We MADE IT!! Thanks to everyone for their support, and efforts.

And though our Kickstarter Campaign has ended, you can still support the film at our website www.touchthewall.com

You can get many of the rewards we offered here, and other cool stuff.

Thanks to all of our backers!!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A New Reward - a HIGH PERFORMANCE SWIM CAMP WITH OLYMPIC COACH DAVID MARSH

David Marsh his and 2012 Olympians and staff

For swimmers looking to dramatically improve their swimming comes a HIGH PERFORMANCE SWIM CAMP WITH OLYMPIC COACH DAVID MARSH.

David, one of the winningest coaches in NCAA history (Auburn), a three time Olympic Coach (most recently in 2012) and the head coach of SwimMAC Carolina, was the coach who brought Kara to her third Olympic games in London (and four other swimmers, including Gold Medalist Cullen Jones and Silver Medalist Nick Thoman). Throughout the years, David has brought 24 swimmers to the Olympics. Will you be next?

Available at the $2000 pledge level. See the rewards section for more details.

___________________________________________________________

Sneak Peak - Missy hasn't changed ... kinda ...

The Pressures of being a celebrity weigh on Missy, but with a little help from her friends, she hasn't changed.

_____________________________________________________________

Dave Marsh and Swimmac Carolina

Kara joined David Marsh's Elite Performance Group at Swimmac Carolina in April 2012. When she arrived, she learned that life without salsa is boring.

_______________________________________

Sneak Peak: Stars in Florida

Here's a little excerpt of what we're working on (we've got a lot of things we're working on) ...

______________________________________





Destination: London

Missy getting her gold medal for the 200m Backstroke, London 2012

On the evening of Saturday August 4, 2012, 17 year-old Missy Franklin won her fourth Gold medal of the London Olympic Games when she swam the backstroke leg of the women’s 4x100 medley relay. It was Missy’s second world record of the Olympic games; it was her 5th Olympic medal. It was a crowning moment for swimming’s brightest new star and end of a chapter of her marvelous journey.

That Saturday was also the end of her teammate Kara Lynn Joyce’s long and productive Olympic career. And though she finished with four Silver medals, making it to her third Olympics was her greatest accomplishment.

early morning Stars practice at Lowery pool

The plights of Missy and Kara – and that of their coach, Todd Schmitz – is the story of Touch the Wall, a feature-length documentary we’ve been making for the last two years. Over this time we shot 400 hours of footage - of swim meets, practices, relaxing at home, swimming with dolphins - as we dove deep into the world of elite competitive swimming.

Why Kickstarter?

We’ve managed to get the film through 2 years of production, but now we need funds to carry us through editing. Missy has vowed to stay amateur independent, and she's turned down millions of dollars to stay true to herself and her dreams.

We aim to do the same … stay independent and true to our story. (We wish we had millions of dollars to turn down.) Staying independent means that we can tell the story of Missy, Kara, and Todd without the pressure of corporate sponsors.

Stars Practice inside at Grandview Pool

What’s Special About This Film?

Lots.

In a world starved for heroes, Missy and Kara stand tall. Just because someone is athletically gifted and excels at a sport doesn't necessarily make them a good role model. The media is saturated with seemingly endless stories of athlete scandals, and countless children are disappointed every year as their idols fall. In contrast, Missy and Kara’s journey to Olympic success is one of the value of hard work, dedication, and friendship. It’s a story that parents can watch with their children, confident that the messages from the film are positive and inspiring.

It's extremely rare to find someone as good as Missy is, and as generous and authentic as she is. Granted, she's only a teenager, and time is the best story teller. But few people are as prepared to weather the stresses of success and fame as Melissa Franklin.

Missy’s story is becoming known – an all-American teenager who, when she’s not dominating her competition can be found doing her homework, hanging out with her friends, and or just having fun at whatever she’s doing. And she possibly might just be the nicest person on the planet.

As, for Kara, she has long had the reputation as one of the sport’s hardest workers … and most respected athletes. And she’s a killer in the pool, too. Touch the Wall is the story of how these two amazing women got to where they are. It’s also a story of family, of discipline, of loving what you do, and having fun.

on the blocks for the 100m free finals, Conoco Phillips National Championships 2011

What We Need

We need about $110k to get through editing.

We need more - a good deal more - to finish the film, but this Kickstarter money will get us a rough cut.

If we're lucky enough to raise more, we’ll put it towards licensing music, working on graphics and sound, and getting rights to the very expensive Olympic footage. That’ll run us another few hundred thousand dollars more, at least. But first things first – edit the film.

What We Need, in detail

We need funds to carry us through post. Here’s a rough breakdown of the rest of our budget:

Post - $110k

$75k - Editor(s)

$20k - Assistant Editors

$15k - Other stuff like rent, insurance, and late night pizzas

Music & Sound : $150k

$50k - pop music licenses (Call Me Maybe, etc.)

$50k Soundtrack & composer

Archival Footage : $300k

$250k Olympic and Archival Footage (global release) Zowie!!

$50k Other Stuff

Yep, that's a lot of coins. Nobody said making a film was cheap. But if we can just get through editing, we should be able to find further funds to finish the film.

Stuff We Want to Give You

As is the custom with Kickstarter, we've arranged to provide rewards for your support. Some of them are below:

We have two T-Shirts to chose from. One is a super cool Black T-Shirt that every swimmer will recognize:

Follow the Black Line, y'all.

or this fetching white T-Shirt:

It's fetching, isn't it?

Or this full size glamour poster of Missy reaching for the wall.

Touch the Wall Glamour Poster, Signed by Missy Franklin

While we were in Florida, we were lucky enough to be introduced to world-famous underwater photographer Stephen Frink. He jumped in the pool and took some pix of Missy and Kara. We can offer some of his work here in the form of limited edition fine-art prints:

Limited Edition Stephen Frink Photo - Missy the Missile

Limited Edition Stephen Frink Photo - "Dive"

That's not all. You'll also have a chance to race Kara in the pool - just you and a 9-time NCAA champion - head-to-head, lane-to-lane. Or get a swim clinic with her.

If you're really motivated, you can become a producer of the film in one of two exclusive categories. You'll be a real hotshot, and will have awesome bragging rights.

Check out the rewards on the right to see all of them. More are sure to be added.

You

We hope you can support us financially. If you can’t, you can help by getting the word out about this film, and what it stands for. Thanks for your support.