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Hi, my name is Kevin Richardson. I've worked in the animation industry for over twenty years, most recently running feature film story teams. Additionally, I've produced over a dozen animated adventure games at big media companies.
B.C., the award-winning comic strip, was a favorite of mine growing up. So imagine my elation when the Hart family reached out to me to explore making B.C. into a feature film!
Today B.C. is drawn by the grandsons of Johnny Hart, Mick (left) and Mason Mastroianni, and published throughout the world daily.
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So that you understand the MAGNITUDE of what we're doing:
Financing a commercial quality indie animated film in the USA is next to impossible without studio support. For B.C., due to most major studios having developed their own Prehistoric franchises, the nibbles have been small.
So what we're going to do together is nothing short of Herculean:
We're going to take the first step in producing an animated feature - financing the pre-production phase! And even better, YOU can attend a limited seating VIP screening of the animatic at a theater near you!
In pre-production, a highly skilled team of story artists will storyboard the entire movie into a rough, projectable version of the entire film, iteratively - plussing the good stuff, and tossing the bad. It's called an 'animatic'. It's essentially pre-editing the movie while trying out multiple ideas, so that when it's done, it's ready to go into production.
It becomes the blueprint for the movie. In the animatic there will be something like 1 image every second to get across action, mood, tone, and cinematography. The end product, a projectable rough version of the film in storyboards, will be the result of over 10,000 individual drawings and as many as 6 people-years!
The cool thing is that we'll be checking our work on the BIG SCREEN along the way to make sure the story is great, and every shot is the BEST seat in the house!
So it's now up to us to prove how fun and unique the B.C. feature film can be!
In addition to all the cool, limited-edition perks, if you buy the VIP Screening perk, YOU can come watch our finished animatic in a REGAL cinema near you, meet the creators, and tell us what you think!
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Breaking it down:
A feature film animatic produced at a studio can cost up to 1.5 million dollars - depending upon the story challenges. It's the pre-edited film in storyboard form, and what you typically use to go for a "green light".
Without studio overhead, and working with seasoned professionals, we know we can achieve this first and most important step with a budget between 450k to 750k after Indiegogo's fees, cost of goods, and fulfillment expenses for the perks are deducted.
Here are the cool perks you'll get for supporting us!
And even better, as we raise money, we'll super-size everything!
Animatic Pre-Production - Building an animatic (or story reel) is an iterative, editorial process. The more money we raise, the more editorial "passes" we can take at it and get it right. Even better, if we raise over 3 million, we can start production!
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Experience a VIP Screening of the finished feature length animatic at a select REGAL cinema (see list). Even better, if we surpass our funding goals, we'll add a panel discussion at the end, and if we raise more than 3 Million (that would be something!) you will receive an invitation to an additional VIP work-in-progress screening.
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A streamed version of the animatic 60 days after the last VIP screening. If we raise more than expected, we will add a documentary on the making of the animatic to the streaming queue!
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A movie-based comic strip. If we surpass our initial goal we will add color, autographs, limited edition numbering, and a certificate of authenticity. If we hit our ginormous stretch goal, you'll get an additional original strip!
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An OFFICIAL movie crew black T-Shirt. Be part of the team! What else is there to say? YOU will get the same shirt the entire team wears, and become part of our pre-production universe. Everyone will smile when it's worn. Buy TWO so you can stay fresh at all times! :)
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A THANK YOU card from John Hart Studios. And, the more we raise, the more we plan to customize it (sparkles, anyone?) and finally add a super-secret B.C. themed gift!
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Here's the difference YOUR contribution will make:
If not for YOU, B.C. would most likely not be a feature film until the next ice age. Really! YOU will be a part of motion picture and crowdfunding history by helping us take the biggest step forward, tackling the pre-production. And you'll get really cool stuff and even SEE the result!
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Producer's Personal Statement to You (from Kevin):
I have led story teams around the world, most recently on two feature animated films for the Chinese cinema. Before that I ran TV series development in Germany for a trans-European studio consortium, and was an animator and overseas animation and layout supervisor for over 10 years at LucasFilms Ltd., Wang Films Taiwan, MS Films Germany, Studio Climb Malaysia and Ants Animation Shenzhen. As an executive producer, senior producer, and producer I have spent over a decade producing many award-winning animated adventure games at Mattel Interactive, Electronic Arts, and Nickelodeon Kids and Family.
Who is going to be on the team? Here are some of the talented artists I've assembled to build the animatic: (click on their names to see their IMDB pages)
JIM BEIHOLD
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DAVID FULP
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MIKE CACHUELA
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CLAUS DZALAKOWSKI
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KEVIN RICHARDSON
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PLUS the talents of JULIA LUNDMAN, MICHAEL BAILEY, & NICHOLAS STERN.
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What could go wrong?
Even the best laid plans are vulnerable to Murphy's law. The main risk and challenge of this campaign is not raising the funds we need to hire a qualified story team. It would make no sense to proceed without the right people on board. Of course animation is a labor of love, but when deciding to work on B.C. versus another Hollywood animated feature film, we want our project to pay competitively.
What qualifies us to overcome the hurdles?
Many things qualify this team to succeed! John Hart Studios has three generations with over 200 (cave)man/woman years of experience producing the B.C. comic strip together! This means they can efficiently solve character, story, and gag questions and queries as Kevin's team works beside them to adapt the strip to a feature film.
On the motion picture side, the pre-production story team has contributed to an impressive portfolio of animated features with over 10 billion in gross box office sales at major motion picture studios. Furthermore, this team has worked together abroad and domestically on several productions, so they play nicely together, and know how to complete a project on time and budget. Most recently Kevin has acted as story manager and head of story on two feature animated films with many members of the same team, hitting all milestones, while nurturing a culture that's focused on infusing fun and novelty into the production. Kevin sat at the helm of several multi-year animated game projects, where strong stories and character animation were at the fore. His background there managing simultaneous productions with co-located and remote teams, as well as strict schedule and budget adherence, makes him well-suited for this undertaking!
You may ask: Why did we set our funding goal for less than what we need? The minimum budget for which we can produce the animatic is between $350k and $500k after all expenses related to producing and fulfilling the perks are met. We're hopeful that our goal to bring B.C. to the big screen, the limited-edition perks, and the amazing team we've assembled will convince you to contribute WAY beyond our set goal!
Here's a high level breakdown of how the budget will be spent:
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We understand that some people aren't able to contribute, but that doesn't mean they can't help us!
If you want to help but can't afford to contribute money, you can still pitch in by sharing this campaign with as many people as possible: with other fans, friends and family, on all your social media platforms, and by word of mouth! Not only will you help raise awareness for this campaign, but you might be helping someone who would love the opportunity to support a "B.C. feature film" and make it a reality!
If you are a voice actor and want to audition, please reach out to us - especially if you are Alec Baldwin or Bill Murray ;0)
And to spread the word, PLEASE use the Indiegogo share tools!
Thank you!
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#BCMovie #BCFeatureFilm #Jane #Grace #FatBroad #CuteChick