Justin Schwarz is a filmmaker and an old friend who became my friend after several years of writing side by side at the same coffee shop. He was my music soul brother and we'd exchange playlists to "write to" as well as drafts of our various projects. (I had the privilege of reading some of Justin's early drafts of The Discoverers as well as attending an early test screening of the film which blew me away. Justin is a huge inspiration to me as a writer and (ahem) closeted wanna-be filmmaker so I'm here, today, helping my friend get the word out about his Kickstarter campaign so that The Discoverers can land the theatrical release it so deserves. The following post was written by Justin. (High five, Justin.)
This past Fall my wife and I gave birth to two babies two weeks apart. One took 9 months to develop, the other 5 years.
Bringing our newborn son to our feature film premiere was a crash course in how parenthood is about juggling everything all at once. This month Henry turned 6 months old and we launched a Kickstarter campaign to support The Discoverers theatrical release. We had 8 film fests in less than 4 weeks, and were starting to get the hang of parenting, so it seemed a great time to partner with our fans to bring the film to theaters nationwide.
My wife and I met starting a rock band and have been collaborating creatively ever since. We’ve never launched a crowdfunding campaign, but this has been a year of firsts. It was our first child and our first feature. Henry got to attend his first of many film fests and experience so many of his own firsts: first airplane ride, first dip in the ocean, first glide through a swimming pool, first hotel pack and play, first movie (until he squawked back at the screen), first fever (3am at the Hotel Santa Barbara during the film fest), and his first time sleeping through the night! It was also my first time leaving Henry and Laura so I could barnstorm at festivals and rally supporters for our campaign. Thankfully we had our first Facetime, which got cut short when Henry put the phone in his mouth.
Making
The Discoverers has been an amazing journey with my wife and I can’t wait to share with Henry all the stories about his parents making this film. I’ll tell him about giving his mom the first draft of the script on an airplane when the economy was collapsing and our futures were uncertain. I’ll tell him how I watched her laugh and cry while she read it and finally squeezed my hand and whispered, “we’re going to make this.” I'll tell him how his mom gave me script notes and debated aesthetics with me, how when we moved from LA to New York we location scouted and I’ll show him pictures of his mom standing in for compositions that made their way into the final film. I’ll tell him how his mom helped assemble and lead a crew of more than 200 creative collaborators who came together to bring The Discoverers to life.
At its core, The Discoverers is about family – about fathers and daughters and fathers and sons – and how family can be both our greatest source of strength and the origin of all our problems. And in case the title wasn't a giveaway, the film’s about discovery: discovering family, discovering yourself, discovering history, nature, the road ... discovering America.
ABOUT THE FILM:
3 Generations, 2 Centuries Remixed, 1 Dysfunctional Family: The Discoverers is a bittersweet comedy starring Oscar and Emmy nominee Griffin Dunne about a family forced on a Lewis and Clark historical reenactment trek who discover themselves and each other as they make their own passage across America.
The Discoverers stars Oscar & Emmy nominee Griffin Dunne (After Hours), Madeleine Martin (Californication), Emmy-nominee Cara Buono (Mad Men), Emmy-winner Stuart Margolin (Arbitrage), NBR-winner Ann Dowd (Compliance), Dreama Walker (Compliance), Devon Graye (American Horror Story), David Rasche (In the Loop), Becky Ann Baker (Girls), Scott Adsit (30 Rock), and John C. McGinley (Scrubs).
To donate a few bucks to help bring The Discoverers to a theatre near you, go
here. Rewards include the onesie (pictured above) and a free download to our epic soundtrack. Thank you all so much in advance!
Sincerely,
Justin
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