Enchanting Mythica Of Arrowstorm Entertainment

A race against time. A slave girl with a dark, uncontrollable power. A wizard wishing to hide. A warrior searching to regain honor. A thief who's more than he seems. All the elements of an office box smash hit backed by Hollywood producers with the audiences lining up around the block for a chance to get a glimpse of such an adventure… or so it would seem. Unfortunately for Arrowstorm Entertainment, and their film series Mythica, the big wigs in Hollywood do not want to spend money on indie productions that may never see the light of day. When asked why the major studios do not back the indie films Jason Faller, one of the creators and writers of the Mythica series, states "that the studios spend so much per picture. They don’t do a lot of movies; they only do a handful of movies each year and they spend so much per picture that they have to be sure that they’re doing something for mass audiences.” Even Kevin Sorbo, who plays Gojun Pye in the Mythica series, was asked about the backing of indie films at the CONtv convention in Las Vegas on April 25. “It’s gotten so weird in Hollywood. It’s so difficult to get anything made,” Sorbo goes on to say that in Hollywood once the movie itself is financed, that is when some of these well-known studios will even think of backing a film. This does not leave much wiggle room for films like indie films. So, how is a movie like Mythica supposed to get made without the help of backers? That is where Kickstarter comes into play.

Mythica is a fantasy film about a young girl named Marek, played by Melanie Stone, who is in servitude to a cruel man named Vagamal. Marek is skilled with magic and is tutored, secretly, by a wizard named Gojun Pye who says that it is no longer safe for him in the village and must leave. Marek begs Gojun Pye to stay, but instead of staying he tells her to leave the village a fast as she can, head for the tavern on the other side of town and ask for Hammerhead with that said Gojun Pye leaves and Marek heads home. That night after being caught breaking curfew Marek’s master beats her within an inch of her life. With Marek at her breaking point she finds out that not only is she skilled in magic, but she has a dark secret that not even she knew about— a secret that saves her life. With her master dead and not knowing what exactly happened, Marek heads for the tavern that Gojun Pye told her to go to and she learns that a priestess, Teela, is in need of help to find her sister. Teela, played by Nicola Posener, enlists the help of Marek and two unlikely miscreants: a warrior named Thane, played by Adam Johnson, in search to regain his honor; and a rogue half-elf thief named Dagen, played by Jake Stormoen, who would steal anything and everything--even a fair maiden’s heart.

Mythica came about by talking about experiences on role-playing games, online and on paper. Faller mention that it is “a group of friends who get together and have a plan or a mission and they go on that and find adventure for fortune and glory.” When asked if Mythica is exactly role-playing, Faller replies, “that model hadn’t been well executed for us before in a movie format. Role Playing is a different experience. It’s player-created. (Mythica itself) is really a movie, but you could say the concept and the structure initially was based on role-playing.” However the movie itself is far more than only role-playing because of the involvement that is poured into it from the creators, director, writers, the actors etc.

The look of Mythica may seem like you are in another world entirely. When I saw the trailer and the movie I thought that Mythica was shot in New Zealand, Scotland or England. I would never have guessed it was filmed just outside of Provo Utah. Why Utah? Well, for one, Arrowstorm Entertainment is based in Provo Utah and two, from what Faller quoted, “if you want to make a world that seems unreal or that could almost come from your imagination, Utah is a really bizarre and wonderful place.” With all the landscapes that are here, it is no wonder we think we are in another land--what with Bryce Canyon to Timpanogos Cave; Strawberry Reservoir to The Saltair; The Salt Flats to St. George’s Pioneer Park. It has been said that New Zealand may be renowned amongst fantasy lovers as the setting for film adaptations of The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings, but Utah will soon be known as the home of Mythica. Filming in Utah, however, was not easy—especially during the cold winter months. There were times it was below 0 or -10 degrees. Kevin Sorbo jokingly said at CONtv, “it was fun shooting nighttime in 10 below 0. I left Minnesota for that reason.”

With such a great cast, fantastic cinematography, amazing special effects, and a fabulous story, you would think that Mythica would have financiers, producers, and backers pleading to be a part of this movie magic. But, as with a lot indie films, that is not always the case, and most films get put on the back burner for a while or, in the end, never see the light of day again. All that time and energy gone on such a wonderful project. Faller mentioned that what studios are doing is, “leaving a lot of great content that does have a big fan base out there. They’re leaving all those projects, and the world wants those movies. But the studios can’t,” --or will not-- “do them.” Things always look darkest before the storm, but have no fear--for Kickstarter is here to save the day!

Kickstarter is a global platform based here in the United States back on April 28, 2009, by Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler, and Charles Adler. According to Wikipedia, “The New York Times called Kickstarter ‘the people’s NEA.’ TIME named it one of the ‘Best Inventions of 2010’ and the ‘Best Websites of 2011.’” Back on October 31, 2012 Kickstarter opened to projects based in the United Kingdom, followed by projects based in Canada on September 9, 2013 and then with both Australia and New Zealand on November 13, 2013 followed not quite a year later with Denmark, Ireland, Norway and Sweden on September 15, 2014. Then on February 14, 2013 Kickstarter released an iOS app called Kickstarter for the iPhone and was aimed to help users who create and back projects, and it was the first time Kickstarter had an official mobile presence. The company’s mission statement is to help bring creative projects to life. This means Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative projects: each project is independently created, and creators keep 100% ownership of their work. Since being launched back in 2009, Kickstarter has had 8.5 million people pledging more than $1.7 billion and funding 83,000 creative projects, and more creative projects are raising funds on Kickstarter as we speak.

With Kickstarter it is a crowdfunding site, not a donation. Faller explains that, “it’s a pre-purchase opportunity. So you can get on Kickstarter and you can buy something before it comes out. You’re doing that on the faith that people are going to complete the product and then send it to you. The difference is the money that they give goes into the movie. It allows us to make a bigger, better film by the people pre-purchasing. Whereas if they wait and buy it when it comes out none of that money could’ve helped the movie be better.”

Kickstarter works is a project's creators set a goal and a deadline for the required funding they need to complete their project. When people like the project they can back it by pledging money to make it happen. One thing about Kickstarter is that this is an all-or-nothing campaign. All projects must reach their funding goals to receive any of the money. Now that may seem a little scary and pretty intimidating, but the fact is it creates a fire of momentum and it rallies people from all over around an idea—especially one like Mythia. An interesting idea about the way Kickstarter works is that this way of funding has been around since Beethoven. With Arrowstorm Entertainment using Kickstarter, they are able to get feedback from the audience that helps shape the way Mythica turns out. “As we get to know our audiences better, we get to better understand what it is they really want, so they will be happier with the movies that we come out with.” We the audience represent a much larger group that are not even associated with Kickstarter, and we help give not just Kickstarter, but also Arrowstorm Entertainment, the information they need from all the hardcore fans the films like Mythica desire. However according to Amanda Palmer, who had 25,000 backers support her album and much more through Kickstarter, “there’s just something magical about Kickstarter. You immediately feel like you’re part of a larger club of art-supporting fanatics.” Stephen Heleker, who raised $21,000 for his film SMOKE through Kickstarter, raves that Kickstarter is, “the most democratic way art has ever been made.” Arrowstorm Entertainment has used Kickstarter on many of their projects in the past, nevertheless it has been with Mythica 2: The Darkspore that it has ranked the highest on Kickstarter. It is a Staff Pick on Kickstarter Faller was really up in the clouds. He quoted in beforeitsnews.com, “it’s the first time we’ve risen to the top of the Kickstarter rankings and held the number one spot across all Kickstarter projects.” Faller goes on to say that what makes Mythica so popular to the Kickstarter campaign is that it is a, “pretty big and epic film and it’s a sequel to a Kickstarter that we already did. It already has a preexisting audience of people who received the first film, loved the first movie and really came out to support the sequel. So I think that gives us special advantage. We’ve done other Kickstarters before, so there are people out there looking for our next product. I think Arrowstorm as an advantage. All that aside, I think we put together a really great trailer for it, and that gets people excited and they share that and just raises us to the top of the Kickstarter ranks.” Kickstarter.com is helping to support a, “dream to create something that people want to see exist in the world. People rally around their friends’ projects, fans support people they admire and others simply come to Kickstarter to be inspired by new ideas.”

Without giving anything away, Faller has said to keep a close eye on Marek. Faller mentioned that there is a, “fundamental question about Marek. What is she really and what is she really becoming?” Watch for Marek’s struggle in finding out who or what she is. Also keep in mind that there are hopes for two more Mythica movies to be made with three already set and waiting for your help on Kickstarter coming soon. Until then come help support Mythica 2: The Darkspore and keep a lookout on your television set; the future may hold more adventures there to come from Arrowstorm Entertainment.