Well, you might recall that it took Shemar Moore two tries to get his feature romcom crowd-funded; the first time he asked for over $1 million via Kickstarter, and wasn’t successful. Then he moved to Indiegogo, with a reduced goal of $500,000, and ended up blowing past that figure to raise over $600,000. And now he’s making a movie!
Maybe the same happy fate awaits Fred Williamson, who has now also taken to Indiegogo with a reduced goal of $300,000, after initially failing to raise the $1.2 million he first asked for via Kickstarter, to finance a sequel to his 1996 action/drama Original Gangtas.
The original cast returns for this sequel, including Williamson himself, as well as Jim Brown, Pam Grier, Richard Roundtree, Bernie Casey, Gloria Hendry, Antonio Fargas
and Robert
Forster.
He still needs the full $1.2 million, but the plan is now to raise at least 25% of that (or $300,000), which will help when pitching the project to investors, in order to raise the remaining 75% of the budget.
Fred Williamson has written and directed over 20 independent films. He knows how to stretch a $1.2 million budget to look like $5 million or more. We will shoot with a small but efficient crew on an extremely well-planned shooting schedule. Every dollar will be up on the screen with production value and top-notch cinematography to make you feel every punch. If at least 25% of funding is in place ($300,000), we will have an advantage to approach investors for the rest of production funds. So we have set our goal at $300,000. If we exceed that, or raise the whole $1,200,000 with IndieGoGo, that would of course be fantastic (and help production happen that much sooner)! Even the lowest donation tier of $10 will land you a “Special Thanks” in the credits of OLD SCHOOL GANGSTAS and on the Internet Movie Database page. You will officially be a part of history! And the more you donate, the better the rewards. Hollywood studios have little interest in films that aren’t wall-to-wall special effects, or black films that aren’t comedies. It’s important and necessary to bring black heroes back to the screen. We’re reaching out to you, the fans, to help us get this film made.
Watch his video pitch below for more. And if you’re sold, make a contribution via the project’s Indiegogo page HERE (or click within the widget underneath). 50 days to go until the campaign expires, so give if you can. Especially if you appreciate Fred Williamson’s resume – Hammer, Black Caesar, Three the Hard Way, The Inglorious Bastards, Boss Nigger and much more, dating all the way back to the late 1960s. You don’t see his brand of black heroes on screen anymore:
