Shout outs and Gratuitous Plugs, Part 2

There is a word I love that I admittedly totally misuse. But I just like the sound of it. The word is ecumenical. Usually it has a specific religious connotation though I see dictionary.com also lists 'general' and 'universal' as meanings. So maybe I'm not too far off the mark. When I'm in an "ecumenical mood", in my terms, it means I'm in a warm and fuzzy, sharing, caring state of mind. Man, was that a long winded preface to say, here now are two projects that I am touting... with a twist!

That twist being a little crowdfunding love. Yes, these two creative teams are looking for support to bring their projects the life.

A little disclaimer - I am not creatively involved in either of these endeavours.

"So why are you promoting them, Richard?" Well, in the case of the Upstart Theatre Company I saw their production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot in June which was excellent. My comments at the time:

What a play!!! Absurdist, darkly funny, bursting with ideas, pointed, subversive, dense and intricate dialogue, playful... challenging. Three highlights (amongst many) - a powerhouse penultimate scene between Braye Dial as Judas Iscariot and Simon Thompson as Jesus; Kingsley Judd takes a beautiful written monologue at least 10 minutes long and hits it out of the ballpark; Desiree Crossing's character breaking down as she damns Satan as a liar. Get along and catch it - highly recommended! 

I therefore have total confidence that their production of not one but TWO of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies - Macbeth and Julius Caesar - will be excellent. So check out their Pozible page and help make wonderful theatre come to life with a group of talented actors. One of them will even make a cake for you as a reward!

Pozible Pitch from Bill Crow on Vimeo.

The second project is a short film by Gordon Waddell in Sydney. I was referred to Gordon recently by a mutual contact as he was looking for a writer to develop a feature film idea. As a result I've written a synopsis, the pitch has been made to a potential investor and now we wait to see if I get paid to write what will be a fun action/adventure story with a strong international flavour.

His short film is called The Offer and the Pozible page is here. Again, if you can spare some heard earned dosh why not help turn words in a script into moving images?

Lastly, talking of crowdfunding, a reminder about ScreenWest's 3to1 Initiative with submissions due on 12 November.