I'm very happy and excited to be featuring the latest Kickstarter campaign that's come our way. This one is very special as it comes from an amazing individual that I've known for many years.
.............
IT'S OFFICIAL: LITTLE BILLY, my Original Nostalgia Cartoon Series for kids (and adults) with Tourette Syndrome, ADD, ADHD, OCD, and other Special Educational needs is NOW LIVE on Kickstarter.com!!!
This Thursday, September 20th, 2012 at 3:00 PM PST, the official Kickstarter campaign for "Little Billy" WENT PUBLIC and is now accepting pledges worldwide.
After 2 days Chance has raised $1883 in pledges so far. That puts him at a good pace to reach $30,000 for Little Billy within the 30 time period for his campaign.
In the fourth day of the Little Billy Kickstarter campaign and it's at $3,265 with 26 days left to reach $30,000.
Little Billy is an important campaign by one of the most generous, optimistic, upbeat, supportive, talented and all around good guys in the industry.
Chance Raspberry has overcome many obstacles in his life to become successful in animation and Little Billy will help inspire more people who are challenged by behavioral conditions. Chance overcame those conditions and he can help others who face similar challenges!
Little Billy cartoon will be the first cartoon that directly engages the subject as the central character of the series deals with a condition that sets him apart from others.
Help make Chance Raspberry's "Little Billy" a reality by dropping some love on the campaign and helping to get the word out to others.
I'm loving it. Charles, how many times had I said in the past that there would be alternate funding sources and procedures and now we see dreams coming true.
Crowdfunding and alternate distribution methods are changing the face of many industries. These successful crowdfunding campaigns means original works reaching the public without studio or political intervention. There's no telling what kind of new art will come from this.
I remember well the things you've said in the past Greg. You were and are spot on with it all.
One lump of cash for a creative individual, one giant leap forward for the rest of us!
The reverberations of his campaign are significant! Chance's Kickstarter success is making it possible for a whole new kind of business and pushing things along for others as a result.
Thank you SO much for sharing this with everyone, Charles, and for you and AN's amazing help, support, and pledge to Little Billy!!! =) Thanks also to you, Greg, and to everyone else out there who's been following this thread, the Little Billy Kickstarter, and who pledged to bring my project to life!! I couldn't have done this without each and every one of you guys...WE DID IT!
As just one of the many ways I hope to thank you for your invaluable support, here is the complete rough animatic and theme song for the Little Billy Opening Sequence (Created by me @ CSUN in 2004)!!!
You guys are the BEST!!! Stay tooned to KickstartLittleBilly.com for any and all project updates and news! Thank you all, God bless, and here's to bringing Little Billy to LIFE!! =)
You know what Charles, what we call crowdfunding today is something I and others started in the late '90s. We webmasters would solicit funds for projects.
I'm writing an ebook on Crowdfunding too.
Now here's a suggestion you and AN might like.
One of the top crowdfunding sites is GoFundMe.com. The owners contacted me several months ago to help them with something. I told them about comics/animation and they were all for it. In addition, Perry Chen who runs Kickstarter is a friend of a friend and we're going to chat at some point. What I'm thinking is that AN can team up with these crowdfunding sources so that animators and cartoonists can learn how to do a successful campaign. Once we get the drill down we can put up a tutorial of some sort on AN.
Crowdfunding is expanding by leaps and bounds and each company has different rules and guidelines. For example Kickstarter has a procedure where you have to reach your goal and it's for projects only. GoFundMe.com on the other hand allows for much more and pays you instantly. The owners are very accommodating too. Indiegogo I'm seeing successes with and a pal is using them for his non-profit where he coaches inner city kids in sports to prep them for college scholarships.
So being that AN is a non-profit and you educate kids, I'm sure the crowdfunding companies would love to work something out that works smooth. Believe you me, there's tons of money out there.
Crowdfunding is the way to go for all kinds of projects. This campaign in particular really brought that home that for me. I've been aware of Chance's project for many years. If he went the traditional route of pitching to the networks, studios, Hollywood, the system in general he would've gone nowhere with it. Not just Chance but all the other great projects out there that are seeing the light of day cuz they're free from the status quo way of doing things through gatekeepers and are now able to directly market what they have to offer.
This is the most significant development for artists since the advent of digital production technology and the birth of the Internet.
I've revised my plans for 2013 and am structuring what I'm doing in a whole new way now. Instead of walls and barricades and obstacles I see clear paths and wide boulevards.
Just look at what has transpired since AN started.
The Disney regime of suits fell like duckpins and a lot of that had to do with the proactive stance of AN where others hid. Now we're seeing distribution and funding changing in favor of artists. The same is happening with internet marketing that I've been working on for the past year.
Pretty soon, a competent artist will be able to start their own LLC and raise the necessary capital. One of my colleagues in the UFO research field gathered millions on Kickstarter and another on Indiegogo for their movies. Broke records at that. Never been done before. If they can do it, animators can do it and with the web exploding where movies can be shown on Netflix or Hulu, creators can get their works out there and let the public decide.
Good things indeed! Just wait til I show what I've got cooking.
