Duplass Brothers' Kickstarter Projects

Kickstarter is a way for people to raise money for projects through crowd sourcing. The projects can range from a short film to science experiments.

Now, Mark and Jay Duplass both have projects on there.

Jay Duplass has a documentary called Kevin he is trying to get funded:

In Austin, TX in the early '90s, Kevin was my hero. He was the purest, most inspired artist I had ever seen. His fusion of all-American folk-poetry with a wild flamenco guitar style was completely original, and I went to every show of his I could.

But in 1995, Kevin disappeared completely from the music scene, and I had no idea why.

Two years ago I finally tracked him down, and we began a friendship. I learned about the painful events back in ’95 that shattered his lifelong dream of making and sharing music. I learned he had barely touched his guitar ever since, and forgotten how to play almost all of his songs.

But then, thanks to a magical twist of fate I could never have imagined, Kevin and I found ourselves traveling halfway around the globe and back. And along the way, I watched as Kevin’s dream reignited right before my eyes.

KEVIN, my documentary debut, is that story.

Mark Duplass has a project with his wife to fund a feature film:

This idea of making a girl-based thriller has been banging around my head for a while now... Which is interesting because I'm not actually a huge fan of the genre. Or at least what the genre is today. The thrillers I've loved are the ones like DELIVERANCE, CAPE FEAR even RIVER WILD… Where the threat to the characters is real. Very real. And, while you hope it never happens to you, the possibility that it could happen to you is almost just as terrifying as the film itself. No little white albinos crawling out of crevasses or long hair coming up from bathtub drains… Just the real deal terror that makes you look inside yourself and hope to hell there is a sharp-clawed survivor in there. Exploring that kind of movie really excites me as a filmmaker. So the challenge I have posed to myself is this: make a feature film, following all the rules of the thriller genre, but do it on my own terms and make a film the only way I know how, which is simply and honestly.

Sooo, it was over the holidays this past year that my husband, Mark, and I went to visit my family where I grew up on the coast of Maine. One evening, we drank some wine and took a walk. And everything was so beautiful… the water, the rocks, the trees… it was just insanely gorgeous. And we started talking about this idea I had of this girls' trip gone awry… how I wanted it to be brutal and ugly and real... and beautiful. Then we looked around and it struck us: What better place to set these girls in a life and death struggle than on the rocky, harsh, yet utterly breathtaking coast of Maine? And that’s where BLACK ROCK was born. Mark flew back to L.A. and, thanks a to blizzard-induced 12-hour layover, landed with a rough draft of the script.

And here we are now, one month out from production. It has happened so crazy fast! We have an fabulously awesome cast: KATE BOSWORTH, LAKE BELL, JAY PAULSON, ANSLEM RICHARDSON, WILL BOUVIER… and me. We have an amazingly talented crew that will be out there, helping me. And what was once just an idea banging around my head is now very real, with incredibly strong momentum behind it...

Which brings me to you. We want this move to LOOK gorgeous. In the past, the smaller films we have done have all had a similar, lo-fi look to them. And, while they are all visually interesting in their own right, you can only do so much with a low budget camera. I believe BLACK ROCK should look different, better. There is a new camera out now called the ARRI ALEXA and it can do amazing things like shoot really well in exterior low light situations (like maybe an island in the middle of the ocean in the middle of the night with no electricity) and it can shoot fast motion (like maybe girls running for their lives through the woods) without any of the bizarre digital quirks from other cameras. With this camera, our little movie will look as good as any big budget Hollywood movie. And, being able to work on this level opens up a whole new world of opportunities for a smaller film like ours.

So, I ask/beg/implore you to help us out… This film may have started small, but it has a big heart, and with your help, the potential to be ginormous! Be a part of it!

Mark and Jay Duplass are not novices to filmmaking. They have recently graduated from the indie utlra-low budget world to working on studio projects. So I find it really interesting that they are turning to Kickstarter for help for each of these.

I see Kickstarter as a way for the audience to actively participate in creating the content they want to see. No more bitching about if only someone would have funded this filmmaker or if only the studios would make certain kinds of films. With Kickstarter you can actually help make these projects come to life.

Having two filmmakers who are in the system going to Kickstarter might just lead to more. Here is a way to get that little arthouse film made. I think right now the only draw back is the Duplass Brothers don't seem to have a strong social networking strategy. I find the projects which usually get funded have strong support or talk on Twitter and Facebook as well as getting various blogs and websites to write about the projects.

Jay Duplass' project has 8 days left to be funded (I only found out about it with about 14 days left), and yet it is barely halfway to being funded. I wish he had approached some sites and writers he knows to get the word out there.

Mark Duplass' project with his wife has already shown up on a couple of movie sites already, so I have a feeling it will reach its goal.

Still, I applaud the two of them for getting outside of the rut of those who constantly want a studio or producer to pay for everything and trying to find a new model to fund certain projects.