Funding DinosaurUs ExploreUs

At last year's KidScreen Summit I met Darren and Tina Lutz, who run an animation company in Green Bay called Believe Animation. Believe is the sister company of their original venture, a software and programming company called Balance Studios, and it's therefore a pretty young company but Darren and Tina have already developed several amazing television concepts; I've been involved with two now: the kid's show Who's Watching Conrad Farcus?, about two brothers, who happen to be vultures, living in the Louisiana bayou, and now Dinosaurus ExploreUs, a preschool show that teachings archaeology and, hence, history and culture to youngsters. Episodes include visits to places like Chichen Itza, Stonehenge, the Acropolis, and new sites like the Tower of London. The curriculum sounded intense for preschoolers and I think we were all a little trepidatious at first, but it works really well. Darren's vision brought in the coolness of School House Rock, and with some strong narrative guidelines, snappy songs, and fantastic visual design, everything has become really accessible (through the contributions of a large team of really talented people--musicians, artists, etc., etc.). I think even three-year-olds will come away with a basic knowledge of what, for instance, the Great Wall of China is--and they'll have a ton of fun to boot! You can see a great teaser on the page linked above.

I did sign a nondisclosure agreement and can't really give any more production details, but the general information on the show is up online because the Lutzes now want to move ahead and produce an entire pilot episode. The script for this was written by Darren and myself (from his idea), so I have a keen interest in getting this funded and produced. They've now launched a campaign on Kickstarter.com to crowdfund the entire 11-minute episode. There's an introductory video on that site in which Darren explains the project better than I could, and if you're interested in getting our script produced you can then go ahead and pledge any amount from $5 up to, I guess, several thousand. There are only 26 days left in the campaign and there's a lot of money left to raise; if we don't reach the full amount then we don't get any of the pledged funds (which means that you as a donor won't be charged after all, but which of course also means the pilot won't get made yet). I'm excited and hopeful that we'll get there and be able to use the pilot to get a full season produced. It's a fantastic show and deserves to be seen by children; my own daughter and her Dinosaur Train-fan friends said the existing video was better than any show on the air and immediately wanted to see the full episode. Please help that happen! And thanks!