As a huge fan of DVDuesday’s long, long stint over at G4, I would absolutely love to see it return bigger and better than ever.
But DVDuesday, as great as it is, isn’t the only thing Chris Gore wants to save. Back in high school, Chris created Film Threat, a magazine that would become a website which would grow to be one of the leading sources for independent and underground film on the entire internet.
Now, we’ve known Chris for as long as we can remember. He’s been a guest on Geekscape multiple times, and even ended up on Geekdrome back when I would have been in my early teens. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned about Chris over meeting him at various cons, and watching him for years on Attack of the Show, it’s that he’s passionate as hell about film. So passionate, in fact, that he used the money from his TV appearances for years to continue funding Film Threat.
Now, with television nigh-unrecognizable from what it once was, and the everything’s-free-on-YouTube mindset of today’s internet, Film Threat is in need of saving, and Chris needs our help to do it.
Chris has set a $125,000 goal, and with 28 days remaining is currently nearing $8,000 in pledges. It’s far more expensive to run a website such as Film Threat than one could ever imagine (before considering things like the new show and podcast network), and Chris has broken down the funding into an easy-to-read infographic:
For those of you who prefer words, here’s a more descriptive breakdown:
The Film Threat web site was launched in 1996. That’s 19 years worth of content making up more than 80,000 stories on a site that has to be redesigned and reformatted. Relaunching a site of this size with this amount of content is costly and I can’t afford to fund it alone this time. I’ll need money for programmers, designers, and for a new server along with a budget for writers and an editorial team to keep it going. The money will also be used to help fund the production budget for the weekly DVDuesday segments. A budget will also be needed to create a Film Threat app and build a Podcast Network to give our writers a voice beyond the site. The budget I’ve put together should give us the boost we need to continue. And while it seems like a lot of money, anyone who has run a web site with daily content or produced a weekly web show knows that it costs more than one would think. The amount I’ve budgeted covers the site relaunch, a podcast network, an app and a web series. All of this covers Phase One of Film Threat’s return. (I’ll reveal Phase Two initiatives once we get to 90% of our funding goal.) If we exceed our funding goal, we’ll be able to do more episodes of DVDuesday and we can fund stretch goal projects planned for Phase Two.
As always, there are some pretty fantastic rewards available to backers. Everything from 30th anniversary posters, to DVD’s from Chris’s personal collection, to t-shirts, to the ability to hang out on the new DVDuesday’s set, to rare Film Threat collectibles. There’s a ton of great stuff here for Film Threat fans.
We’ll also be having Chris on the show next week to talk about the campaign, as well as the unfortunately necessary cancellation of Chris’s upcoming Fan Fiction panel at WonderCon.
Take a look the the Save Film Threat campaign video below, and head here to back! Even if you can’t help fund the project, be sure to share it so we can help Chris achieve his goal!
High kick!
Head on over to the KickStarter page and help out!