Lightning Releases published this newsworthy piece on how Zack Arnold, director of GO FAR ran an insanely brutal four-hour obstacle course to prove his commitment to his Kickstarter audience of donors.
Read on…
LIGHTNING RELEASES: Malibu, CA (12/9/2013) – Overcoming obstacles is nothing new to independent filmmaker Zack Arnold. When Arnold decided to produce and direct a documentary about Christopher Rush, a quadriplegic who defied insurmountable obstacles throughout his life, finishing a film would be an easy task in comparison. Five years later, and on his fourth and determinedly final Kickstarter campaign, Arnold is committed to raising $30,000 in 30 days to be able to deliver his documentary GO FAR: THE CHRISTOPHER RUSH STORY to the sales agent and get Chris’ message out to those that can be inspired by him.
To prove his commitment to the Kickstarter audience, Arnold who is a film editor (Glee, Burn Notice) by trade and NOT an athlete, took on the most physical obstacle he could find. On Saturday, December 7, he ran the insanely brutal Spartan Race, “Hurricane Heat,” a four-hour obstacle course held in the mountains above Malibu CA, in near freezing temperatures, rain, mud, fire, barbed wire and harsh surprises around every bend. With no training but just pure will, Arnold completed the race, hurting and humbled. “This race was a particularly miserable experience, but there are so many people in the world without the physical capabilities to even have the choice to compete. I have two arms and legs that work, so the only thing stopping me was fear and willpower. I overcame fear and summoned the willpower necessary to complete the event…things Christopher had to do on a daily basis. I did this for all the Christopher’s out there.” Watch the video of the race – from Zack’s perspective – feel and see his struggle.
GO FAR: The Christopher Rush Story is a feature documentary that chronicles the inspirational life of Christopher Rush, a quadriplegic, and national MDA poster child, who lived with muscular dystrophy from birth to his death at the age 30, well beyond his predicted two years of life. Chris achieved extraordinary goals despite impossible odds and left behind a philosophy of life for all of us to follow. GO FAR is a motivational film that will teach and inspire not only persons with disabilities, but everyone, to follow their dreams and achieve them, no matter the obstacles. Featuring Tony Orlando, Jerry Lewis, and narrated by Chris’ childhood hero and inspiration – Mark Hamill, of Star Wars fame.
During the past five years Arnold overcame amazing obstacles to produce this film with fundraising, production, post-production, clearances and distribution. Christopher was certainly lending his support from above as opportunities magically appeared.
To begin production, a friend of Chris’ donated the initial funding, out of the blue. When key source material was needed a treasure-trove of found-footage was discovered, previously overlooked. The Muscular Dystrophy Association provided reels of footage of Christopher when he was their national spokesperson, for free. Tony Orlando and other talent provided their commentary, for free.
Mark Hamill, Chris’ childhood hero, waived his fee on narrating the film, Lucasfilm provided clips and clearances of key footage, for free. Post-production fees were covered by Dean Devlin’s “Electric Entertainment,” for free. When an entertainment attorney from Los Angeles was needed, Hillary Jones appeared, who just happened to be a childhood friend of Chris’ in Michigan; she is comping her fees. When a sales agent was needed to help distribute the completed film, Imagination Worldwide signed-on, believing in the power of GO FAR’s message.
Arnold has raised $120,000 to date, with three successful rounds of crowd-funding on Kickstarter. There is only one more obstacle to overcome and the film will be complete; that is to raise the final $30,000 needed to fulfill deliverables to get the film into the sales agent’s hands.
“I am confident this Kickstarter campaign will be successful because Chris is watching over us. We will find our angel donors. Chris’ message and his GO FAR program need to be shared with those it will help most – those with disabilities and anyone who has an obstacle to overcome.”
Read more at http://www.wireservice.co/2013/12/filmmaker-goes-to-the-limit-to-fund-film-competes-in-spartan-race-hurricane-heat/
