INVEST
min $100
Revenue Participation
Investors receive 120% of principal (125% for Early Bird), then 50% of all adjusted gross revenues in perpetuity
COMING TOGETHER was filmed in October 2023 with a production budget of $160,000.
It stars Alyssa Limperis, Dominic Burgess, Sandra Ellis Lafferty and Sean Kleier. (See IMDB page for more info.)
Currently in post-production, more funds are being accepted to finish the movie and cover such costs as editing, original score, final audio mix, color correction and clip licensing.
Credits available include Executive Producer, Associate Producer and other "rewards" listed below.
Around half the film's funding has come from grants and tax-deductible donations through its 501c3 fiscal sponsor, Wedgwood Circle. Find out more and donate here.
INVESTMENT/DONATION LEVELS
(NOTE: Higher investment levels include all benefits of lower levels, other than credits which change with the level.)
$100 Shout out on the film's social media.
$250 See your name in the credits of the film with a THANK YOU credit.
$500 Receive a digital copy of several drafts of the script to see its evolution.
$1,000 SPECIAL THANKS credit in the film.
$2,500 VERY SPECIAL THANKS credit in the film. Plus a one-hour zoom session with Erik Bork which can be used to get feedback on your project(s).
$5,000 2 passes to the world premiere or other film festival chosen by investor. (Transportation/lodging not included.)
$10,000 ASSOCIATE PRODUCER credit in the opening titles and IMDB.
$25,000 EXECUTIVE PRODUCER credit in opening titles and IMDB. You and a guest also have the option to meet Erik Bork for dinner in NYC. (Transportation/lodging not included.)
Watch the original pitch video and read more below...
“Tribalism... is the curse of our times right now. Tribalism hinges on us not seeing each other as full, multi-dimensional, fully fleshed human beings. It hinges on us seeing everybody as either pro or con, ally or enemy, friend or foe. People are more complicated than that. Life is more complicated than that.” - Frank Bruni, New York Times columnist - on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher - 3/12/22
COMING TOGETHER is a light-hearted movie about a serious subject. What happens when a young single L.A. woman -- an avowed progressive -- discovers a new guy she meets in December 2020 happens to be a supporter of President Donald Trump? Is he someone she could actually date, regardless? And is she, for him?
Helping her explore this question, reluctantly, is her new housemate, a gay man who is the opposite of the romcom “gay best friend” trope. He’s not fabulous, extroverted or interested in talking about her love life. At all. But she so wants them to be friends. And she can help him with something he wants -- to get in better shape while they quarantine together.
So she sets about enthusiastically training him while getting his take on what’s going on with the new guy. She gets closer to both of them in the process. She realizes she can't change the guy’s politics. In fact, he decides to attend the January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington. Is all hope lost for them?
Take heart: this story does not unfold in scenes of strident political argument! While their different views are clear as the main stumbling point to a relationship, and she experiments with “dialoguing” about them, it’s really about three likable people trying to figure out their lives and relationships and move forward.
Tonally it has similarities to some of these films from the past:
Classic Hollywood romantic comedies
With a low-budget "indie" sensibility
And some of the flavors of recent streaming comedy series such as:
The characters have flaws they need to look at, but this is not the kind of arty niche film that appeals only to critics and film festivals. It’s not aimless or ambiguous, and it doesn’t have a “messy” main character who’s hard to fully bond with or care about. It’s more of a traditional narrative with sympathetic characters and a central story problem that builds and complicates in clear, entertaining ways, as the characters grapple with it.
Erik Bork is best known for his Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning work as one of the producers and writers of the epic HBO miniseries BAND OF BROTHERS and FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, where he worked alongside executive producer Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg (on BAND OF BROTHERS).
Erik’s lengthy professional screenwriting career also includes stints writing for two primetime drama series on NBC and the former CW, selling numerous pitches for series and movies to the likes of NBC, the Fox network, HBO and TNT, and writing scripts on assignment for both feature film and television projects that didn’t make it to the screen (par for the course for most pro screenwriters), such as:
His work as a writer/producer includes projects with companies such as:
Erik is also a well-known script consultant and blogger on screenwriting who has taught for UCLA Extension’s renowned Writers’ Program and National University’s MFA in Professional Screenwriting. His book THE IDEA: THE SEVEN ELEMENTS OF A VIABLE STORY FOR SCREEN, STAGE OR FICTION was published in 2018 and is a multi-category Amazon best-seller.
Erik Bork wrote and directed I GOT THIS, which was released in 2018 and played at many film festivals, winning awards such as:
I GOT THIS is streaming on the renowned Omeleto short film channel on YouTube, where it’s been viewed almost 300,000 times with over 1,000 comments. See samples below:
View the film on Omeleto here:
(Actors pictured are for character reference only - not signed on to be in the film.)
This was updated April 2024 to reflect $161,000 spent to complete principal photography, and $23,000 spent to complete editing and original score.
Additional post-production funds of about $36,000 are needed to complete the film. These include final audio mix, color correction, visual effects and titles.
Beyond that, additional funds for marketing and promotion could make the difference in how profitable the film is. A lot depends on who ends up distributing the film and the arrangements made with them.
This chart is based on how funds would be used if $300,000 was raised on Wefunder (the campaign's new maximum).
This would be added to the $88,000 already raised through donations, for a total raise of $388,000. Of that, $138,000 would be set aside for marketing, and the film itself would be finished for $250,000.
It's also very possible additional funding will come from non-profit grants and donations. Roughly half the money raised to date has come from these sources, which add spending flexibility without increasing the investment pool.
None of the invested funds will go to the writer-director or the production company as compensation for services, and they will receive none of the film's revenue until after all investors recoup 120% (125% for Early Bird investors), after which all future revenue will be evenly split between investors and production company.
*Forward-looking projections can't be guaranteed.
Production - OCTOBER 4-27, 2023
Post-Production - NOVEMBER 2023 - MAY 2024
Festival submissions/release planning - APRIL 2024 - MARCH 2025
Festival circuit and release - SEPTEMBER 2024 - JULY 2025
Distribution - 2025 AND BEYOND
If pursuing self-distribution:
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