Stephen Elliott’s unusual, darkly funny Kickstarter for Happy Baby

Set aside your Kickstarter fatigue for a minute and take a look at a very unusual – and well done – Kickstarter for a project I really hope gets its funding: Happy Baby, the Movie (by Stephen Elliott). It also happens to be the project of someone I admire very much, and with whom I share a warm friendship and a similarly insane past.

Happy Baby is going to be an indie movie based on one of Stephen Elliott‘s novels of the same name, which the New York Times said was, as “Surely the most beautiful novel ever written about S&M, juvenile detention centers, and drugs.” I can’t recommend chipping in on this one enough.

That said, Stephen Elliott’s Kickstarter for Happy Baby has one of the most subtly clever trailers (look for a Game of Thrones actor), and the prizes are… Well, they’ll certainly make you smile, despite the darkness of the film’s subject matter. I may need to get a “Write Like A Motherfucker Package.” A few other examples – of many – include:

Pledge $10 or more
Collaborator Package: Help us cast the film! You will be given access to a private link on www.LetItCast.com that will allow you to vote on our casting finalists. You’ll also get the link and password to watch the full Mr. Gracie short movie and a link to download Happy Baby posters. (…)

Pledge $100 or more
Screening Package: You will be invited to an online test screening of the film where you will be given the opportunity to provide notes on the unfinished movie. Later, you will receive two tickets to attend a private cast & crew screening and Q&A of “Happy Baby” in Los Angeles, San Francisco, or New York. Plus all aformentioned perks. (transportation and lodging not provided) (…)

Pledge $375 or more
SF Writer’s Grotto Package: Similar to our Essay Transformation Package. Feedback and support with a short story or section of a novel, magazine feature article, a memoir in progress, from San Francisco Writers Grotto members in the relevant discipline, including Ethan Watters, Janis Cooke Newman, E.B. Boyd, Louise Nayer, Stephanie Losee, Ethel Rohan, Peter Orner, Rachel Howard, and others. (…)

Pledge $400 or more
The Dominatrix Package: A one hour session for an individual, or class for a couple, with Mistress Justine in Los Angeles, Mistress Morgana in San Francisco, Mistress Crimson in Chicago, or Mistress Alex in New York. Links in the Dominatrix Package video update. Includes everything that comes with the screening package. (…)

And from the Happy Baby Facebook page:

Award update! We’re giving away Stephen Elliott’s personal relationship with James Franco away to the first person who donates at the $6,000 level. Do it!