Fund This: Contract Killers Take Brooklyn In ‘The Messengers’

Welcome to Fund This, a new column here at Tubefilter. Each week, we’ll look at a planned web series or other online video project currently in search of funding on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or any other similar crowdfunding sites. We’ll tell you what the series is all about and explain why it is worth your money. Do you have a project that’s currently being crowdfunded? Contact us to let us know and we may feature it in upcoming installments and check out previous installments right here.

Project Name: The Messengers

Asking For:  $20,000 on Kickstarter

Amount Raised Thus Far (At Time Of Post): $12,762

Days Remaining In Campaign (At Time Of Post): 8

Description: The Messengers is a web series about a young couple adjusting to life in the gentrified part of Brooklyn. That, on its own, sounds like a web series idea we’ve heard a million times, but luckily, The Messengers

has a twist. Its heroes, Liza and James, are contract killers who must carry out hits across the borough. Each episode will bring Liza and James to some yuppie haven (a brunch restaurant, a Fairway supermarket, a yoga class, etc.), where they must fit in while also successfully taking out each of their targets. It’s “Grosse Pointe Blank meets Girls, or Louie meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” according to the project’s Kickstarter description.

Creator Jamie Effros, who also co-stars as James, gives more details about the series in his pitch video, which also features co-star Elizabeth Alderfer and producer Angela Flignor:

Creator Bio: Effros, among other credits, has voiced several commercials for BMW. Suddenly, I really want to buy a car.

Best Perk: For $200, Effros will apply his voice-over skills to your voicemail. He says he will do this in “whatever style you wish,” so choose wisely.

Why You Should Fund It: There are a lot of web series about young people living in the city, but as far as I know, very few of those young people double as murderers. The Messengers is driven by a smart concept, and if the short clips included in the pitch video are accurate indicators, the writing and direction of the series is strong as well. “Having seen more than our fair share of web content, and having all worked on a wide range of filmed material, we know that no matter how good your creative elements are, if the production quality is not up to par, the project will be a bust,” explains the series’ Kickstarter page.

If you want to get more information about the series, you can watch the episode that has already been shot. The easiest way to procure a copy of that episode is to–you guessed it–back the Kickstarter campaign at any level. We feel confident stating that backers who watch the pilot will like what they see.