Giving a voice to the untold histories of American families.
An elementary school teacher / genealogist launches ambitious Kickstarter.com project to "crowd-source & crowd-fund" production of quality television.
Chicago-area teacher & genealogist, Madonna Davis, announced her launch of a television documentary project called Kicking Up the Past. A novel effort that relies strictly on the strength of the public to both crowd-source the stories and crowd-fund the expense of producing a made-for-television documentary featuring true family histories.
“It’s going to be an interesting experiment”, she said in an interview this morning. “Genealogy is reportedly the most popular hobby in the world… so we're going to test this idea by doing something that has not been attempted before to my knowledge – using crowd-funding to kick start production of a quality genealogy series for television”. She added, “This is an opportunity for people to stop complaining about the reality-type shows that pass for history and contribute in a small way toward making a positive change. We hope everyone will join us on this exciting American genealogy adventure. “ The project may be view at http://goo.gl/n8f2f5
In 2009, Madonna and partners, Ken J. Marks & Frank Haney first brought a grassroots family history to television with their production of the Emmy-nominated documentary, Legend Seekers: The Lively Family Massacre, which aired on PBS stations across the country.
The strong positive response to that film made them certain that there was an audience eager to see their real family stories retold in a high quality TV series. (See Dick Eastman’s Blog from Feb 2009 for more background detail >>> http://goo.gl/Cuk8YB. You may also visit http://goo.gl/r3JcT8 to view the full length feature of that production on YouTube.)
Co-producer, Ken J. Marks reflects, “That desire to bring something truly great and lasting to television has never left us, and we are attempting once more to bring a television series to the public that they would otherwise never, ever, get to see, except through the pioneering, internet-based, creative funding tool that KICKSTARTER.COM is.”
For those who do pledge to the project, there is a unique variety of rewards that may be earned including the opportunity to perform on-camera & in-costume as an extra in one of the historical reenactment scenes. Another reward made available in a limited quantity to early project backers is the opportunity to submit their own personal family story to be read by the producers for this documentary project. Producer, Ken Marks said, “We would like to give the Hollywood treatment to one very lucky family”.
The producers appear to have put everything on the line and truly can’t do it alone – Kickstarter funding is an “all or nothing” proposition. If project creators fail to receive enough pledges to reach their goal by the deadline, the project fails and all project pledges are returned. So they encourage you to go directly to www.kickstarter.com and search for the Kicking Up the Past documentary project for more information and to make a pledge. And, Madonna Davis adds, “… the (project) success or failure really rides on the strong connections within the community and the speed with which passionate individuals can mobilize for a cause.” Predicting the outcome Madonna says, “I have great optimism.”
Kickstarter
Kickstarter first appeared a year or two ago and quickly has become a method for funding many new projects. It is described as a "crowd funding process." In the past, most newly-invented products, new films, new television programs, books, and much more were typically funded by obtaining a loan from a financial institution or by loans or grants from corporations or non-profit organizations. In many cases, certain "strings" were attached. For instance, if a television program is funded by a corporation, that company usually expects to receive advertising or other forms of publicity in return, and typically exerts strong control over the creative content.
Kickstarter is a funding home for everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. Kickstarter is full of projects, big and small, that are brought to life through the direct support of the public. Since its launch in 2009, 5 million people have pledged $822 million, funding 49,000 creative projects.
For additional information contact: Ken J. Marks 312 505-6193 EM: marks.kj@gmail.com
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Madonna Davis, Chicago-area teacher & genealogist
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