ABOUT BAD BOY:

Season One of “Bad Boy” began in March of 2018.  What was intended to be a single short film quickly found an audience, leading to the creation of a second short.  History repeated itself, and so did this one-off production style, resulting in 28 episodes over four and a half years (!!).  While that’s not the ideal way to make a show, it was never taken for granted that people were watching and wanting more.

Early in production, almost no one was getting paid.  Artie was working as a substitute teacher, writing and editing episodes while in the classroom, and calling in every favor he could to keep the show going.  He started doing live streams and receiving donations, allowing for actors to get paid, wardrobe and prop items to be bought, and for the production of each episode to be less stressful.  However, each episode was paid for by funds raised in the days just before filming.  This time around, he is raising funds for a season of eight-to-ten episodes where all costs can be covered ahead of time.  And everyone for sure gets paid. 🙂

ARTIE ON “BAD BOY”:

“The show grew from a couple of sketches into a sitcom simply because those initial shorts were so popular.  In writing the show, I wanted queerness to be prevalent in the various characters but never be the point of conflict.  The bad boys and their families come from a conservative area of America yet they completely accept – and are accepted for – all elements of their sexualities.  In that, I’m writing a version of the world as I think it should be.  This allows the story to be about LGBTQ+ characters while the plot is a semi-absurd, ‘Will & Grace’-meets-‘Clue’, ensemble comedy.  Topics like Scott being labeled a ‘daddy’ or tipping into sexual territory with the bad boys are true to a middle-aged gay man, but are present only to complicate Scott’s involvement with a criminal family.  My goal is to tie sexy and funny together, to walk a line between reality and absurdity.  Sexy and funny.  That’s the goal and, hopefully, that’s the show.”

For more about Artie, visit his website and follow him on Instagram.

WHAT THE FUNDRAISER COVERS:

The fundraising goal will cover an entire eight-to-ten episode season upfront.  If more money is raised, more episodes will be made!  But the current target takes into account a budget of approximately $4,000 per episode (which is still incredibly cheap by production standards).

The crew for the show has always been minimal and will remain so.  On set, we have a cinematographer/camera operator (Jamie) and a boom operator.  Sometimes, if we’re lucky, we have a production assistant, but often it’s actors swinging in to help out when they’re not on camera.  That’s it.  And Jamie accepts far less money than he’s worth because he knows we’ve never had the budget for it.

This go around, Jamie will be paid more.  Actors will be paid more.  We will have an assistant on set to help both Artie and Jamie.  Lunch and craft service will be covered.  Locations can be rented, something we’ve never done before!  We often need to buy extra equipment and sometimes we have to do without.  This will make sure everything anyone needs is there on set.  Not to mention wardrobe items, props, end credit drawings, external hard drives…  All of these things cost money and always have, but the aim is to cover the entire season up front.

Everything else is what Artie does.  He writes, directs, produces, and acts in the show, but also edits it and does every bit of the post-production work.  Other series often have to hire individual people to cover many jobs.  In this case, he does them and will continue to do them.

Outside of this, there is the five percent of funds that Indiegogo receives; the three precent of funds that goes to transaction fees; the hefty percentage that needs to be set aside for taxes at the end of the year; and the production costs for the perks and incentives.

BUT, ARTIE, WHY KEEP MAKING BAD BOY?:

I made twenty-eight episodes.  It was spread out over four-and-a-half years.  Why keep going?

Well, I needed a break for one thing.  The above-mentioned constant fundraising and coordinating of shoots while also writing and editing was wearing this guy out!  But I knew I didn’t want the show to end.  I’d created several other projects and shorts that never went anywhere.  Here I had a show people actually watched!  Why would I ever STOP making it?

During my break, I was able to travel a bit, and I also re-released the first season as a single, season-long video.  I’ve run into so many people literally around the world who have told me how much they love the show and want it to keep going.  And the audience who is just finding the show has no idea it had been going for so long!  It’s a new discovery and they, too, want more.

Perhaps more importantly, I think “Bad Boy” fills a void for gay programming that currently exists.  My endgame is and always has been to work on a sitcom on television.  And ideally that sitcom would feature gay characters and themes while being an entertaining watch to everybody.  Currently, the show I most want to see isn’t on TV; it’s the one I made.  So I’m making more.  And I believe the show is still just at the start of what it will become.

OTHER WAYS TO HELP:

Sharing this campaign with people who might be interested in helping support gay content creators is an excellent place to start!

You can also sign up to Artie’s Patreon, where there are lots of updates, exclusive behind-the-scenes photos and videos, access to early releases, commentary videos, and more.  You can find Artie’s Patreon here.

Otherwise, sharing the videos with friends, leaving comments and likes, and just general good vibes always go a long way!  It’s a lot of work to make this show.  As someone who deals with anxiety on a regular basis, every word of encouragement and positive bit of feedback can turn a hard day into a happy one. 🙂

And one last thing…

If you decide to donate and get a perk or just contribute without a perk, Indiegogo will ask if you want to “tip” during checkout.  That tip is for Indiegogo, not for me or Bad Boy. They already take 5% of the total funds raised, so PLEASE feel free to change that “tip” amount that autofills to $0!