In order to get this thing into theaters and on major streaming outlets we have to have permission to use any songs, photos, videos or artwork that is in the film. Sometimes this can require financial compensation to the creator / writer/ photographer of said media. To work out the deals and agreements takes time and sometimes a skilled entertainment attorney,
We want this film to be seen in the theater by as many Fat fans as possible. In order to do that we need funding to setup screenings around the world and submit the film to be in film festivals.
Besides getting an amazing film about something you care about we also have a few A FAT WRECK rewards/perk for helping us get this thing finished up and in front of your eyeballs!
Check out some of the really rad and unique perks we have set up for this campaign
A FAT WRECK T-SHIRT designed by COREPOPS
$5000 - GET THE MIKE PUPPET + All physical Perks + VFP Passes to TEST SCREENING | Early HD Digital Stream/Download of Film | + Bonus Features
$2000 - Private Screening at your home w/ the filmmakers + all physical perks | Early HD Digital Stream/Download of Film | + Bonus Features
$200 - Outgoing VM message Recorded by Chris Akin Of Strung Out
We're you eye-balling that skatedeck but your significant other would be disappointed in you if you spent any more money on that "damn, Fat Wreck Documentary"?
Don't Fret! We found a way for you to get that Blu-ray, skatedeck or that Fat Wreck tribute comp 12" vinyl. Just get a bunch of other people to help fund the film! If you can get a few of your friends to contribute you could be looking at free A Fat Wreck Perk!
Check the graphic thingy below for details!
Not sure how to make a "Referral" that counts? Click the link below to get details on how it all works!
Click HERE ---> How To Participate In our Referral Thingy.
Over the past year we have conducted over 70 interviews! Here are a few highlights
Fat Mike /Co-owner of Fat Wreck Chords | NOFX | Motor Studios
Erin Burkett /Co-owner of Fat Wreck Chords
Laura Jane Grace /Singer of Against Me | Host of AOL’s TrueTrans
Chris Shiflett /Foo Fighters | No Use For A Name | HBO’s Sonic Highways
Ryan Greene /Producer | Engineer | Validus Studios | Motor Studios
Joey Cape /Lagwagon | Bad Astronaut | Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies
Chris Hannah / Guitarist/Singer of Propagandhi | G7 Welcoming Committee Records
Featuring interviews with band members From acts such as:
NOFX / Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies / Lagwagon / Propagandhi
StrungOut / Good Riddance / No Use For a Name / Foo Fighters
Swingin Utters / Pennywise / The Vandals / Bad Religion / The Bombpops / Less Than Jake / MXPX / Protest The Hero / Ten Foot Pole / Wax / The Implants / A Wilhelm Scream / The Flatliners / Masked Intruder / Get Dead / BadCop BadCop / Teenage Bottlerocket / Red City Radio / Wizo / Tilt / Goober Patrol / Bracket / The Weakerthans / Hi-Standard
Other Ways You Can Help
Beyond contributing directly, you can help the most by helping spread the word about the film to other Fat Wreck Fans! Tweet it, post it, Instagram it, Periscope it, Snapchat it, Do smoke signals, send a telegram, strip-o-gram, share it on Facebook, make a thread on a web forum, make a Facebook group, start a subreddit, print your own fanzine about it. However you feel the best course of action to get the info out would be a HUGE help! Thank you
-Shaun
Director Dude
A Fat Wreck
#AFATWRECK