Thanks for Making our Kickstarter Campaign a Success!

Our Kickstarter campaign for The Fifth Sacred Thing movie is over—and thanks to the incredible, generous support we’ve received, we did fantastically well, raising $76,327 from 1431 donors!  That puts us in the top fifty of most-funded Kickstarter campaigns.  And we did it not with big donors—grateful as we are for their support—but from lots and lots of smaller donors who gave what they could to show their faith in this project.  I feel deeply touched and grateful.  As a writer, I don’t get to see people reading my books or get the immediate feedback a performer might—applause or boos.  But I’ve felt, these last two months, like I was getting a big round of applause, and I’m deeply thankful.

Putting our vision out to the world and asking for help was a scary move for me.  Receiving support is in some ways even scarier—it feels like a sacred trust to make the movie happen.  We’re now in position to move forward with it.  I realize that many people probably have no idea how long it takes to make a major feature, and what the steps are.  We’re now in what’s called ‘development’.  We are in good shape, in that we have a screenplay (that I’ve written—and that alone was a process that took years!) as well as much work already on the visuals, the arts, the connections with other organizations, one major actor committed to a role, and now, the money we need to put together a full financial packet for investors.  Our next big step will be to secure a director, and to go after the next round of financing which will put us into pre-production.  That’s the stage where we start nailing down locations, cast the rest of the movie, design sets, costumes, etc.  After that comes production, when we film the thing, and then post-production, when it’s edited, sound and color-balanced, and all the special effects get added.  So it is still a long, long road before you hear me exhort you to get all your friends together to make the opening weekend big!

But thanks to you, we’re on the road!  I’ll continue to blog about our progress and send out updates.  And you can follow it—and participate—at our website and by Liking our Facebook page.

We’ve received so many generous offers of support, from office help to music to art to ideas and contacts.  So many people want to be part of making this film!  We now have a signup page on our website where you can tell us about yourself and get on the list we’ll use for auditions, calls, and other needs.  It’s at:

http://fifthsacredthing.com/home/get-involved/participation-signup/

So grateful to have you with me on this exciting journey!  Starhawk