I have been a movie buff for pretty much my entire life and growing up in the 70s, especially after the success of Star Wars, I started collecting such film magazines as Cinefantastique, Cinefex, Starlog and many more (I still have boxes of mags in my attic from that period). Sometime in the 90s, I ran across a compact-in-size magazine called Video Watchdog. I was intrigued by the cover art and the lengthy film articles and reviews contained within. I liked the longer pieces about a specific film, director or actor and the plethora of reviews covering a wide range of films, from the familiar to the totally alien (to me) titles. I’ve been reading the magazine ever since. With the advent of the mobile tablet, many magazines have launched digital editions that you can enjoy anywhere without having to carry around the actual magazine. I had contacted Video Watchdog publisher Tim Lucas a few months ago about a possible digital edition, and not long after that email, low and behold there it was ready to be downloaded to my iPad.

That was a first step for the digital edition of Video Watchdog. Now, Tim and his wife Donna have launched a Kickstarter campaign to expand the app that is currently available to include not only new issues of the magazine, but a digital archive of every single issue across multiple platforms! Needless to say, this is a massive undertaking so Tim and Donna are asking fans of the magazine to help them make this dream a reality. I contacted Tim and Donna to ask them a few questions about the magazine for the newcomers out there, and what they hope to accomplish with the Kickstarter campaign.

Chuck: Tim, give our readers a little background about yourselves.

Tim: Before Video Watchdog, Donna worked as a computer software instructor in the early years of our marriage, while I was freelancing as a writer. We were married in 1974 on December 23 — the day when our Kickstarter campaign is scheduled to wrap. Hard as it is for me to believe, I’m now in my 5th decade as a professional writer; I first saw my work in print in 1972 — 41 years ago! In that time, my film reviews have appeared in dozens of magazines all over the world, including Sight & Sound, Film Comment, Cahiers du Cinema, Fangoria, Gorezone, American Cinematographer and also Cinefantastique, where I spent my first 11 years as a writer. I’m also a published novelist (Throat Sprockets, The Book of Renfield) and my fiction has appeared in other languages around the world.

CD: Where did the idea for Video Watchdog come from?

TL: In the mid-1980s, I was working for a Chicago-based magazine called Video Movies when I discovered that some of the films I was being sent on VHS for review were different to the versions of the same films I’d seen on television. I mentioned this to my editor, Matthew White, and suggested I do a column that would track these differences. Matt said, “I see … kind of a video watchdog,” and I said “No — THE Video Watchdog,” and the column was born. Video Movies became Video Times and my “Video Watchdog” column ran there for a year, at which time they folded. The column subsequently appeared as a feature in Overview (a video magazine launched by Michael Nesmith of The Monkees) and then after that in Gorezone, Fangoria‘s sister publication. They were a quarterly, and I was accumulating more information than they could use, so Donna proposed that we launch Video Watchdog as an independent newsletter. It developed quickly into a magazine and the rest is history.

CD: When did you publish the first issue?

TL: June of 1990, 60 pages in black-and-white. We later expanded to 80 pages and we’ve been full color since our 100th issue.

CD: For those unfamiliar with the magazine, describe exactly what the readers can expect.

TL: We offer intelligent coverage of movies that aren’t usually covered at any length in other film magazines, and we reflect our obsession with them. Our feature articles average 18-pages, illustrated but mostly text, whereas other magazines might give you four heavily illustrated pages. I’ve even written feature articles that were so detailed, they ran over a series of issues — for example, my overview of Andy Milligan’s career, or my early coverage of a Yugoslavian movie that Roger Corman and his crew turned into a total of five other movies, including Track of the Vampire! Each issue usually contains 10 short reviews and maybe 15 in-depth ones, attentive not only to how the film was made but how the film has been presented on video. We also feature critical coverage of book and soundtrack releases pertinent to genre cinema. We’re also not just serious; we have a sense of humor too.

CD: You’ve recently launched a digital version, so how is this new project different or what else does it offer that the current digital version doesn’t?

Donna: The Video Watchdog Digital Archive will contain digitized versions of 176 back issues — 174 regular issues as well as our two double-sized Special Editions. It will also include enhancements, such as video clips, trailers, music, slide shows, and perhaps some advertisements as they become available. Currently, the editions going forward just play on computers that support Flash, and iOS (iPad/iPhone). If we are able to fund the Digital Archive, all the editions will be playable across all platforms: computers, tablets and smartphones, on iOS, Android, Flash and Windows platforms.

CD: Give us some information about the Kickstarter campaign, when you launched, what is the end date, and your goal.

DL: The campaign runs from November 25 – December 23 at 11:00pm EST. Our goal is to raise the necessary funding to create the 176-issue Digital Archive, and make it available on all platforms and devices.

CD: You have some pretty famous faces in your video supporting your efforts. How did you get all of those people on board?

DL: We asked them!

TL: That’s right. I’d actually not had direct contact with John Landis before, but I heard he was a fan of the magazine, so I asked him to assist our campaign and he said, “Of course!” We’ve been pretty fortunate, in that we’ve had a large number of movie business luminaries as subscribers since the very beginning. We don’t have the largest circulation in the world — it’s not always easy to find us on newsstands — but people like Martin Scorsese, Guillermo del Toro, Quentin Tarantino and Ernest Dickerson — who just directed that kick-ass “mid-season finale” of The Walking Dead — they know about us and never miss an issue. Joe Dante had a letter in our very first issue!

(This post contains 2 pages. Please visit the website to continue reading. Thank you.)

If you’re of a certain age — young or old — you probably know all about the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the landmark TV show which has changed hands many times over the years (at one time under the ownership of Disney, briefly), and the fan adoration for the characters shows no signs of abating. Some fans are so devoted to the show that they’re taking to making a fan film based on the 90s show called Zordon of Eltar: A Power Rangers Fan Film. That fan is, in fact, CliqueClack’s own Cisco Davis Jr., who has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to help finance the making of the film. We like to show our Clackers some support, so we sat down at the CliqueClack headquarters deep in a mountain somewhere to find out exactly what makes Cisco tick and why he wants to do this film.

CD: So Cisco, tell our readers a little about yourself.
CDJ: I’m 28 years old and work two jobs, one as a production technician/cameraman at a local television studio and the other as an E-Sales Assistant at a BMW Motorcycle dealership. In my free time I tirelessly grind away at expressing myself creatively because I can’t seem to function properly without it. I’ve spent many long hours and weekends formulating ways to tell stories and game plan the best way to go about tackling them.

CD: Tell us a little about this fan film. How did the idea come about?
CDJ: Zordon of Eltar is a fan film that’s actually supposed to serve as a re-imagined prequel to the hit show from the early 90s. The idea began to snowball when I thought about doing a typical Power Rangers fan film just for fun that was going to be nothing more than a fight scene followed by some credits at the end. I’m naturally a storyteller so that didn’t sit well with me. Upon watching the series over again from the beginning on Netflix, much to the chagrin of my roommates who had to suffer through it (bless their hearts), I realized that there were tons of plot holes and inconsistencies to the backstory behind the series. And having always wanted to direct a Power Rangers film it occurred to me how neat it would be to instead do a project that explores the murky and befuddled backstory.

CD: So why a Power Rangers film at this point in time?
CDJ: I’m a Power Rangers fan. At a very young age I knew I wanted to be involved with movies and filmmaking. Well it just so happened that around the same time I had all these budding dreams and aspirations of becoming a professional filmmaker that I had my childhood mind captivated by the Power Rangers TV show.

Most people don’t know at all that beneath the hokey children’s comedy and run-of-the-mill action scenes is that the foundation for a very solid universe exists. And as a natural storyteller, that universe is well worth exploring and making an adventure take place there. There’ve been enough Star Wars and Star Trek fan films. Stargate though… Hmmm. (j/k)

I basically care so much about the source material that I’m going out of the way to make it that much more interesting to me. It says a lot about how a children’s show can impact a kid’s childhood because 20 years later I just feel like giving back.

CD: And what have you done so far with the film?
CDJ: So far I’ve gotten a solid story outlined and ready to go and I’m even currently working with some INCREDIBLY KNOWLEDGEABLE members of the Ranger community who have been delightful enough to answer questions about the mythology behind the series. While my fan film will be a remake and creates new origins behind the hit show, I still respect the show enough to at least want to know exactly what the history is.

I grabbed a few friends with acting and modeling backgrounds and got them to help to help me see this vision come to life. I’ve done several tests for visual effects and still have a few more that I’d like to tackle to make make this a low budget production. I am five weeks into having learned visual effects thanks to the Hitfilm 2 Ultimate VFX software program. It’s easy to learn and gets the job done. It has opened so many doors to me that I never thought possible. If I could be a Hitfilm poster child then sign me up! Because it is the best thing that has ever happened to me as a filmmaker.

Of all of the projects I’ve ever worked on in the past, this was one of the first ones to actually look very close to how I saw it in my head.

CD: I know you’ve completed a trailer, so what can you tell us about it?
CDJ: I put together a teaser trailer/concept trailer to help the audience get an idea for the scope of the film and the world I’m trying to create. I put in a variety shots to give different glimpses into the universe and also set up the two main characters. It only took four weeks to put together as a beginner in visual effects so I only hope to get better.

CD: I can tell you I’m very impressed with what you’ve accomplished. And now you’re putting the project on Kickstarter to help raise some funds?
CDJ: I’m trying to raise at least $1,500 to help finance this film. It may not sound like much but that’s really all we need to make this production happen. The funding would go towards the purchasing of 3D models, upgrading the cardboard costume pieces we made to a better material for the camera and commissioning some artwork for landscapes and animations. We need this budget to make a believable alien universe.

CD: That sounds very doable. Anything else you’d like to add?
CDJ: We’re doing this fan film to have fun. The only end game in this for our team is to have fun creating a project we want to see for ourselves. The added benefit is that we can share this project with others for free.

So there you have it. We would love to see Cisco accomplish his goal so we’re putting this out there to the CliqueClack universe to help make that happen. You can visit Cisco’s Kickstarter page for more information, and have look at the trailer right here! And be sure to “Like” the official Facebook page. If successful, maybe we can talk Cisco into launching the world premiere of the completed film right here! Stay tuned for details.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOPpGiHzhrs

It’s unlikely that there are many (any?) Veronica Mars fans out there who haven’t at least heard about the highly successful Kickstarter campaign for an official Veronica Mars movie, but King Rob says there just might be, so it’s become our duty as backers to help spread the word out just a little further.

The campaign — officially launched by Veronica Mars creator (aforementioned King) Rob Thomas — has quickly and easily reached its initial funding goal of $2 million (it’s at almost $5 million now), shattering some Kickstarter records, including fastest project to $1 million, fastest project to $2 million and biggest film project in Kickstarter history. Now they’ve got another goal in their crosshairs: more backers than any Kickstarter drive in history.

In order to achieve that final goal, the the drive needs to acquire at least 87,143 backers (they’re at about 75,700 now). To help drive them to that number, the campaign is now offering a $1 pledge offering, which wasn’t initially available when the campaign started. While they aren’t offering any tangible rewards for donating a dollar, I will tell you that Thomas is doing a great job so far of providing some exclusive updates to all backers, regardless of the donation level. Photos of script pages, behind-the-scenes videos, and more. As a Veronica Mars fan, that one dollar is a bargain for what you’re getting in your inbox on a regular basis. In fact, the most recent update announced Veronica Mars coming to this year’s San Diego Comic-Con! Man, I can’t wait.

Leave a note in the comments if you’ve donated and at what level reward you hit.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRq1ncVi5mc

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A little more than a year ago, I had the pleasure to chat — via email — with director Jeffrey Schwarz, the man behind the awesome documentary about director William Castle, and the recent HBO documentary Vito. Schwarz also worked on some bonus material for the home video release of the musical version of John Waters’ Hairspray, where he met John and hatched the plan to produce a documentary on Waters’ muse, Divine.

Divine had certainly been a cult figure in Baltimore and beyond before the original Hairspray hit theaters, but he became an “overnight” star in 1988 … and died suddenly, shockingly, soon after the film’s release. The star of Waters’ movies was gone, changing the tone of his films, but broadening the cult appeal of Divine. Fans still flock to Baltimore to take tours of the film’s locations, and to visit Divine’s final resting place in a cemetery in Towson (and adorning the headstone with various items such as lipstick and false eyelashes). Besides a book written by Divine’s mother, Frances Milstead, and an E! True Hollywood Story, the life of the star — and Glenn Milstead, the man behind the makeup — has gone largely untold. Until now.

Schwarz’s company, Automat Pictures, is hard at work on putting the finishing touches on the documentary I Am Divine, but they need your help. The producers want I Am Divine to be a movie for the fans and by the fans, and they are asking fans and interested parties to help fund the project with a new Kickstarter campaign in which they hope to raise $40,000 by Divine’s birthday, October 19th. As of this writing, they are just over halfway to the goal with a little more than a week to go. They are looking for donations in any amount, and of course the incentives get better the more you give.

To get a better idea of Schwarz’s vision for the movie, you can check out my earlier interview with him. To get an update on the film’s progress and what they need to complete with the help of the Kickstarter donations, I got in touch with co-producer Lotti Pharriss Knowles to check on their progress.

CD: How far along are you in the process now? What still needs to be done? What will the money from Kickstarter help you finish?

LPK: We have finished a “rough cut” of the movie, but still need to polish the edit and add music and graphics. We also need to pay a lot of hefty licensing fees in order to use all the fantastic film clips, photos and archival footage we’ve collected.

CD: When may people expect to see the film?

LPK: We hope people will be able to start seeing the movie in festivals early next year — but again, that’s entirely up to Divine’s fans if they help us reach our goal!

CD: Can you tease a bit about some interesting things we might see in the film, and who has participated?

LPK: Fans will find out a ton (no pun intended) of interesting information about Divine’s entire life and career — we’ve really dug deep to tell the whole story. And we’ve got so many fantastic interviews with his friends, co-workers, the surviving Dreamlanders (including John Waters, of course), and the last interview Divine’s mother gave before she died.

CD: Any famous faces outside of the whole Dreamland circle making appearances?

LPK: Some of the non-Dreamlander “luminaries” interviewed include Ricki Lake, Tab Hunter, Bruce Vilanch, Michael Musto, Holly Woodlawn, Greg Gorman, and Joshua Grannell aka Peaches Christ.

CD: You’re looking for people to donate to Kickstarter to help complete the film. What do you want to say to those people who may be considering a donation to really entice them to help out (in addition to the perks that come with making a donation)? Why should people help you complete this movie?

LPK: We’d like to tell people that this really is a movie BY and FOR Divine fans, and we want them to feel a sense of ownership of the film. Yes, it’s tough raising money for independent films and documentaries in this economy, but we’re doing Kickstarter mainly to create a community of Divine-lovers who can rally around this project and champion the legacy of The Most Beautiful Woman in the World!

Do you want to see the life story of The Most Beautiful Woman in the World (or The Filthiest Person Alive!) on the big screen? Check out the I Am Divine website for more information on the film and the Kickstarter campaign, and help make Divine the star she was always destined to be.

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It was my husband who persisted, “Finish your book. You can self-publish.” And with that, a project that I started years ago (back when I blogged for Keith at TV Squad) was revisited and completed … finally. Writing a novel couldn’t be more different than blogging. The latter is a fast-paced process: draft-edit-tag-upload. And you get immediate feedback from readers via comments. Novel writing is much longer: draft-revise-draft-revise-stress out-revise. You get the idea.

But I finished North Shore South Shore this summer. I crafted a great query letter that resulted in positive feedback from agencies (both big ones and boutique agencies) and got me several requests for manuscripts. I thought for sure that I’d be agented and on my way to a book deal by Labor Day. I’m even toying with the idea of writing a pilot and registering my book with the WGA.

And then the responses started coming in. The writing is “excellent,” and “the story pulled me in,” and “I read this with real interest.” Clearly I had something but … not quite enough. No one knew who would buy North Shore South Shore. According to agents, the book falls between YA and Adult fiction. The book has too much adult content (don’t worry — it’s no Fifty Shades) to be considered appropriate for young adults. Yet, the characters are college-age, making them appealing to younger readers. Because it can fit neatly, the agents felt that they couldn’t sell it. And if an agent can’t sell it, they’re not interested. I was so frustrated. And it was hard to separate my confidence in the book’s quality from agent feedback about the book’s marketability. How could North Shore South Shore be well-written and compelling and yet no one wanted to try to sell it? It seemed to me like there was a strong opportunity to do something new that no one wanted to jump on. (This realization was also frustrating.) All the kids who grew up obsessing over Harry Potter were now entering their college years. Many of them still love reading and would probably love my book. The 20-something characters lead very adult lives but are burdened by leftover angst from their teen years. I felt like I had something special that was just waiting for a market (or a brave agent).

Labor Day came and went and I had no offer of representation. So I improvised. My blogging experience came in handy here as I embarked on an interactive marketing campaign. In a few weeks I had fans on my Facebook page, North Shore South Shore was being retweeted, my Pinterest page was filled with pictures of character’s clothing and cars, and I launched my Kickstarter project.

Kickstarter — aside from being a hot web property right now — provided a great platform for me as an author (and possibly as a publisher). I used the incentives application to create fun rewards for possible backers. And, thanks to my husband, I have a great video, replete with a guest appearance from my two-year-old son and a gag reel. Moreover, even if my Kickstarter campaign isn’t fully funded, I’ve harnessed a popular site to build awareness about North Shore South Shore.

The campaign ends this week, so go check it out. Check out the rewards. Pledges can be as little as a dollar but a thousand bucks gets your name in my book. Yes, you can be a character in North Shore South Shore! Contribute if you can. Kickstarter’s partnership with Amazon makes pledging easy and safe.