Welcome to the Fund This column! Each week, we’ll look at a planned web series or other online video project currently in search of funding on 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.
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This edition of Indie Spotlight is sponsored by Indiegogo.
Project Name: Playhouse of Cards
Asking For: $20,000 on Indiegogo
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Amount Raised Thus Far (At Time Of Post): $9,768
Days Remaining In Campaign (At Time Of Post): 41
Description: Frank Underwood is going back to school. As the House of Cards antihero continues to scheme his way through Washington on Netflix, a new web series is looking to apply his tactics to junior high. Playhouse of Cards hopes to raise $20,000 for a four-episode show that will follow a middle schooler as he attempts to become student body president by any means necessary.
Playhouse of Cards seems to be positioning itself as a fan spin-off of House of Cards, which has served as a groundbreaking series for Netflix since its debut in February 2013. The Playhouse characters have the same names as their Netflix counterparts, and the Indiegogo campaign asks us, “ever wondered what Frank Underwood was like in middle school?”
The idea of a web series that applies political tactics to a middle school setting is ripe for comedy, as evidenced by the “Mr. Student Body President” short film POYKPAC made for New Form Digital’s incubator series. However, judging from Playhouse of Cards‘ pitch video, its creative team will adopt a more dramatic, twisty tone, with some satirical elements providing the humor.
Creator Bio: Nina Kramer, the writer and director of Playhouse of Cards, has a background in improv comedy. Here she is starring in a previous sketch, titled “Fauxhemian.”
Best Perk: For $30, the Playhouse of Cards team will send you a letter from young Mr. Underwood himself. That’s how you get the vote out.
Why You Should Fund It: The idea of a fan series based around House of Cards shows how impressively the political drama’s influence has grown since its premiere. Frank Underwood’s machinations have grown more ridiculous by the season, and they are ripe for the sort of parody Playhouse of Cards appears ready to provide.
At the same time, Playhouse is striving to be more than just a satirical tribute to a popular series. “[Y]ou don’t need to have watched a single episode of House of Cards to enjoy Playhouse of Cards!” reads the Indiegogo campaign. “Audiences get to remember the days of middle school while enjoying the dramatic and comedic twists and turns of a 12 year old’s passionate battle for school presidency.” Instead of appealing only to Frank Underwood’s followers, Playhouse is wielding the powerful weapon known as nostalgia.
What surprises will the young Underwood’s campaign have in store? Should Playhouse achieve its goal, we’ll find out.
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Indiegogo empowers people around the world to fund what matters to them. As the largest global crowdfunding platform, campaigns have launched from almost every country around the world with millions of dollars being distributed every week due to contributions made by the Indiegogo community. Indiegogo is an open platform dedicated to democratizing the way people raise funds for any project – creative, entrepreneurial or cause-related. The company was launched in 2008 and is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in Los Angeles and New York. For more information, visit www.indiegogo.com and follow us at www.twitter.com/indiegogo
