Support Steamboat Willing: An Animated Dream

DISCLAIMER: THIS PROJECT IS NOT ENDORSED BY OR ASSOCIATED WITH THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY OR ANY OF ITS SUBSIDIARIES OR AFFILIATES. THIS FILM IS A DERIVATIVE WORK OF THE 1928 ANIMATED SHORT FILM "STEAMBOAT WILLIE", WHICH AS OF JANUARY 1, 2024 IS PUBLIC DOMAIN. THIS PROJECT DOES NOT INFRINGE ON ANY CURRENTLY HELD COPYRIGHTS OR TRADEMARKS.

Steamboat Willing is a ~45 minute animated film about a steamboat captain getting shipwrecked on an island, and quickly finding himself wrapped up in an ancient prophecy.

I've wanted to make a movie for half my life, and although I've had several ideas and even written a few feature-length scripts, none of them ever really compelled me enough to ever actually start animating them. A few years ago though, while working in a factory, an idea came to me for a feature length adaptation/sequel to the 1928 short "Steamboat Willie", and knowing that it would soon be falling into the public domain, I started fleshing the idea out and came up with something I'm really happy with. Of course, as is the trend with things falling into the public domain in recent years, lots of horror adaptations of Steamboat Willie were announced at the beginning of this year, but this isn't that. In fact, I very intentionally set out to not make a horror film, because, although the trend has basically just started, it's already so overdone. I instead wanted to make a film that remains very true to the tone of the original short, and cartoons from that time in general.

I started storyboarding the film late last year, and over the course of a few months I managed to storyboard the entire first act, a whole 12 minutes. I have yet to make anymore progress on the film since then, aside from animating the teaser, which is the beginning of act 2, and that took the first couple months of this year, in between doing freelance work.

Why I Need Help

I had planned on launching a Kickstarter campaign for the project in July of this year, since the freelance job I had for the past year was supposed to be wrapping up then, but then it unexpectedly wrapped up sooner so I rushed to get the Kickstarter campaign out in May, while also searching for some other job, whether remote or physical. I didn't have enough time or resources to dedicate to promoting the campaign, so that mixed with my small audience size, lead to the campaign not succeeding, although I did get more support than expected, so I am grateful for that, even if I didn't receive any of the funds from that campaign.

It's been a few months now, and I'm deciding to try crowdfunding again, mainly because I'm now worse off financially than I was in May, and I'm getting kind of desperate.

Practically all of June and July was spent looking for other sources of income. I very briefly went back to working in a factory, but quickly remembered I might actually be physically disabled. Just being on my feet for more than 30 minutes causes them to start to swell and break out in hives, the same for my hands, and pretty much anywhere pressure is constantly applied on my body. Turns out I have dermatographism, or at least that's what a dermatologist said. Not sure what the underlying issue is, but basically my skin is so sensitive that anything, and I do mean anything, can cause me to break out in hives.

I managed to work in a factory previously for over a year, but that's because I could sit for most of the shift, being a machine operator. Even so, it was still incredibly difficult to do, my hands and feet would be so swollen by the end of the week, but I'd be okay enough to work again by the start of the next week. It was also incredibly taxing on me mentally. I'm diagnosed with major depressive disorder and have been dealing with it for about a decade, and although that never got in the way of me doing physical work, besides finding the motivation to wake up in the morning, it does severely affect my ability to work from home, although I can still mange when I'm working on something I'm passionate about, like Steamboat Willing.

Because of the limitations of both my physical and mental health, I've been seeing doctors finally to try and figure out everything that's wrong with me and seek treatment. I've been focusing on the physical stuff first since that seemed more immediately pressing, but none of the treatment given so far has been effective, and now I don't have enough money to seek treatment for my mental illness.

I do currently have another freelance job, but the amount of work is so incredibly overwhelming and the pay is so very little, my depression plus my fingers swelling from the dermatographism makes it incredibly difficult to work consistently. I'm also currently in the process of applying for SSI, something I should've done a long time ago with depression, but only recently decided to finally do because of the physical disability as well. That process can take several months though, and I need more immediate funds now, so the hopes of this fundraiser initially is to get enough to pay off my debt, and after that everything will be going toward paying my living expenses to afford me time to work on Steamboat Willing. The current goal is what I would need to work on the film for a year, which is how long I expect it to take if I really try. Anything raised beyond that will go toward paying voice actors and giving myself more time, so I don't have to push myself as much.

Why GoFundMe?

Yeah, normally something like this would be better suited for a site like Kickstarter (tried that) or Indiegogo, but both of those sites have limited time to raise funds, and you can't access funds immediately. I did consider launching an Indiegogo campaign, since I'd at least be able to keep whatever funds I raise there, but I don't wanna risk only raising a fraction of what's needed, and still be stuck with the obligation to finish the film. With GoFundMe though, there is no deadline, so I feel the more relaxed approach of raising funds over time better suits my current needs without adding more unneeded stress. Whether that balances out the potential of less exposure due to the site not catering toward this type of project, I guess I'll find out.

Once again, whether you wanna see a cool animated movie get made, or you just wanna help a struggling artist out, any support is appreciated!

No raffles, sweepstakes, giveaways, or promotions are offered in exchange for any donations made to this GoFundMe