23% OF THE GOAL HAS BEEN REACHED! THANK YOU ALL BACKERS!!!!

In the early 1990s, the skateboard industry went through a major crisis. The popularity of the sport was on the decline and the certainty of its future was unknown. Just a few years later, that was about to change, when the X-Games came into play. In August 1999 skateboarding found itself on a new rise when Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was released for the Playstation and sold 9 million copies worldwide. What followed was a franchise, which resulted in 18 games over the course of 16 years. Over 30 million copies of the Tony Hawk games were sold and skateboarding had suddenly become more popular than ever in the early 2000s. It was on TV, it was in toy stores, and finally it was on video game store shelves.

Tony Hawk game covers throughout the years.

Pretending I'm a Superman, the first ever feature-length documentary on the Tony Hawk games, covers the entire history of the series from start to finish. The idea of the game itself, originated from the Hawkman, who pitched a skateboarding game for many years, but was frequently rejected by major game publishers. Simultaneously, in 1997, Activision had begun developing a game based on the sport and was looking for a star to represent it. That star became Tony Hawk, who instantly fell in love with the engine designed by Neversoft and agreed to work on what was originally a low-budget game, expected to make little to no profit. The rest is history.

This is also where I came into the picture. My name is Ralph D'Amato and I was a producer on the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series. I had recently transitioned careers from sales to video games in 1998. I started working for Neversoft, a company that had recently gone through some volatile times. It was saved by Apocalypse, an action game starring Bruce Willis. The engine of that game was the basis for the Tony Hawk series. Over the years that followed, I was fortunate to work with some of the most talented developers and skaters in the world.

The Neversoft team, circa 2000 close to the release of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2.

I ended my employment at Neversoft 11 years ago, and I feel like the time has come to tell this story. The last few months I have been working together with a fantastic crew who are all dedicated fans of the series and it is time for us to make this happen.

Original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater art illustrated by Silvio Porretta back in 1998 .

Over the years, the development team involved about 100+ employees and 40 skaters. With amazing support from many of them, this story will be told from the viewpoints of the key individuals involved in the franchise. Below are a handful of them:

Tony Hawk is the name behind the franchise and perhaps the biggest legend in skateboarding of all-time. His involvement affected the games greatly as he had to give Neversoft a course in skateboarding. Few of the developers had any background in skating.

Rodney Mullen is the godfather of street-skateboarding and holds the world record for inventing the most street skateboarding tricks. He made his first game appearance in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and introduced the concept of flatland skateboarding to Neversoft. This resulted in the giant expansion of tricks. Since then, he has been featured in every Tony Hawk game designed by Neversoft.

Scott Pease is a retired game producer who worked for Neversoft from 1999 until the studio shut down in 2014. He was closely involved in the Tony Hawk games and mainly responsible for getting Tony involved in the franchise while working at Activision.

We have shot 20% of the documentary and now we need your help in order to finish this film. There are a lot more who people we want to interview to tell the whole story and with this, there are many production expenses involved.

We have had the opportunity to work with an amazing crew…that we want to keep. However, they too need to get paid. This includes camera operators, sound recordists, gaffers, etc. We also need your help with post-production. Below is a pie chart of how we will direct our funds.

Here is a list of perks from our team, ranging from digital copies of the documentary to exclusive decks signed by Tony Hawk, himself. We appreciate your contribution, and our best way to show it is to give you something in return.

We are grateful for you visiting our Indiegogo page! If you like what you see, please share the campaign with others and consider donating. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for regular updates.

Who is the director of this documentary?

Ludvig Gür, a die-hard Tony Hawk's Pro Skater fan turned filmmaker who has done similar work in the past is the director. He has picked the interviewees together with Ralph D'Amato's input and also directed the trailer above. 

When will Pretending I'm a Superman be released?

The documentary will most likely be released by fall 2018. We are hoping to have the film playing in festivals between June and September 2018. If you donate to this project, you may be able to see a first version of the documentary as early as May 2018.

Is the documentary focus solely on the Tony Hawk games?

Whilst the franchise remains the main subject of the film, some of the documentary will also be focused on the skateboarding industry in the 90s and early 2000s as the two are linked. Therefore, the documentary can be appreciated by fans of the franchise and skateboarding overall.

What other people will be interviewed?

While we can't name any people until they get interviewed, we are looking to interview the majority of skaters who were involved in the first four Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games, as well as the developers.

What is the meaning of the title?

The title is a reference to the song Superman by Goldfinger which appeared in the first Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game. It’s also in our trailer! You can buy the song on iTunes down below:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hang-ups/id25...

Will the film be available on Blu-Ray?

At the present moment, the Blu-Ray demand is too low for us to start printing. However, if you really want your copy of Pretending I'm a Superman  in that format, order a DVD and send us an e-mail with your order number as well as your Blu-Ray request. We have received multiple requests so far and therefore we could possibly print several Blu-Ray's though there are no guarantees at the moment.