If you recognize the above pitch image, you're probably one of the over six million people who have seen the M. Bison internet meme. If not...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3ALwKeSEYs
You're welcome.
This actor's name is Richard Newman, and he happens to be my father. You may also know him as Captain Ginyu from Dragonball-Z, Rhinox from Beast Wars, Mr. Turtle from Franklin, Mayor Knightleigh from Edgar and Ellen, or Cranky Doodle Donkey from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (shout-out to all the bronies out there). He's been a professional actor for around 45 years, with a theatre resume longer than his voice acting resume. Here's the issue...
Unless you're Samuel L. Jackson (shout-out to Samuel L. Jackson), actors generally don't make that much money. In fact, only about 4% of professional actors are working at any given time. Being in his late 60s now, my dad has been getting less and less work. He's currently falling into an awkward age gap where he's too young for the "old man" roles and too old for the "romantic lead". On the bright side, I have a feeling I'm going to age incredibly well. Unfortunately, he's really struggling to make ends meet. Canadian residual payments are incredibly low compared to American residual payments, so we can't rely on Franklin reruns to pay the bills. If worst comes to worst, he's going to have to sell the one-floor, 1200-square-foot house we've been living in for the past sixteen years. It's not much, but it's home to a lot of memories and love, and it's the house my dad was looking forward to growing old in.
Here's where you come in.
A few months ago, I was informing my dad of all the memes his characters have inspired, as he tends to be rather clueless when it comes to that sort of thing. I pointed out that there was a video of M. Bison that had over 1 million hits on Youtube, and he joked that if every person who viewed that video sent him a dollar, we wouldn't have to worry about money anymore (there was another video with over 6 million views, but I digress).
LIGHTBULB.
This is when I realized that an Indiegogo campaign might be a great way to raise the money we need. Specifically, we're looking at $150,000 before our house is completely paid off, around $30,000 to fix it up, and roughly $48,000 in credit card debt (amassed by having to pay for necessities such as food and house repairs with money we don't have). No, we don't expect to actually raise a million, but it would be such a relief for my dad not to be in constant stress about somehow coming up with $5,000 a month. He's a man who is fast approaching seventy, and most people his age would be five years into retirement at this point. He obviously can't afford to do that, both financially and because he is so in love with his profession.
I know it seems selfish. Why should you give money to some actor you don't really know? Kind of a first-world problem. But when you think about it, all we're asking for is one dollar from each of you (more if you feel so inclined). It would be easy as pie for you, and it would make a world of difference to us. Besides, this guy has been entertaining for the past 45 years. I think M. Bison's over-the-top glee, Mr. Turtle's parental advice and Cranky Doodle Donkey's heart-warming turnaround are worth at least a dollar.
Plus, there are the perks. If you contribute a certain amount, we will send you such things as autographed headshots, vinyl records, and personalized recordings and videos of Richard Newman doing voices of your choosing (if it's really obscure, please supply us with some point of reference as he won't be able to remember every voice he's done), saying lines of your choosing (nothing too inappropriate, y'all).
Thanks so much for your time, guys. We truly appreciate it. As M. Bison would say, "YES! YES!"
