A first-of-its-kind Kickstarter campaign has launched this week, whose creators are hoping to raise funding for fictional film entirely about startup life. The full-length feature film, simply titled “The Startup,” will be a comedy/drama that follows the trials of startup life in present-day San Francisco.
The project was written by David Hockaday, who lives and works in Silicon Valley as a software engineer, taking many of the events of the film from his work experience and personal life. Actor/director Jared Cohn will be directing the film, whose previous credits include Born Bad and Bikini Spring Break. Film and TV actor Jourdan Lee will be producing as well as co-writing the film alongside Hockaday.
“We want to lay bare the actual day-to-day struggles of startup life,” wrote Hockaday. “The comedy is inherent, sometimes outright funny, sometimes laughter through tears, drawn quick by derailed careers, incompetent management, years lost.”
Check out the trailer below, which the team put together in a single day, to get a taste of what you can expect from the final product.
Through the film, Hockaday is aiming to present both the difficulties of maintaining the sky-high ambitions of a startup mentality as well as the devastating failure that can come with such lofty goals. “There’s something bittersweet about believing you’re the next preternaturally young billionaire and arriving the next morning chipper, energized, ready to take on the world, only to find the door barred and your desk overturned, curbside,” said Hockaday.
Hockaday is looking to raise $25,000 to make, at minimum, a short film based on his idea, though the ultimate goal is to create a full-length 90 minute, which will require raising upwards of $95,000. To help reach its stretch goal, the creators are offering signed posters and DVDs, assistant producer credits, and even tickets to the Los Angeles premier. So far the project has raised over $10,000 from 40 backers, with nearly a full month left to go.
“We want to build something wholly new,” concluded Hockaday. “We run a real, immediate risk of absurdity — like anything truly new — but the slightest hope of chancing upon the sublime. Let’s start something, beautiful and new, let’s start ‘The Startup!’”