KickStarter and Argoman concept

The very early version of this Idea

Credit the kind words and suggestions of Mr. O. Carter for pushing this idea into high drive.  We appreciated his proactive suggestion and KickStarter was something we were curious about trying before he provided a bit of research that indicated it might succeed.

Ok, this idea depends on a few factors:

1. If KickStarter would allow us to setup a project for an Argoman DVD and / or Blu-ray release (seems like they would).
2. Enough people are interested in this film being done and having some extras.
3. Certain "extras" would be dependent on backer’s desires, people involved, cost, and time involvement.

Conditions laid out, this is an early concept we are working on.  We love the response so far for the screeners project.  We have heard the interest and now it's time to move on to the next phase... product fulfillment.  Why did we pick Argoman over the trilogy of Napoli Violenta, Roma Violenta, and Italia a mano armata?  Put simply, we wanted to test the waters with something we could best calculate price for and we could assemble in a shorter period of time.  We also wanted to get Argoman out because we enjoy the film, have gotten to know Roger Browne and love the guy, and we think we could market this film successfully locally (Portland, OR) and abroad.  We also guessed that 1 film will cost about ⅓ of a trilogy of films... makes sense right?

Goals

We are still putting prices together, but here are the three tiers of "goals" we would have:

DigiBeta (SD) to DVD from Negative in Europe - $25,000

DVDs cost a lot of money to produce.  The industry has suffered a lot with the economy and you just can't get the same value from these releases as you once could.  Add to that, we haven't had a very successful time doing our grass-roots style marketing to date.  Here is the "catch", we could release this film for about $15,000 from our 35mm and do a decent job at it.  So, why $25,000?  One thing is we want to go from the Negative (highest quality).  A DigiBeta is a professional, digital tape format that is SD (standard definition).  Part of the fun with KickStarter is that we can add "Rewards" for different backers.  This film is a goldmine for potential rewards.  Skip down to the "rewards" below if you want to see why the price increased so.  We could fluctuate this before we post the project if people are just not interested in some "rewards".

DigiBeta to DVD and a Screening with Roger Browne - $32,000

If we could reach this goal, we also will do a screening / mini-film festival with Roger Browne for this film.  We are trying to add up costs to make sure what we allotted would be sufficient and whether to hold it here in Portland, OR.  This screening would be on or around September 8th, 2012 or September 15th, 2012.  Portland, Oregon (which is a veritable banquet of gorgeous natural parks and wilderness, the micro-brew capital of the United States, and living up to the self-provided motto “Keep Portland Weird”) will provide a fun setting for this screener.

HDCAM (HD) to Blu-ray and DVD from Negative and Screening - $40,000

HDCAM is professional, digital tape for HD (High Definition).  It would make a pristine HD master so we could be able to produce a Blu-ray and DVD.

Over $40,000

If this project just takes off and we have more than our last goal, we would release other films and goodies and give to the backers.  We would get creative and would love suggestions.

Rewards

Some of the extra cost is in order to produce a good mix of rewards for backers.  Here they are, high to low.  Some of these rewards cost quite a bit to print, manufacture, material costs, etc...

• $6000 - OnDisk Advert 1 (60 seconds, plays right after DFI logo and before other potential ads, DVD menus)
• Obviously content must be approved, but we hope to get some support from businesses and defray some cost by adding a few ads.  If you know a company that would like to advertise on around 2,000 to 5,000 DVDs / Blu-rays and sponsor a screening, feel free to let them know!  The other two potential adverts are also co-sponsors of the screening and would get some advertising from that as well (obviously if we reach our second or third goal)
• $4000 - OnDisk Advert 2 (30 seconds, plays after Advert 1...)
• $2000 - OnDisk Advert 3 (15 seconds, plays after Advert 2...)
• $900 - Everything below AND Signed (by Roger Browne), Framed, Argoman Mask and Gloves replica.
• This would be limited to 10, numbered with a signed certificate.  We are allocating a decent amount of money for these.  Which means if no one is interested in this, we would not do this and our goals would drop by a goodly amount.
• $300 - Everything below AND a copy of an original dialog script
• This is in Italian, we received this from the producer [Fida] when we licensed the film..
• $200 - Everything below AND a Press book
• $150 - Everything below AND a Poster
• $120 - Everything below AND a signed frame still (by Roger Browne)
• $80 - Everything below AND a Day bill
• If we reach our 40,000 goal, this would include a Blu-ray AND a DVD
• $40 - Everything below AND stickers (possibly fan created, but definitely will be fun... we want input on what these would look like)
• At this level, if we get our 40,000 goal, you could trade the DVD for a Blu-ray.
• $25 - DVD
• Add an extra $5 dollars for shipping internationally please!