WE HAVE REACHED OUR GOAL OF $5,500! THANK ALL OF YOU SO MUCH!
With that being said, there are DEFINITELY stretch goals we would like to reach!
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Hi, I'm Bobby Canipe. I've been visiting the video store since the late 80s, as early as I can remember. Back when going to the video store and grabbing a pizza was the most exciting thing I could think of. To this day, some odd 30 years later, its still an exciting concept that I absolutely love to reminisce on. I've seen documentaries about the larger video rental stores, and those were fun, but it didn't really explain the nostalgia that myself and many others had. I frequented smaller, indie, "Mom & Pop" rental stores. Gas Stations that had a few rows of tapes. Tanning Salons that had tapes in the front and tanning beds in the back. I still remember smelling tanning lotion while looking at the horror selection.
Anyways, enough rambling. My goal with this project is to create a documentary that covers the little guys. Those aforementioned video locales that didnt get the large spotlight, but shaped my childhood. The often times, weird experiences that we encountered. The times we were allowed to rent movies that we probably shouldn't have. I will talk with others like myself that grew up during this time. I'll speak with past employees and hear their stories. I'll go visit the past locations and see if they're still standing, or have been renovated into banks. I'm going to talk to the owners and hear those behind the scenes questions, including "Why did so many tanning salons also rent tapes?". Not only that but ill then reach out to distributors that worked with these indie locations and find out the logistics from that point of view. Then, last but not least, ill talk with filmmakers that had their movies in the stores. Films like Video Violence and Killing Spree that you didnt see much in the larger chains, and ask them how being in indie stores benefited their films.
Helping me with this endeavor will be my buddies Cagney Larkin & Tim Ashe. Cagney Larkin will be the AD on the project. Cagney grew up acting in community theater (and renting videos from his local One Stop Video of course!), made tons of short films, BFA in video production, and his film "Martel's Movie Madness" was recently picked up by Troma. Tim Ashe will be helping with some filming and behind the scenes photography. Tim is one half of the "Spooky Boyz" series on the Youtube Channel, Universe Retro, with myself, as we investigate haunted places and review haunted attractions.
During the pre-planning of this project, we have been able to secure many important people related to and inspired by the 80s/90s indie rental scene. We will be interviewing the following people and discussing the following locations in the documentary...
Filmmakers
- - Gary Cohen (Video Violence)
- - Donald Farmer (Demon Queen)
- - Todd Sheets (Zombie Bloodbath)
- - Marcus Koch (100 Tears)
- - Henrique Couto (Scarewaves)
- - Dennis Tenney (Night of the Demons)
- - Tim Ritter (Killing Spree)
- - Leif Jonker (Darkness)
Former Video Distributors
- - Jeff McClellan (Ohio National Video Broker in 80s/90s)
- - Tim Sherrill (Waxworks Video Distribution 1995-1998)
Former Employees/Customers
- -Josh Schafer (Lunchmeat VHS/Former Video Store Employee)
- - Damian Maffei (Wrong Turn/Video Store Fan)
- - Matthew Gagne (FunBox Monster Podcast)
- - Ryan Martel (Martel's Movie Madness)
- - Donald Anthony Paris (Charlotte Video Game Society)
- - Blair Hoyle (Customer & Writer/Director of Happy Endings are a Rarity)
- - Jared Campbell (Former Employee & Writer/Director St. Patricks Day)
- - Will Hill (Customer/Video Store Fan)
- - Brian Lahbooduh (Customers/Video Store Fan)
- - Jimmy McDonald (Rise Guys Morning Show 93.3 The Planet)
- - Nick Goblirsch (The Dependent Independent Podcast)
- - Jay Morong (Board of Visart Video Charlotte)
- - Jessica Parker (Former Employee Tanning/Video)
- - Matthew Reeves (Former Employee of Community Video)
- - Vanessa Byrd (Former Employee of Movie Max)
Former Video Stores including:
- - Orbit DVD
- - Mega Video
- - Community Video
- - Catsquare Superette
- - Bob's Superette
- - RAO Video (Little Rock AK)
- - Frontier Video
- - Go Video
- - Flick Video
- - VisArt Video
- - Starship Video (MA)
- - Movie Madness
- - Valdese Video
- - Video Quest
- - Movie Max
- - Thats Entertainment Video
- - Prime Time Video
- - Village Video
Soundtrack provided courtesy of Hobo Wolfman Records.
AND MUCH MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED!
I believe making this documentary is hugely important to both myself and others like myself. I want to give the little guys a chance to shine, and find out how those little video stores shaped so many lives.
What We Need & What You Get
With a documentary of this magnitude, it will obviously take some funding. Thats were I could use your help and support. I've managed to keep the budget fairly low from the support of so many friends.
The donations that we receive will go to transportation costs, production costs including purchasing/renting needed equipment and hard drives, food, any entrance fees to festivals we may need to attend to get interviews, and a small amount set aside for any unforeseen circumstances we may encounter. There will also be some really fun stretch goals available if we successful meet our base goal.
By supporting this project, there are some cool perks such as Special Thanks on social media, Special Thanks section in the credits of the actual film, early viewing of the film, Producer Credit and possibly more as our campaign progresses!
We will be sourcing creatively to make the most out of the funds we receive and this is a FIXED campaign, meaning if we do not reach our goal, we do not get any of the funds!
Risks & Challenges
I have a deep admiration and fondness for the video store. I've been in the VHS & Video Store Preservation scene for almost 20 years. Based on my experience in those scenes, with the support of the community that I have been involved in, and the friendships I've made, I have no doubt that this documentary will be packed with lots of fun stories and will be a nostalgic trip back to a time many of us enjoyed.
There will be challenges along the way, but it will be a fun adventure that I hope all of you will join me on.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you don't have the funds currently to donate, or just donate feel comfortable donating, thats totally cool. If you still want to support, a share of this campaign to social media is just important. Tell your friends, shoot me a message, and if you have a story that you feel needs to be included, LET ME KNOW!
Thanks and hope to see you guys at the video store!