Locally tingled small screen productions are currently seeking funding via Kickstarter, to varying success.
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Since I am an ocean half full kinda guy, we'll start with the more successful of the two, at least based on total funds raised so far. Newport Beach-based nonprofit We Are Ocean is the subject of a documentary titled Between Two Harbors. Produced by Curtis Birch, Inc. and directed by award-winning director Richard Yelland (Floating: The Nathan Gocke Story), Between Two Harbors chronicles the inaugural Camp We Are Ocean.
The five-day camp at Catalina Island's White's Landing, which is five nautical miles north of Avalon, included water-based activities such as surfing, snorkeling, stand up paddleboarding, kayaking and fishing for 21 cancer patients and survivors.
“I was amazed at how well participants responded to the ocean therapy,” says Yelland. “At the end of five days they had gone from the dying to the living.”
The final stages of production continue, and to help with funding We Are Ocean launched a six-week Kickstarter campaign that, with 21 days to go as of Monday, had 93 backers pledging $11,157 toward the $45,000 goal. The hope is to release Between Two Harbors through Outside TV, iTunes and other digital channels in January, according to producers.
Meanwhile, a wannabe television production loaded with Chapman University alums has a promising premise, if not the kind of funding response Between Two Harbors has enjoyed so far.
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David Ingrassano, a 2008 Dodge School of Film and Media Arts screenwriting alumnus, is developing/producing the reality show Chasing Hollywood, which makes eight people pursuing various Tinsel Town careers live in the same house ala Big Brother.
“You will be involved in their day to day lives in the house as well as around Los Angeles,” Ingrassano promises. “They will be busy with auditions, networking, attending meet ups, job interviews, work, runway and fashion shows, indie movies, TV shows, etc.”
The great eight are plucked from all walks of life, different age ranges, different ethnicities and different countries of origin, each chasing a Hollywood dream. The cast includes a would-be makeup artist, TV host, actor, singer-songwriter and an editor.
The editor cast member in the pilot is 2013 Chapman alumnus Dan McDonald. An assistant editor of the actual program footage is Shivang Mehta, an '07 Chapman alum. Three scenes for the Chasing Hollywood sizzle reel were shot by John Nodorft, another alum from 2013. “We're planning on using a lot more Chapman alumni as this progresses,” Ingrassano vows.
Ah, but about progressing … Unfortunately, as of Monday, the Chasing Hollywood Kickstarter campaign had only pulled in five backers who pledged $151 toward the $100,000 goal with only 52 hours to go.
Yikes! Sounds like they need to cast a sugar daddy. For more on the project, visit chasinghollywood.net.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.