My Kickstarter

[Starfox64x]

So, there's this site called Kickstarter, where you post ideas you have for a project, you recieve pledges from people who want to see this go through, and if they reach their goal, they can fund their project. most of these include people wanting to publish their CDs, so people who pledge money to them usually get a free CD because of their donation...

So, i wanted to do a kickstarter, and this was basically my script for what i plan to say... Please, let me know what you think of this idea, how the wording sounds, if you have any ideas on how this should work, and what sort of rewards should i offer people who donate? I have a few ideas listed, but i don't know if that's enough...

the short version is "My idea is a ‘Drive thru quiz show’, where I go through the drive thru window of a fast food place to quiz the workers for cash."

Hello There! I don’t know about you, but I grew up on game shows. I had the game show network for a long time and constantly watched many older game shows with my family. It was fun watching the contestants squirm when they don’t know the answer, or those last few seconds of panic as the clock runs down… I especially loved trivia shows like Jeopardy and Trivial pursuit.

However one thing I never did like about these shows was this… All the contestants were filtered… Take a look, every single person is a lawyer, doctor, engineer, going to some fancy collage and goes on mission trips every weekend… No one seems like an average joe. No one is the produce department manager at the local grocery store, no one works the drive thru at McDonalds, no one is the cashier at Wal-mart… And you’d be surprised how smart they can be, but no show will give them the chance…

So, my idea for a game show is a sort of ‘Drive thru quiz show’, where I have two game modes. 1: go through the drive thru window of a fast food place, ask them 5 questions, and for each correct answer, they earn a few dollars, with a double or nothing question offered to them at the end.

The second game mode would be a more stealthy mode… standing in line with some products and stealthily asking them questions while they win money without even knowing it…

I hope to make a youtube channel out of this, posting each game on that channel. I hope that over time the ad revenue will bring in enough money to stabilize the show, enough for prize money as well as travel expenses.

I believe it would be really interesting and entertaining to see regular everyday people you see every day answering tough trivia questions… It might be surprising that the person who just sold you a burger and fries knows about the Higgs Boson, or that the person who sold you a DVD player actually knows what DVD stands for.

So, that’s the idea… but here’s where I need help with funds… I feel that in order to present to everyone an engaging and interesting video I would need to edit the video a considerable bit. I have a basic knowledge of editing already, and I’m usually quick to pick up tricks with technology… the problem is my computer doesn’t have near enough power to process high def video and edit it at the same time. I barely have 2 gigs of RAM and a video card that isn’t even worth mentioning, not to mention a small hard drive full of hand-me-down programs I can’t seem to get rid of entirely. It’s a terrible computer and that makes it very difficult to edit videos properly.

Then there’s travel. I want to avoid doing this game show within my home town because, well, I live here… If I go around giving money out willy nilly people might recognize me… and that’s one thing you DON’T want to be known for is having lots of money and just giving it out… I believe I will be taking day trips to nearby towns and making a run through a couple places in a day. So gas money to run around to these places would get expensive…

And then finally, there’s the prize money… You can’t have a gameshow without it… I was thinking starting off with $25 as a start, and if things go well I hope to move up to $100 for the maximum prize… It all depends on how much I have at one time.

For now, I’m asking for $1500 to get this project started… $800 for the computer to edit it on, $200-ish on gas for a couple of trips to cities and towns in the area, and $500 in prizes. I promise that every penny will go toward making this an amazing game show that many people will enjoy.

So then… as for the reward… I think it would be very hard to give anyone a meaningful reward… I could just pay the money back, but that would be kind of lame… Of course, to everyone who donates I’ll dedicate an episode to you, and advertise whatever you’d like me to, whether it’s a project you have, a channel you have a website, whatever.

Now, for $10 or more, I’ll let you do the introduction for an episode of the show. I’ll let you know when I’m ready and you just send me in a video of you introducing the show.

If you donate $25 or more, I’ll find a way to incorporate your help into quizzing the unsuspecting contestants. At the moment I’m revolving around the idea of you calling them up while I’m in the store, you quiz them, and I’ll be the one to deliver the reward. I’m still working around some more ideas like that, so we’ll just have to see how that works…

For larger donations… I’m not entirely certain… I would love to actually visit donators and take them with me around town to quiz people, but unless you’re close by, it would cost a lot of money simply to travel to where you are… I might just incorporate your help into multiple episodes if you donate more than $50, we will have to see.

So, that’s the entirety of my plan so far… I hope to receive your help soon, and I hope to get started on this amazing project just as quickly.

[Rosewind]

Do you have a TL;DR? Honestly that format and presentation needs some work.

Try to summarize what you're doing in three paragraphs or less, as it seems to me like you're not quite sure what you're doing.

[Starfox64x]

Do you have a TL;DR? Honestly that format and presentation needs some work.

Try to summarize what you're doing in three paragraphs or less, as it seems to me like you're not quite sure what you're doing.

well that's just for the video as a whole... the basic idea is:

My idea is a ‘Drive thru quiz show’, where I go through the drive thru window of a fast food place to quiz the workers for cash."

What i posted is the long version i'll be putting in the video and the main description.... it's basically got all the info on how everything will work.

[Talex]

I think what might be cool, is if some one donates then they get to write up some of the questions. Or maybe one question. I don't know, just a suggestion. And like Rosewind said, a summery would help. Your advertising to people that are just browsing what they could donate in, not someone who is already interested. Try to format a last paragraph that really pitches what you are doing to someone who is just glancing over.

[Rosewind]

Talex has a good point about making a quick appeal to the browsing people.

Now that I have an understanding of what you are doing, I think you might run into some trouble if you're trying to "quiz" service industry staff. It's a fun idea in theory, but as they are on the job, they (and you) could get in trouble without some prior agreement from the establishment. What if the roles reversed, and you quizzed customers for cash instead?

Either way, you'll need to tighten up your idea and try not to explain too much, while giving the reader a quick idea about what they might be getting into by donating money to your idea.

[Starfox64x]

I think what might be cool, is if some one donates then they get to write up some of the questions. Or maybe one question. I don't know, just a suggestion. And like Rosewind said, a summery would help. Your advertising to people that are just browsing what they could donate in, not someone who is already interested. Try to format a last paragraph that really pitches what you are doing to someone who is just glancing over.

I would have to double check the questions, but yeah, maybe have a 'submitted by blah' written somewhere on the video =3 and yeah, i know, this was just the longwinded version.

[Starfox64x]

Talex has a good point about making a quick appeal to the browsing people.

Now that I have an understanding of what you are doing, I think you might run into some trouble if you're trying to "quiz" service industry staff. It's a fun idea in theory, but as they are on the job, they (and you) could get in trouble without some prior agreement from the establishment. What if the roles reversed, and you quizzed customers for cash instead?

Either way, you'll need to tighten up your idea and try not to explain too much, while giving the reader a quick idea about what they might be getting into by donating money to your idea.

Well yeah, i had planned on asking the managers permission first. i understand that they're on the clock, but i would only take a minute of their time.... As for asking customers, i think dressing up in a food service uniform and not being employed there would cause more issues, even if we agreed to it.

and again, yeah, i plan to write a shorter version. it's just that there's a video required and i wanted to make sure people understood all the aspects... i mean, they'll be donating money, so i thin they'd want to know that i have things planned out.

[Rosewind]

Well yeah, i had planned on asking the managers permission first. i understand that they're on the clock, but i would only take a minute of their time.... As for asking customers, i think dressing up in a food service uniform and not being employed there would cause more issues, even if we agreed to it.

and again, yeah, i plan to write a shorter version. it's just that there's a video required and i wanted to make sure people understood all the aspects... i mean, they'll be donating money, so i thin they'd want to know that i have things planned out.

Whatever you do, don't include it along with the video of you smashing that calculator.

...or was that somepony else?

[Starfox64x]

Whatever you do, don't include it along with the video of you smashing that calculator.

...or was that somepony else?

It was me, hehe, but why not? both are fun ^_^

[Rosewind]

It was me, hehe, but why not? both are fun ^_^

I'd totally entrust my money to some guy with a video of him smashing a calculator on his youtube channel.

[Talex]

I'd totally entrust my money to some guy with a video of him smashing a calculator on his youtube channel.

Nice people like you are the reason why the world keeps spinning ^u^

lol

[Starfox64x]

I'd totally entrust my money to some guy with a video of him smashing a calculator on his youtube channel.

hehehe true true... But it WOULD say that i take whatever precautions are necessary to make entertaining videos, hehe...

but no, it's dedicated on their site =3

[Kendrick]

I think it's a really neat idea. The real trick is going to be be finding a way to make it self sustaining once it is rolling.

The mode of standing in line in a store and quizzing a fellow patron seems like it would have less "work" issues tied to is, though capturing it on video may be more problematic.

I agree that the description, while I had no problem following it, could stand to be distilled down a bit.

[Andifferous]

Certainly seems like a good idea for a show. Look at how popular "Cash Cab" is, after all. I'm afraid I can't offer too much on the speech, not really my forte' but I look forward to seeing how this progresses.

[Autumn]

As a potential investor in a project such as this, I would ask myself "what I would get out of it?".

You've stated that, of course, it's highly unlikely that anyone would get their money back. That's ok. However, what entertainment value would we (the investors in your project) get?

You should show a portfolio of youtube videos (for example) and show people how you handle public situations and your skills in leading conversation with strangers. That way, if you're shown to be the type of person others like to subscribe too they'll be a lot more likely to help you out and know that this 'show' won't suck (great idea, poorly executed).

Kickstarter funding may, at first, look like people are stumbling blind and chucking their cash at reasonable ideas (though some may do so) but generally there's something to show (previous projects etc) to assure investors that their contributions arn't going to waste.