Like all of the best ideas, ours isn’t a new one.

We in fact nicked it from someone who’s been dead for well over a century.

But before we talk about who, let’s first tell you about the when…

It was 1867 and our idea hav-er-er badly lacked the funds to publish his first novel as an American adventuring among the ruins of the old world.  In it he took a jaundiced view of what had become of the civilizations his upstart young country had patterned their nascent Representative Democracy upon.

He billed it as one last chance to look over the rubble, and warn a young nation about to reach its first centennial of the dangers of complacency, laziness, and self-satisfaction.

Of note is the fact that, amidst the few civilizations still left standing, most had made it strikingly clear that they thought a society based on ideals like life, liberty, and the pursuit of individual happiness to be an experiment that could never, ever work.

And so, with that in mind, we’d attempted to prove them right two years previously, by wrapping up a bloody, national, four-year civil war.

Think of it as a uniquely “ruins of the new world” meet the “ruins of the old world” moment.

The major hurdle facing our intrepid protagonist was that he was far, far too poor to pay for the staggering costs of publishing a book.

(Keep in mind, these were the days one had to be rich as the Rockefellers for access to the e-publishing which you, dear reader, now take for granted.)

In fact our budding auteur was penniless, and his first nationally published story was a mere 13 pages long… and about a frog.

Not a promising start, really.

Still, our beloved would-be novelist pragmatically refused to be daunted by the facts besetting him on all sides, and thus armed (with his own ignorance, of that which he was ignorant of), had the ingenious idea of selling his proposed book to readers before he had written it.

Let’s say that again… in case you glossed over it during our stunning prose.

His uniquely ingenious idea was to sell the book before he had written it.

Say what!?

Yes, we lie to you not, he sold it before it was even written.

In one cunning flash…

1. Trip paid for.

2. Massive costs of publishing a book paid for.

3. Large enough starting audience to make it a worldwide hit paid for.

Sounds like a total scoundrel, doesn’t he?

He was.

A scoundrel who turned out to be one heck of a writer.

His name was Samuel Clemens, his audience now knows him as Mark Twain, and that first book was THE INNOCENTS ABROAD.

It astoundingly sold enough advance copies to pay for his printing costs, and even better, his starting audience liked it tolerably well enough to make it the best-selling book of his lifetime.

Consider the care involved in crafting this outrageously brilliant stratagem. A plan so stunningly successful that it navigated literary depths most have failed to equal.  Is it any surprise that Sam’s first job as a young man in the steamboat trade was marking the twain for safe water, and safe passage?

More than a century later, we at One Bird Mocking look to emulate this patron saint for artists by attempting to navigate the impoverished waters we face with a movie we can’t make without you.

We hear his call, loud and clear through the centuries, marking the safe path for us through the depths of making you an entertainment worth watching.

The difference between his project and ours is immeasurable, but his directions are clear, concise, and easy to follow:

Gather an audience, show them a sample of your abilities, warn them of the dangers of becoming complacent, lazy, and self-satisfied, and then ask them to step on board the boat, and join us for the thrilling voyage to come.

So we ask you now…  Join us for the thrilling voyage to come!

Help us make a movie, as Mark Twain’s first audience made his first book.

We can’t do it without you, and it will only require the smallest amount of risk on your part.  (The transaction is processed and guaranteed safe & secure by PayPal and of course our One Bird Mocking guarantee.)

Together we can make a movie, but it takes your help to do it.

Take a chance on a new set of scoundrels and buy your $5 ticket here.

Be a mogul.  Make a movie.

~ One Bird Mocking