Con Man - Teaser. Enjoy!

Wray Nerely (Alan Tudyk-Me!) was a co-star on Spectrum, a sci-fi series which was canceled -Too Soon- yet became a cult classic. Wray’s good friend, Jack Moore (Nathan Fillion) starred in the series and has gone on to become a major movie star. While Jack enjoys the life of an A-lister, Wray tours the sci-fi circuit as a guest of conventions, comic book stores, and lots of pop culture events.  The show will feature all the weird and crazy things that happen to Wray along the way to these events.

The series is a light-hearted take on the personalities, luminaries, and characters in the sci­fi community we are privileged to call ourselves members. Con Man is a way to share some of the surreal occurrences we have had, while telling the story of a guy learning to love and embrace his fans.

I wanted to make a show that featured all of my favorite convention artists and friends together. Not only that, I wanted to celebrate the world where heroes, villains, zombie hunters, and space pirates all overlap. I especially wanted to work with my friend Nathan Fillion again.

We are seeking funding for the first three episodes of the series. So why are we here on Indiegogo and not debuting this on a more traditional network or outlet? 

The convention world is unique and not easily understood from the outside. To tell this story right, you need to have first hand experience. Although, to tell this story for more than cable access production values you need a partner. In show business, a network/studio could add plenty to the business of Con Man, but at the expense of the show. Complications such as dictating what guests we may have, changing the tone of the show, going into production freezes, having a delayed release, or forcing the show to only be described by a tagline like “Extras meets Galaxy Quest,” ­ though we will admit that is sort of an on the nose description.

The most important reason to use Indiegogo is that we have genuinely passionate, stalwart and powerful fans. We’ve even seen fans get movies made. We realized pretty quickly we ought to cut out the middle management and just get you involved as soon as possible. We’ll have more fun having you on board this early in the process, and we know you’d love to see what we’re up to along the way. Not to mention, sci-fi conventions wouldn’t exist without you. You built this world but you’ve only seen one half of it. You know the carnival, let us introduce you to the carnies.

I would like to direct your attention to the giant wall of rewards to the right with dollar amounts attached. The rewards are great, but more than that, every dollar you spend goes to creating the world of Con Man.

Want examples? $5? You just bought some sharpies for signing. $10? You bought fruit for the fruit basket that gets stolen from Wray in episode 2. $100? You just bought the furry costume head of a Vardak Warrior worn by  Nigel Thrice, the "second best motion capture artist." $1000? You just rented Nathan’s character some skis and bought the fake snow that will stick to his wavy locks.

If you can’t support us with dollars then your enthusiasm and support is equally valuable - tweet, Facebook, tumblr, Linkedin, Mypace, Friendster, and ICQ the project as much as you can. Don’t be afraid to use morse code or smoke signals. Talk about it with friends and associates at work, comic shops, dog parks, and all secret or not-so-secret gatherings. Spreading the word about the campaign is just as important! We’re so thankful for any support you can offer during our campaign.

The number may seem like a lot for initial three episodes, but the production costs are high and the series is demanding. This isn’t a living room sitcom; we need to put on a fake convention. Or two. We also need to build a spaceship. It’s a big cast and our friends from the sci-fi community will be joining us. That means at LEAST paying SAG minimums or they wouldn’t be allowed to show.

Rewards! Loot! Plunder! Booty! Treasure! I should probably tell you about them as we’ve teamed up with some amazing people who also love the idea of Con Man. In their amazingness they are helping bring Con Man and exclusive offers to you our amazing fans who are likely to be amazed.

Instead of just a standard backer blog where we post updates and a few still photos, we’ve teamed up with HANG W/ to provide live (and archived) on-set and behind the scenes content to applicable backers. Some contributors will even get to sit in on exclusive or private Hang W/ times with myself or Nathan.

Hang w/ allows myself and Nathan, producer PJ Haarsma, and the cast and crew of Con Man to share exclusive behind the scenes experiences - LIVE from our phones to yours! You even get to chat LIVE with us right through the app. We'll also archive these so you can catch up an anything you missed! 

While doing blog posts are great, we really love the idea of being able to share stuff on a schedule or off the cuff with fans, rather than waiting till something has happened and typing up a post and editing photos. 

You can get started now - download the app to your iPhone, iPad or Android Device and follow AlanTudyk, NathanFillion, PJHaarsma and ConMan.

Secondly - Thanks to Indiegogo's partnership with Vimeo, we're able to offer the episodes in hi-def streaming to funders who pledge $25+! Not only will you get early access to the episodes before the public, you'll also get to stream them as much as you want for 90 Days. The series will feature English Closed Captioning and subtitles in additional languages as voted on by you, the funders!That's all the episodes, whether we produce 3 episodes or 3,000*!

*=Or Twelve.

As for the physical rewards, we’ve got a mix of Con Man and SPECTRUM rewards. Spectrum is the space show within-the-show. We have some one time posters and  memorabilia that won’t be available outside the campaign. Some of them are even signed by Jack Moore and Wray Nerely, whose signatures look surprisingly similar to Nathan’s and mine.

We’re excited to make this series, and have a lot planned. But, ultimately Nathan and I just wanted to say thank you. Your support is the inspiration behind this story we want to tell.  Like most things in the convention world, it wouldn’t exist without you. Thank you.