Queen Anne resident and independent filmmaker Mark Titus hopes the power of the online funding site, “Kickstarter,” will allow him to produce his newest feature film, “The Breach,” to further his effort sto help save Pacific Northwest salmon.
Titus needs to raise $16,000, out of a total budget of $40,000, by Wednesday, July 16 in order to make it to Alaska to begin filming this year.
The potential documentary features Northwest notables like award-winning chef and restaurateur, Tom Douglas; first head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Bill Ruckelshaus; and actor and river activist, Tom Skerritt.
“What a salmon’s lifecycle represents is us…strength is measured in how one confronts their weaknesses,” said Skerritt in a prepared statement. “Salmon experience that from the time they’re born…the best become the best of the best. We don’t grow as individuals if we don’t face and confront challenges every day…that’s the story of the salmon, and of us, isn’t it?”
Funding is the first major obstacle to every independent feature film, which is why many indie filmmakers like Titus have turned to online crowd-funding sites like Kickstarter.com to get their projects off the ground.
According to Kickstarter’s website, the idea is straightforward: Set a financial goal. Set a deadline. Use personal contacts and social media like Facebook and Twitter to inspire large groups of people to back the project and receive rewards for their contribution. If the goal isn’t reached by the deadline – no money changes hands.
But if the goal is met, it will launch Titus and his small crew to film in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest all summer to capture the story of the wild salmon runs.
If the film is successfully funded in full, Titus and his producer, Susan LaSalle hopes to have it ready for film festivals in early 2013.
“Wild salmon aren’t just a beloved icon to us here in the Pacific Northwest,” Titus said in a prepared statement. “They are a critical, fully sustainable food source for the planet. Getting involved in a democratic process like Kickstarter, where anyone can directly contribute to the creation of this documentary seemed in the exact right spirit to get this film off the ground.”
To learn more about the film, readers can visit the project’s pitch page here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/734848691/the-breach-0 <http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/734848691/the-breach-0>
About Mark Titus:
When Titus isn’t fishing for trout and salmon, he writes and directs commercial projects for clients like Amazon, Microsoft and the United Nations Development Programme. As a filmmaker he directed, “Fins,” a short, 2003 documentary that focuses on the iconic form of the Orca Whale and asks, “Do our icons define us?” Titus also produced two short narrative films in 2006 that have screened at film festivals worldwide.
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