GormanBechard
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Posts posted by GormanBechard
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Greetings,
We locked picture on Where are you, Jay Bennett? last night, and immediately submitted to our first two film festivals. The animation is complete. The next big steps are finishing end credits, a sound mix, color correction, legal, and insurance. But the film is pretty damn amazing if I do say so myself. It's running 1 hour and 45 minutes long.The plan now is to submit to film festivals. Play the festival circuit through to at least Spring 2021...then the DVD/streaming release. More details as we know them.So, just wanted to give everyone that exciting update. We will be doing one last small kickstarter for the legal/insurance. Probably launch that in July.Gorman & Fred -
Thank you so much to everyone who helped make this one of our best Kickstarter campaigns ever. 247%...wow!
You guys rock, and we promise you this film will as well!I just received a new piece of animation yesterday. It's coming along beautifully.We'll start submitting to film festivals in the next couple of months. Can't wait to show it to the world. -
Thank you so much to everyone who helped make this one of our best Kickstarter campaigns ever. 247%...wow!
You guys rock, and we promise you this film will as well!I just received a new piece of animation yesterday. It's coming along beautifully.We'll start submitting to film festivals in the next couple of months. Can't wait to show it to the world. -
???
Why are you still taking shots at me??
bustedafternoon quoted your post. I told him not to listen to it. Pretty simple.
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THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
We made our stretch goal with 7 days to go, so we've added a second stretch: $22,500. If we reach this there will no need for a final Kickstarter. We will have everything we need to finsh all post-production on the film. Now help us get there, so we can pay for all those fun finishing expenses like legal, insurance, mixing, color correction! We can do it in the name of rock and roll! -
I hope the film still gets made, and I don't know the team behind it at all, but there's a reason I never contributed to the Kickstarter despite my love of Jay B.......can't pinpoint what it was....just a feeling.
Kickstarter is fine is you look at who's making the film. We've run 40 successful campaigns, and have financed 11 features completely through the site. Eight of them are available on DVD and all streaming platforms. The 9th has been playing festivals since last year. The tenth is premiering on March 5th. And both of those are being released on DVD/streaming in Sept. We have a standing distribution deal and have NEVER not finished a film. This campaign is past 100 funded and we still have a week to go. That's all there for anyone to read. Don't go by someone who only reads what he wants to read in the Kickstarter description. And just ask kidsmoke, she's seen the rough cut.
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THANK YOU SO MUCH! We made our initial Kickstarter goal with 10 days to go. Now help us get even further so that there will not need to be a final Kickstarter for all those fun finishing expenses like legal, insurance, mixing, color correction! We can do it in the name of rock and roll!
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Love ya, man. It was a beautiful story and I'm glad you shared!
When it comes to music, there's no such thing as too personal. Yesterday, my all time favorite band sent me a preview of their first new music in years. Just one song. I cried like a baby through my first listen because it made me so happy. I listened a second time, and damn if I didn't start crying all over again. Music speaks to parts of us we can never truly understand. And thank God, or whomever, that it does.
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"If I bother to read it??" Is this how you talk to your backers?? That's awfully rude.
Let's break this down.
I've worked in media my entire adult life, I'm well aware how much a documentary film costs to make. (Especially in 2020 with the high quality affordable DSLR cameras + LED lights and easy access to Adobe Premiere / After Effects.) So I don't know what you're trying to prove? My point when referencing the similar line in your second Kickstarter is you haven't explained how the project will scale if you don't meet your funding. Currently, the new Kickstarter is at $3160 CAD of a $9962 CAD goal, no where in the Kickstarter does it mention what will happen if you don't meet your funding minimum. If the second Kickstarter doesn't succeed, which is possible, what happens to the film, and the funds us original backers donated?? This is NOT self-explanatory. Nowhere in your original Kickstarter did you mention there will be further Kickstarters if you don't hit $75K or more.
I never said you were done filming. From the "How We Got Here" section, you mention that Fred had been "long-in-production" (your words) and already had (at least some) interviews show and archive footage. So it's not like you were starting from scratch.
I'm not sure what explanation you think this covers? The release date? If that's why the movie isn't going to be done on time, you probably should tell your backers BEFORE the release month comes and goes, not the next month, that the movie isn't coming out.
You did not address the fact that you have gone months of time without updating the people who financed your film. Nor have you mentioned that you completely missed your release date, again with no update. Or that you've used your movie about Jay to promote your other projects. Or what's going to happen to the movie (and the original backer's money) if the new Kickstarter isn't successful. And clearly you know I'm at least being fair about a few things since you sent an update 5 minutes after accusing me of not reading your Kickstarter. As a backer I'm well within my right to question what's going on with this project. Do professional filmmakers usually act like this towards the fans who also are paying for their productions??
First off, your original post was rude and full of accusations, many of which were already addressed in the original KS. If you had a question, have you every bothered to ask? I answer every question that comes my way.
Seriously sorry if you don't like the way I run my company, make my films, promote my films, etc. Don't know what else to say. The film that we started funding prior to Jay Bennett, which is called Seniors, is premiering on March 5th. Bennett is next in line.
As we say right at the end of the first KS:
We always finish our films. They always get distribution. That is never an issue. The biggest challenge for us is finishing everything on time. Documentaries take on lives of their own. In a perfect world, the film will be done and playing festivals in early 2019. But this isn't always a perfect world. So worst case, it takes a little longer than we expected to deliver the DVDs and other rewards. But you will get them, and the film will only be better for it.
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I hate to do a repeat of the Wilcopedia topic, but....
I backed the initial Kickstarter, coming on three years ago now, and I have to be honest, I've been pretty disappointed with the lack of updates. Especially since some of the few updates we have received have been promoting the filmmaker's other movies. For instance, in March 2018 he posted two updates, one saying they found new interviews of Jay and the other promoting a Kickstarter for an unrelated move. Then eight months later, we were told they were in the process of shooting a few more interviews and cutting the film. No updates to Kickstarter backers till March 2019 when he posted about a movie called Pizza A Love Story, and didn't even mention the Jay doc. No further updates till July 2019 when he posted that animation was taking a long time. So from March 2018 to now, we've had exactly one (vague) update about the film. This goes right through June 2019 which on the original Kickstarter was suppose to be when backers would receive their signed DVD. The release date came and went, eight months ago(!!!!!) with zero explanation. Looks like a trailer is posted on the new Kickstarter to help raise funds, but no footage, trailer or otherwise, has been sent to the original backers.
Now he's asking for MORE money, but has yet to post to the first Kickstarter about it and explain to the original backers why he needs more money. The new money is supposedly for animation but he was clearly working on animation last summer... so what changed?? According to the new Kickstarter this is for interviews discovered last year that were from "One while Wilco was recording Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, another from shortly after he was fired from the band, and the last from a few years later". Which sounds exactly like the update from almost two years ago in March 2018 where he said "Hours of never-before-heard interviews with Jay Bennett (during Wilco, right after the split, and a few years later)." So what was it, a year ago, or two years ago? Why is this taking so long? Why wasn't the original $28000 raised enough for animation since the movie, according to the creator, was already mostly shot and in the process of being edited before the original Kickstarter even happened? Where did that money go?
The new Kickstater has a section called "What Happens If We Don't Reach Our Goal" but it only talks about your credit card not getting charged, it doesn't mention if this film will even happen or not. The new Kickstarter also threatens "So, let’s aim for $22,500 and there won't be a need for a third Kickstarter!", I should mention that $22500 is currently seven times what the Kickstarter is at with just over a week to go.
The whole thing has left a sour taste in my mouth.
But I am relieved to hear that kidsmoke liked what she saw. Was there Jay-era Wilco music? Were Jeff/John/Glenn interviewed?
If you read the entire first Kickstarter, it says:
"Additional funds raised over $25,000 will go toward post-production, insurance, a great sound mix, maybe some animation, an amazing score and soundtrack, and film festival fees. (Yes, making a film is expensive.) So, let’s aim for $75,000 or more!"
That's all pretty self- explanatory.
As for the money raised in the original Kickstarter, it states:
"The money raised for Where are you, Jay Bennett? will go toward the completion of filming, a lot more interviews!"
So, no, never said we were done filming in that Kickstarter.
And the last update in July, said we were going to animate his clips, which was why it wasn't ready yet. (The explanation that supposedly doesn't exist.) That isn't done over night. It also says animation takes a long time. That's not an exaggeration. 2 to 4 weeks for a 60 second clip. We have at least 10 pieces of animation planned for the film.
As for what's taken so long...try and find a great animator who will work for virtually nothing. Took me about 18 months. We started looking from the time I got the Jay audio. I was getting quotes that would have pushed the film's budget into the $150K range, when I want to keep it under $60K. Then after we find the animator, we need to work on style, on perfecting Jay's look. Its not hours, it's weeks for every move.As for finishing the film, we've never not finished a film. Look at my Kickstarter history. And EVERY film has more than one Kickstarter.
We are a production company, making a number of films at one time (also explained in Kickstarter)...some films come quickly, others don't. But everything has been spelled out in both Kickstarters, if you bother to read it. -
It's Monday morning. The Super Bowl is over. Got two weeks left on the campaign. And I promise you this is the movie Wilco fans have been waiting for. Please watch the new trailer, pick a great reward, have your name in the end credits, long live rock and roll!
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A new trailer and a some exciting news...please read, spread the word, lend your support. Thank you!
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Have any funny, cool, interesting, touching, insightful, awesome or otherwise great stories about Jay Bennett?
We're collecting those stories about Jay to help make our new documentary, WHERE ARE YOU, JAY BENNETT? even better.If you'd like to tell us your Jay story on camera send an email to our co-producer jan@whatwerewethinkingfilms.com briefly telling us what your story is, and where you are located. We will be in the Chicago area from January 11th thru the 15th.We look forward to hearing from you! -
Just letting everyone know that both the DVD of Who Is Lydia Loveless? and the LIVE Record Store Day LP from the show we filmed drop tomorrow. If you're a fan of rock n roll, I think you'd love both. (Check the amazon reviews of the film...you'll be swayed. it's not your typical rock doc.)
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We've sent out reward surveys for a number of the non-DVD Kickstarter rewards. Please make sure to answer those surveys. (Especially T-shirts...need to know your size.)
Thanks! -
Thank you for making the KickStarter campaign a great success!
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Well last week I thought for sure this film wouldn't get funded, glad to be wrong. I'm happy that Jay will get immortalized in film... no pressure Gorman!!
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Thank you again to everyone who backed, shared, said a kind word...
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We did it! We're at 110% and we still have 14 hours to go for anyone still interested in one of our great rewards. Thank you to everyone who's come on board with this project. We could not be doing it with you.
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We're at 95% with 38 hours to go. We need only $1008 to put us over the top and there are still some amazing rewards to be had...
Please let's get this done today! -
Just added as a reward...
This is about as rare as it gets...a Courtesy Move 45 of the song "California." This is the band formed by Jay, John Stirratt, and Ken Coomer (when Jeff was working with Golden Smog).We have three copies! -
At 90% and need only $2300 to make this happen...
Added a few minute last minute goodies that were previously sold out to the rewards list: 3 more End of the Century posters, 2 more Summerteeth european tour tickets, and 1 more Filmore poster, plus we lowered the price to one of my favorite rewards, the original stage plots.You've got until Monday night!Thank you to everyone who is helping to make this happen! -
We are at 87% with 3 days to go. We absolutely can do this. Now is the time to back and share like crazy. Please help us get this made!
And note: there is only one executive producer package left. If you want your name on the poster... -
I farted around in the Wilco Archive for a bit and found they opened with it in this show back in Nov of 99.
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0B5xZV5X8KwRCTzFDdkhraklaXzA
Much more Jay Bennett guitar forward doing the loud electric tremolo stuff. Ken Coomer mostly stays out of the way and does a couple loud crashes during the noise part. Not nearly as developed.
Now to find an '01 version with Jay Bennett and Glenn Kotche... I'm curious.
That is an amazing version.
So, Any Jay Bennett Fans Here?
in Just A Fan
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