Blue Mountain State launches Kickstarter to fund movie…And their video is EPIC

Truth be told, I was a huge Blue Mountain State fan back in my days at San Diego State. So, this post might be a little biased. Be forewarned Brobeans.

Following in line with the likes of Zach Braff and Rob Thomas from Veronica Mars, Blue Mountain State creators Romanski and Eric Falconer have officially launched their Kickstarter campaign this morning. With 29 days to go, they have already raised $100,000 (was $85K when I started writing this) of their $1.5mm goal. Judging by their excellent Kickstarter video, most of the entire team is back including the legendary Thad Castle.

According to the video, the movie should detail what happens in the final year at BMS. Does Thad Castle enter the Draft and go number 1 overall? Will Alex Moran give up football and become a High School teacher? (hope not) What will happen to Sammy (played by creator Romanski) as he watches Alex ascend to his dreams? Only time will tell, but I’ll be my pocket pussy it’s going to be amazing.

For those of you who never watched the show, go see it on Netflix. As you can see from the video above, the show is a really stupid, incredibly raunchy, and the most hilarious show on Netflix. Ive watched it and re-watched the show in anticipation of their movie.

Really Sweet Pledge Gifts

There is always a lot of debate about famous people taking to Kickstarter to raise funds for a movie they could probably find investors for (See Zach Braff and Spike Lee).  I vehemently disagree with that notion,  for the simple reason that each big time movie that has raised $1mm+ on Kickstarter has always provided amazing pledge goals. They may be a bit on the pricey side, but any true fan of the show knows they are a once in a lifetime opportunity. Here are some great ones the BMS crew offered:

Come on, this is perfect for your dorm, fraternity, college house, post grad situation. And if you’re still high school, this might be a serious necessity.

DUH, The Movie. I’ve heard you’ll only be able to torrent the version in French. So you enjoy that you un-American bastard.

Pretty cool wall art, IMO. Let’s guests know you’re cool and far from a poser.

Because, Denise Richards.

The best one. If you got the dough, this is it. Can you imagine the classy, alcohol fueled debauchery this would lead too? You might be lucky enough to have Thad punch you in the face.

Let’s be real, you can’t afford this. But we can sure as hell dream. I advise knocking off all the people you get drugs from until you have $10K.

Where They Could Have Improved

As usual, I always try to break down the campaign and talk a bit about where they could improve. The BMS  crew executed their Kickstarter perfectly, especially with the large build up on twitter (@BMStheMovie) starting 7 days ago. My only problem with their campaign is the lack of any kind of press kit. Mostly, lacking JPG/PNG images of pledge rewards, cast & crew, of anything else. All they offer as far as this goes is the official movie poster.

The reason this is problematic and something you should avoid when starting your own crowdfunding campaign is; 1.) People are visual. 2.) WHAT ABOUT PR PEOPLE.

If your crowfunding campaign has a lot of enticing pledge rewards, then make sure you have pictures that go along with each description. Help your potential backer visualize exactly what they will be getting so they don’t imagine something different.

Finally, put up some high quality images so in the off chance a journalist decides to write about you, they have some images for their post. It has been a deal breaker for me in the past.

All in all, I’m very excited for the production of this movie and you should be too. You can show your Blue Mountain State pride by supporting the campaign here.

p.s. What happened to Leah Renee (hot blonde cheerleeader)? Let’s hope she just missed the trailer.