The wonder of Woollies and crowd funding

Photo from This Is Money

This project has been in limbo for far too long and so this newsletter is published to draw your attention to it. I actually conceived this idea in January 2009 when the final Woolworths stores were locking up for the final time and the nation was still mourning. 

I have changed the formatting slightly over the years whenever I come across my notes but I do have a script in place that follows the turbulent years following the closure of Woolworths and the effect that it had on the two mascots Woolly and Worth. We find out that the celebrity lifestyle disappeared and the pair suffered severe hardship eventually living on the streets.

Now they are making the ultimate showbiz comeback, but is the world of retail advertising the same as it once was and will a sheep and a dog still be as popular as they were in their heyday? 

The film is a dark comedy about the excesses of fame and fortunes lost. 

I don't anticipate needing a fortune to do this but there will be some expenses that need covering, especially after the filming when the technical stuff kicks in and all the editing and sound work will need doing. Woolly and Worth are two cuddly toys that I have and need to convert them into puppets and will be operated using the 'hand and rod' technique (like The Muppets were). For some scenes we will need to use some kind of trolly system for walking scenes. I will be paying for a film crew and a small cast of actors and two puppeteers. 

If you miss Woolworths and would like to see this film made, then please make a donation (however large or small) using the PayPal button at the top of the page. As always, all of the money that is donated using the button will be used to make short films, documentaries, podcasts, comedy sketches and other such things that I will make available to watch/listen to online totally free of charge - my gift as a thank you for your gift.

Thank you.

April Newsletter

Four months into the year and I am still way off target for the things I want to achieve before Santa visits again. I can't express enough the importance of upping the crowd funding by donating what you can, even pennies all add up, in order to help bring these ideas to fruition. Please remember that I don't take any money personally, it all goes into making entertainment that will be given away for free on the Internet. Currently the thing I am saving up for is the pilot episode of Saturday Breakfast, which I think I can do on the cheap for £500. There will then be a Kickstarter campaign to hopefully make a series and the pilot will be the campaign video. To make the series properly won't be massively expensive so the target amount won't be huge, however I do want to pay the people who work on it and make it look as professional as possible. 

All donations are appreciated and it is a good deal when you think about it, certainly better value than the TV Licence. Whether you make a one-off donation or a regular payment I appreciate it all the same. In order to concentrate on one thing at a time I will focus the payments on making the pilot first and getting the Kickstarter going. 

In other news, here are some free things to hopefully spur you on:

The Sunday Alternative Podcast is still rolling on of course, listen to all episodes here. 

The Random Saturday Sessions has two episodes left to air at the time of writing this, I definitely want to do more especially in other towns and cities and donations will help with that. Like the series on Facebook here. 

I am doing a video blog on my Facebook page and putting up some cheap and cheerful little bits of comedy that I have filmed on my phone. Again I hope that the free content will spur on donations. Basically anything I don't spend money on will go on my Facebook and the more elaborate things will go on YouTube. Give my Facebook page a like here.