Thanks for the Support!

We recently reached our fundraising goal on Kickstarter.com. I wanted to take a minute and thank all of the supporters that we have. As many of you know, the Lloyd Alexander Documentary is a non-profit film. My main goal in creating it is to create exposure about the wonderful author Lloyd Alexander. I want to give something to his fans that can help them remember his remarkable legacy. I want to reach those who have never read any of his books, and inspire them to read. I want to reach the child, and get them interested in reading.

Thanks to many of you, I haven't even finished the film, but these goals of mine are already happening. During the fundraising effort, we have received much support from high places. Fantasy author Brandon Sanderson started by showing his support for the project on Facebook, twitter, and his blog.

Various authors and artists showed support by tweeting about the project. There were tweets by Garth Nix, Donna Jo Napoli, Faith Erin Hicks, Kurt Busiek, Brent Weeks, Harry Connolly, Neil Gaiman, to name a few (sorry to those others who also tweeted about it, and I missed).  We also received support from three-time Newbery honor author Jennifer Holm. Even Skippyjon Jones showed support by posting a link on Facebook.

There was an article written about the project by one of Utah's most popular new sources, KSL.

In addition to this publicity, there have been countless fans, friends, family, etc. who have helped by spreading the word.

However, most of all I want to thank the people who have donated to the project. As important as it has been to have support from famous authors and artists, news coverage, and social networking, in the end we wouldn't have made our goal without those of you who decided to sacrifice and donate to the Lloyd Alexander film.

Preview Released

I just put together a rough cut of some footage from the documentary. My purpose in releasing it is to give an idea to everyone what the film will be like. I also wanted to thank everyone who has supported the project. 

The video clip shows some excerpts with Ann Durrell McCrory, Lloyd Alexander's editor for most of his career. In the clip she is talking about working with Lloyd Alexander on the Prydain books. 

Watch the video here, and let me know what you think. Also, if you haven't yet donated, please consider doing so, as there are only 5 days left and we need $3,513 more in order to be funded.  

Thanks again for your support. I hope you enjoy this preview.

Only 2 Weeks Left!!

In the fundraiser on kickstarter.com there is only 2 weeks left to reach our goal. Just a reminder on how kickstarter works. If you make a pledge, and the project is successful, you receive a specific reward depending on the amount of your pledge.  If we reach our goal by the set date, our project is funded. If we are even $1 short, we get nothing, and the people who pledged, don't pay.

Our goal is to raise $15,000 by June 30th. As of 11:55 a.m. MDT on June 16th we have $8,240 pledged to the project. We are in need of $6,760 more in the next two weeks for this project to be funded.

If you haven't yet pledged, please think about if this is something that you feel like you can do.  Also, even if you have pledged, help spread the word. Re-post this video on your blogs, tweet about it, post it on Facebook, e-mail your friends, co-workers, family, and associates. We can make a big push over the next two weeks, and reach our goal.

Donate to the Lloyd Alexander Documentary Film here.

2nd Week of Filming

So we just finished the second week of filming for the Lloyd Alexander documentary film. We flew into Philadelphia on Saturday night, and really got underway on Monday.

Monday was Lloyd Alexander Day at Arlington cemetery in Drexel Hill, PA, which you can read about in my previous blog post. We were able to go to that and film it for use in the documentary.  We also were able to do an interview with Christopher Tripoli on Monday.

Tuesday we went to New York and interviewed one of Lloyd Alexander's editors, Lucia Monfried. That was a great interview, that will really add some special perspectives to the documentary.

This morning, Wednesday, we finished up this week of filming with a neat interview with George Nicholson in New York. Another great interview, another great week of filming.

This is a really neat project that I feel blessed to be able to work on right now. It is such a wonderful privilege to speak with people that knew Lloyd Alexander. Each one of them has given me such wonderful insights, not only into the life of Alexander, but into what it means to be a human being. Which, perhaps is no coincidence, is a lesson that I think can be found in many of Lloyd Alexander's books. 

Tomorrow, I will fly back home to my wonderful family in Utah, but this has been a wonderful week of filming for the Lloyd Alexander Documentary Film.

Lloyd Alexander Day at Arlington Cemetery

Arlington Cemetery in Drexel Hill, PA hosts a "Lloyd Alexander Day" every year to commemorate the life of one of the greatest fantasy authors of all time. Today, June 11th 2012 was the 4th annual celebration, and I got invited to come and film it for the Lloyd Alexander Documentary.

For Lloyd Alexander Day, the 6th graders from Drexel Hill Middle School are invited to come to Arlington Cemetery to hear a presentation by Christopher Tripoli, about Lloyd Alexander. The presentation talks about how Lloyd Alexander uses creativity and imagination to become a succesful author, and how others have used Lloyd Alexander as an inspiration to fuel their own creativity and imagination.

The students are then taken to the mausoleum where Lloyd and his wife Janine are. It is a neat event that is truly a legacy to the influence that this man had, and continues to have even after his death.  I'm glad that I was able to take a part in it. It was also wonderful to have the opportunity to meet one of Lloyd Alexander's granddaughters at the cemetery today.

Here are some pictures of the event:

We also got the opportunity to interview Christopher Tripoli for our documentary. What a great interview.  A few years ago when he started giving the presentations on Lloyd Alexander, he reached out to many people who knew Lloyd Alexander, or whose lives were changed for the better because of Mr. Alexander. Chris has researched Lloyd's life and learned a lot about him.

We then went to a few locations that are a unique part of the Lloyd Alexander story, such as Township Line Pizza, The Post Office, and The Fresh Grocer. These places may seem trivial, but there are fun stories about how they were a part of the life of Lloyd Alexander.

If you are interested in this film, you can still get involved. To get a copy of the film on DVD, or to find out how you can come to the premiere showing in October of this year go here.

Some Help from Brandon Sanderson

I recently reached out to the popular fantasy author Brandon Sanderson. Sanderson is known for his books such as the Alcatraz series and the Mistborn series. He is also the author that was asked to finish Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.  

This last week Brandon posted comments on his Facebook page as well as on twitter about the project. Here is what his Facebook page said about it:

"When Lloyd Alexander (author of many novels including the Chronicles of Prydain) passed away, he left his papers to the BYU library, which has an exhibit that is a recreation of Alexander's home office. BYU student Jared Crossley is making a documentary on Lloyd Alexander, the short version of which will accompany the exhibit and the long version of which will be used by various literary organizations and libraries. To finance the documentary, he is running a Kickstarter campaign. If you're a Lloyd Alexander fan, check it out."

In the three days since he posted this we have had 25 people donate to the Kickstarter fundraiser raising an additional $1000. We have received tremendous support from people all over.

However we are still in need of an additional $11,341 by the end of June for the project to be funded. If you haven't gotten a chance to donate yet, you can do so here. 

Thank you Brandon for spreading the word, and thanks to all who have donated to the project. Keep up your support.