Part of this huge project I 've been working on for a while is just building a platform. In order to get funding for my documentary I have to gain some form of traction towards my project. Within the following days, weeks, I don't know, I will start to talk about the process of making this documentary of mine amongst other things. So if your interested feel free to check my stuff out while I currently start to refine it more and more. I'm also working on a discord server for the community (and searching for mods). But let me get to the meat and bones of this thing.
The Meat and Bones- My Documentary
During 2020 I took it upon myself to making something about the thing I had been thinking of for years at this point. So I started going in deep reading up every book about this topic and things related to it, that by the time I'd reach the end of the year I was so invested into the information that I thought "at last, I'm ready!" Ready for what? you might ask. I was ready to make a documentary or at least something to share this story that was so fascinating to me that I just wanted to share it with everyone I knew (and I sure as hell did).
When 2021 came around I sent my first email to a person to inquire about the source of the material (as the initial owner of the archive died by a murder framed as a suicide. That's another story in itself.) on the 14th of march. From there I went down a rabbit hole slowly uncovering and meeting people who knew and met this fascinating person (or had some information about them). Throughout the year I met so many people, a pianist, a writer, a singer, an artist, researchers, and others. Some people I came too short to talking to them and they passed away before I could get to know them or preserve the information they had to say. That's life, but it's a hard pill to swallow.
Also within the year I made some connections which helped me present my film to some investors. While I nailed the pitch and the panel liked it, I haven't seen a single grant or penny. That sucks and I'm still inquiring about what happened but here we are. So now I need help and funding, as well as some kind of platform to show this to. Despite all of this, I will not stop working on the project and continued to find new information that has been previously unknown/unheard/unseen to the public.
I want people to hear and see this story the right way finally. To see this story through a different perspective that isn't trying to capitalize on a human being or showing them through an inaccurate lenses in which the person had stated (before they passed) that they wouldn't have liked to be seen that way. In a way that respects them and the living people who met them and embraced their presence. Those people have stated that their tired of the shitty movies and dehumanizing books (which I wholeheartedly agreed with and what motivated me to even take on a task like this).
I want the funds to be able to pay off the licensing fees for images, music, etc... paying for materials that aren't in institutions, along with being able to use certain research information (you'd be surprised on how much you have to pay to view certain records or even use content that honestly should be available to researchers without a fee). I want this mammoth of a project off my chest and roaming in the world for people to look at and go "hey, that's pretty cool."
But enough about the documentary! Let me talk about the "podcast"....
The “Podcast" and What I Want to Do
So the "podcast"... the word I keep putting in quotes and the main point that the post is really supposed to be about. Here is what it's about and what I plan to do with it!
The podcast is going to be diary of sorts and a timeline of my journey making this thing to present time. I'll talk about the people I've met, show excerpts of material, amongst other things to help "vent out" my thoughts and feelings of this experience. I don't really have a person to talk to about this that would understand or care about what I'm doing, so why not try to build an audience?
Aside from the little series I will make about that I will also talk about the things I like and the people behind it. I want to focus on the history and the humanity of these things and what it means to me. From book reviews, movie analysis, to entertainers, and more, I'll cover the media I like because like I stated for the documentary, no one around me really cares about it. It honestly feels like I'm in a fandom and I'm the only fan, which is isolating as hell.
Other than that I'm working on a discord server for the community, where I'll post my projects and discoveries. I also have some other interesting things that I'm planning for the club (which is uncovering some mysteries about a long lost Harlem socialite),and finding lost films and shows amongst other things. I hope this will be something substantial and we'll begin to preserve history together. This will be unlike any other group or channel on internet.
So....Are you willing to join the ride?
So ways to help out and join (and things that are still being set up)
Here's my SoundCloud where I will post new episodes and updates. Just finish making my first post.
This is a link to the YouTube Channel where the videos and long form essays will be.
I'm working on a ko-fi to gain some funds and support.
The discord server is in the works when the time it's finished I will post the link here or in a future news post.
- I'm also looking for some mods for the server because I wont be able to manage things alone.
- Here's the mod application form
Other things will be revealed soon.
note: Sorry for the bare bones look of these pages, I'm still creating logos and things to jazz up these pages.
But if there's ways you think you can contribute and help me out with this, feel free to reach out to me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Signing out
ps: sorry for my trashy spelling/grammar. I typed this one sitting and just wanted to get this out there.
Now I'm going to take a break, I've been working on this all day (:3 _ )=
