BOOM! First Stretch Goal unlocked! Plus preview of in-progress poster artwork
over 8 years ago – Sat, Sep 09, 2017 at 01:14:36 AM

Hello everyone!

There are only 7 DAYS LEFT in the campaign and you did it! You got us to our first Stretch Goal. The Mask of Cthulhu patch has gone to production, and we should have a look at what they call a "sew-out" in a few days... this is basically a sample patch, so that we can approve the thread colors, etc. 

So, how do you get the Patch?

Easy! If you're pledged at any Gold Shoggoth Level (that's $235 Deluxe Traveler From Beyond the Stars, $325 VIP Experience Levels, $500 All Access level, and all levels above that), it'll be automatically added to your reward package. 

But, what if I'm not at a Gold Shoggoth level... can I still get one?

Yes! But, rather than do what we've done in the past and just make it an add-on, we're willing to send you one FOR FREE. 

What Gwen and I want MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE, is to keep spreading the word about the wonderful H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival and this campaign, which ends in ONLY 7 DAYS. To that end, this year's 3" round, embroidered Cthulhu Patch is FREE for you, if you do just these little things for us:

1. Be pledged (now and when the campaign ends) at any level starting at, or higher, than the $25 Supporter T-shirt level. That's most of the levels, so the majority of you are already there.

2. SHARE this campaign (short link: http://kck.st/2xBErfh ) with your friends on Facebook or Twitter within the next 48 hours (by 9pm Pacific on Sunday) and TAG "H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival & CthulhuCon" on Facebook (facebook.com/hplfilmfestival), or @HPLFF on Twitter. 

• If you've already shared the campaign, please share it again during this time - we really need it.
• If you want to really do it right, really oversell it to your friends by telling them how much you like the festival, or how cool you think the rewards are, in your own words!

3. COMMENT on this Update (the one you're reading now on Kickstarter), before 9pm Pacific on Sunday, that you've just shared the campaign.

Follow those steps, and we'll put a free patch in your Rewards. Don't give us money for one, just help us spread the word. One patch per backer account, please. After Sunday, we'll make the patch a paid add-on, but for now, please just share.

How does this make sense for Gwen and Brian?

Here's how it is: we're really not in it for the money; we administer this campaign to benefit the 20+ year history of the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival. When this campaign is over, the funds will be used FIRST to pay for the production of the physical rewards you're pledging for, THEN every dollar beyond that goes directly into producing the festival in October, to make it better and so that it doesn't cripple us with debt. (The one exception is if we reach the DVD or Blu-ray Stretch Goal. The funds for producing those, and for paying the first round of indie filmmaker royalties, go into a special savings account, earmarked for that production.)

That's it! Gwen and I don't take a cut, or a salary, or profit in any way from this fundraising campaign (even for the shirts we make in-house). We use the campaign to fund the festival. Period. 

If we're lucky, and we do a good job, and a lot of people come to the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival® (Oct 3-6), perhaps purchasing some show merchandise or shirts from our Sigh Co./Arkham Bazaar table, that's when we get a cut... only after it's over and we're all basking in the warm afterglow (cold quasar light?) of another weekend of Cosmic Horror. If it's successful, we cover our house rent for a while... if it's not so successful, well, you get the idea. 

In other words, if you help us make it successful (in the way described above), we'll totally just give you this embroidered patch. We're happy to.

Nick "The Hat" Takes us down to the Bayou

Supreme artist Nick Gucker won last year's Pickman's Apprentic competition, and was offered a tiny sum of nickels, but infinitely large bragging rights, to create this year's Festival poster (which is included at some levels, and will also be add-on-able).

We wanted him to capture the magic of New Orleans and south Louisiana, the Cthulhu Cult of those parts, and maybe a little voodoo for spice. We think you'll agree he's bringing the magic to this one. 

Nick Gucker's line art is as finely wrought as the iron lace balconies in New Orleans itself, and we're just beside ourselves to have him in our little community. 

Cheers

Brian and Gwen

Stretch Goals, ahoy! Streaming, DVDs, even Blu-rays.
over 8 years ago – Thu, Sep 07, 2017 at 10:52:29 PM

It's been a Weird few days here in Portland... weirder than usual. Wild fires are consuming 10,000+ acres of our historic woodlands, including the falls region by famed Multnomah Falls. The sky is dark, the streets are covered in ash, and the sun is red. We were sure it was the Endtimes, until we heard that it was just some kids playing with fireworks who sparked off such destruction. Between these new fires, wildfires in southern Oregon and Washington, flooding in Texas from Harvey, and the threat of Irma in Florida, we are all experiencing some trying times. Our thoughts are with you. 

Stay positive, help others in need, if you can, and take care of your own health. In the middle of it, we'll be here, working hard to bring some Cosmic Joy (by way of Cosmic Horror) to Portland once more, and a little Cthulhu-sized fun to our backers from afar. Take care and be safe, everyone.

Stretch Goals are here! 

A Big Thanks for getting us past our initial funding goal over the weekend! Reaching that point means we can afford one of our biggest expenses: the theater rental. Everything raised from here on out will help us make the festival experience even better, whether you'll be joining us in person, or through a “there in spirit” level. We hated to make you wait, but wanted to make sure all of the details were dialed in before unveiling the stretch goals!

$26,000 – CTHULHU PATCH. Once we hit this mark (and there's not far to go!) this beautiful embroidered patch will be produced & added to all GOLD SHOGGOTH levels FOR FREE, and made available as an ADD-ON for only $8. 

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE... All backers at the $25 Supporter T-shirt level and above will have a chance to get the patch added to their reward for FREE for one glorious day! (details of how to do this will be posted when we reach the goal).

$30,000 – MARDI GRAS CUP - Complete your Mardi Gras Pack! The triumvirate of Mardi Gras throws are beads, doubloons, and cups. If we reach this goal, we’ll produce this traditional purple and shiny gold throw cup (with Cthulhu!) and ADD IT FOR FREE to all levels that include the Mardi Gras Pack (and offer it as an Add-On, if you want more than one).

$36,000 – VIRTUAL STREAM - BE THERE IN SPIRIT FOR REAL (kinda)! FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER we’ll provide an on-line stream DURING THE FEST WEEKEND with 2 full blocks of new short films, plus selected panels and live events FREE AT SILVER & GOLD SHOGGOTH LEVELS. Reaching this level makes the Shadow Out of Time and Traveler levels an INSANELY good thing for people who can't attend the festival in person.

$40,000 – BEST OF 2017 DVD -We’ll have the funds to produce the Best of 2017 Short Film Collection on DVD, pay the filmmakers royalties, and we’ll INCLUDE IT AT ALL GOLD SHOGGOTH LEVELS. It will also be available as a discounted ADD-ON for all other levels. NOTE: DVD production takes some time; it will be produced and mailed separately from other rewards in Spring/Summer 2018, as we've done the last 3 years.

$48,600 – BEST OF 2017 BLU-RAY - We’ll have the funds to produce the Best of 2017 on high definition Blu-ray, in addition to the DVD (so we'll have both available separately) and offer it at a nominal UPGRADE price for GOLD SHOGGOTH LEVELS and as a discounted ADD-ON. NOTE: Blu-ray production takes some time; it will be produced and mailed separately from other rewards in Spring/Summer 2018.
(why so much more? We did the math; commercial Blu-rays are much much more expensive to produce than DVDs, due to additional authoring and licensing fees, and higher priced replication, media, and packaging, but the advantage is a sturdier disc and a a great HD picture.) 

SILVER SHOGGOTH LEVELS ARE:

• $100 Shadows Out of Time
• $150 Traveler From Beyond the Stars
• $195 VIP 3-Day
• $385 VIP for TWO

GOLD SHOGGOTH LEVELS ARE:

• $235 Deluxe Traveler From Beyond the Stars
• $325 VIP Experience Levels
• $500 All Access level and all levels above

Rewards are in Production!

Because the festival is in a few short weeks, we have already started making some of the core rewards. We thought you'd like to see a couple of in-progress shots of our custom-made Cthulhu Bead Medallion and the Masque of Cthulhu.  

We will be back with more updates as each goal is reached. Until then, keep sharing!

Gwen & Brian

Great Fest news! World Premiere of They Remain, guest Philip Gelatt, and Micro-fiction.
over 8 years ago – Sun, Sep 03, 2017 at 11:31:43 PM

Hello everyone!

While we wait to hear back about costs and workability of some of our planned Stretch Goal items (though I'll give you a hint on one: the Best of 2017 DVD stretch goal will stay at last year's $40,000 goal, which we're nearly 60% of the way to already... but there's much more than that in the works), I wanted to lay a couple news items on you!

World Premiere of the first feature film based on the work of Laird Barron

One of our featured guests this year is Mr. Philip Gelatt, who is well known as the masterful screenwriter of Cosmic Horror sleeper hit, Europa Report. He'll be joining us this year to present the world premiere of his directorial debut, They Remain, based on the Laird Barron novella -30-. We're very very lucky to have scored this premiere, and you do not want to miss this film on the big screen. The current plan is to hold the gala premiere Saturday evening at the festival, October 7th. Mr. Gelatt will be with us all weekend to talk about They Remain, Europa Report, as well as his comic book projects. 

 

You can hobnob with Philip at the VIP Party (by pledging for any VIP level), and we're also adding a breakout session with him for 10 lucky Deluxe and VIP backers, where you can talk about movies, comics, his hometown of Providence, whatever strikes your fancy. 

To get a chance to be in that breakout session, just back at any level that includes a 3-day pass, and we'll ask you if you'd like to enter the random drawing in the post-campaign survey.

Lovecraft didn't invent micro-fiction, but he did master it. You can too!

Some of HPL's most memorable stories are tiny little pieces of Cosmic Horror. To honor that, four years ago we started an Annual Lovecraftian Micro-Fiction Contest. The 4th Annual Lovecraftian Micro-Fiction contest is coming to a close on September 5th, so there is still a couple days to get in on the action. 

Stretch your writing skills by authoring a piece that evokes the spirit of Lovecraft, the Uncanny, or Cosmic Horror in only 500 words. If your story is selected as one of the top 10 (+3 bonus stories for a Witch's Dozen of tales), it will be published in Volume 4, and you'll receive two copies. The author of the top-ranking story will be invited to take part in next year's Challenge From Beyond round-robin story, along with some of the most notable modern voices of Lovecraftian fiction, and the top story will also be read for the audience this year by one of our featured guests (to be determined). Note that, like most contests of this nature, there is a very modest entry fee to cover the administration of the contest, as well as the production of the volume. Read the rules and enter the contest on ArkhamBazaar.com.

 

We'll be back with more updates soon! 

By the basalt towers of Yuggoth,

Brian & Gwen

Funded! Stretch Goals coming soon!
over 8 years ago – Sun, Sep 03, 2017 at 12:32:10 AM

BIG Thanks to everyone for helping us fund in just a little over 24 hours! We're so gratified by this supportive community, and it makes all the hard work of putting on the festival worth it. We're working out some final details for our Stretch Goals, and should be unleashing those soon! In the meantime, please keep sharing the campaign on Facebook and Twitter. Our initial goal gets us the funds to cover our most vital expenses, but there's still a long way to go. Thanks again for getting us this far!

Gwen & Brian

Laissez les bons temps rouler!
over 8 years ago – Fri, Sep 01, 2017 at 11:29:07 PM

Hey everyone!

It's alive... ALIIIIVE! And you noticed! Thank you.

We're already over a quarter way to our goal in only about an hour, and that HAS GOT to be some kind of record. 

Thanks for bearing with us during the long lead up to this Kickstarter campaign! It's been a long road to get here and we are definitely running late. The journey has been punctuated with sickness, travel, and reward producers (two of 'em!) that dropped out at the last minute... which is why this campaign didn't launch earlier in the week; we were re-jiggering and getting new folk set up to make our rewards the last several days.

But, it's okay that we're late. We know what needs doing, and we've plotted it all out. A few notes...

1. This is a super short campaign. We only have time to run it for 15, instead of our usual 21 days. It ends September 15th! As such, SHARING IS CARING. We don't have as much time as we usually do, and this year some of our most notable expenses have increased dramatically. To help us cover it all, please, please share this campaign in Facebook, on Twitter, in your personal blog... anywhere you can help spread the word. 

2. Many levels are more limited than usual; this is because we'll need to be placing orders for several of the reward items before the campaign is over, due to the short lead time before the fest. We're ordering quantities that we think will be okay, but if you have your eye on any particular reward, PLEDGE FOR IT NOW. 

3. To streamline the post-campaign, we'll be using BackerKit. This will allow you to more easily add items on *after* the campaign, rather than having to do a bunch of math up front. However, if you do pledge extra during the campaign, BackerKit will let you apply that surplus to specific add-ons, which streamlines ordering and makes record-keeping more accurate on our end. So, either way of adding-on is fine! 

4. If you're picking rewards up at the festival, you'll be able to choose that option in BackerKit. If you need shipping, shipping will be calculated by weight for your package through BackerKit at the end of the campaign - no shipping costs are included in level prices. Because this takes into account all the stuff you're getting, plus any items you add-on post-campaign, this should result in much more accurate (and in most cases CHEAPER) shipping costs, than if we guesstimated them for a handful of regions and included that in the level. It should save you money, at the expense of knowing the shipping amount up front. It's a GOOD THING.

5. STRETCH GOALS - we're working on 'em and should be announcing them in a day or two. They will include items you're accustomed to (like the Best of 2017 DVD... and maybe Blu-ray?) and some other fun stuff. Hang in there!

6. IMPORTANT! If you are coming to the festival, we are going to need you to complete your BackerKit survey within 1 week of the end of the campaign (campaign ends on Sep 15th, surveys will come out the next day, and we'll need them completed by Sep 22nd), or we won't be able to get your rewards together in time for pick up at the festival. Please do whatever you need to NOW, to make sure that you get our e-mails at the end of the campaign... whitelist e-mails from hplff.com, sign up for Kickstarter updates in your inbox and give them a high priority, etc. That'll help us make sure your rewards are ready on time!

Talk to you soon! And thanks again! In the time I've taken to write this, we've gone from 25% funded to almost 35%... AWESOME! 

Brian