It’s weird. I don’t update this blog as often as I should, mainly because I assume no one is reading it anymore, which is probably because I don’t update it very often, which…well, you see where I’m going here. The problem is, we’re back to where we were several (10?) years ago, with me running a host of fragmented, project-specific websites/blogs, and not having a centralized place for just general posts. It’s pretty bad now, especially since I’ve launched a few new projects this past summer that I don’t think I’ve written about at all here. Let’s catalog this:

• PjPerez.com, on which I don’t really “blog” (yet), but is the main “portfolio” site for my work/projects, which I revamped a few months ago
• From Zero to Hollywood, a blog about breaking into the film industry I launched like eight years ago and only recently started to update again
• 52 Stories, The Cosmopolitan’s blog, which I run as part of my job job
• Bourbon & Bitters, a blog ostensibly about Old Fashioned cocktails but also anything related to whisky, which I quietly launched about a month ago and haven’t talked about at all
• Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival and Pop! Goes the Icon, which aren’t my blogs/sites, per se, but for which I entirely manage the content
• Parkway of Broken Dreams, which we’re gonna talk about here in a second…

Parkway of Broken Dreams–which, if you’re reading this, you probably already know all about anyway, but humor me–is a documentary film I’m producing/directing about the rise and fall of alternative culture on Maryland Parkway in the 1990s. Long-time Pj followers might recall the 2006 cover story I wrote for the Las Vegas Weekly about the same subject. It’s basically that oral history, in visual form.

I’ve been gestating the idea for this doc for a long time, but only actively started production in June. After shooting and gathering enough footage to cut a decent teaser trailer, I finally announced the film to the world in August. And, today, I launched a crowdfunding campaign for the film on Seed&Spark, a website dedicated to building a filmmaker’s career beyond just funding and beyond just one project.

Making this documentary is just the next logical step in the convergence of my creative pursuits and career pathway. I still have a love for journalistic-style writing, even though I’ve mostly left journalism behind. Why the heck else am I starting new blogs and evangelizing for brand journalism? But my passion for filmmaking has driven most of my creative pursuits the last year or so, and although I have several fictional TV and film projects in the works, a documentary lands right in the middle of that journalism-filmmaking Venn diagram. Plus, I have a little bit of experience in this area.

To this point, I’ve completely bootstrapped Parkway of Broken Dreams, the same way I have with almost all of my other creative endeavors–and not just financially. I’ve been the one-man producer, director, camera operator, gaffer, sound mixer, editor, archivist, researcher, craft services provider…you get the point. I can only get so far, so fast on my own, and that means finding more funds for equipment, travel (especially travel), legal costs, festival fees, music rights, and whatever else may come. There are grants and film funds, and believe me, I’m working on those, too, but because of the passionate and overwhelming response to the announcement of this project, crowdfunding as a kickstart (versus a Kickstarter) made a lot of sense.

Plus, the Seed&Spark thing. Aside from the education and support of a filmmaking-specific crowdfunding site, there’s also the potential exposure/networking/financing from legit Hollywood players. To wit, Parkway of Broken Dreams is participating in Seed&Spark’s Hometown Heroes rally, in which hometown-centered films (both fiction and nonfiction) can qualify for an opportunity to be executive produced by the Duplass Brothers, among others. That means not only possibly more funding for the project, but also access to resources we’d otherwise not have.

The trick? To qualify for that access, we have 30 days to not only hit at least 80% of our $15,000 funding goal, but also to gain 1,000 followers for the project. So, if you’re reading this and are interested in supporting Parkway of Broken Dreams financially, that is super rad and I already love you, but just as important is clicking the “follow” button when you land on the campaign page, (and, of course, sharing the news about this campaign with every living creature–dogs, cats and dolphins included).

My life–aside from all the 52,475 other plates I’m always spinning–will probably be consumed entirely by this campaign until I know it’s been greenlit, and that means I’m going to be the most annoying person to follow on social media for a few weeks. I apologize in advance, but I also thank you in advance for your support and encouragement. This is a project about which I’m very passionate, and so are a lot of other people, and making it as comprehensive, enlightening and hopefully entertaining film it can be will take a village (or at least $15,000).