Documentary Release: First Half of 2011
We’ve completed nearly all shooting and are now finishing the script and editing the film. GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth will be released early next year — not an easy task for an operation running on volunteer power and a shoestring budget.

We still need money for completion, publicity and distribution. This is a tough fundraising environment for anyone, but it’s extra-challenging for us because questioning the mantra of infinite growth is a hot potato for many foundations. If you can get our project in front of a philanthropist likely to appreciate our mission, you will be our hero! Drop me a line if you have a connection. And don’t forget you can be a philanthropist, too! . . .

I’m inviting your vote. The trailer posted on our homepage has been up for a year, and we’ve been thinking it’s time for an update. Soon we’ll post a trailer that gives you a more complete picture of what the film will look like. But for now, I think we’ve come up with something short and to the point. I’d like your opinion, and it will only take you a minute to view it (it’s that short!).

Here is the new trailer:

And here is the current one:

Please cast a vote for which you prefer, at my blog on Daily Kos. Your comments below are also welcome. And if you like it, here’s a short link to it on YouTube you can share with your friends: http://tinyurl.com/GAcure . . .

Some people assume I’m a wealthy Hollywood producer, flush with cash to fund a little hobby-film about growth addiction. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Producing the documentary, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth has turned out to be an exercise in involuntary simplicity. The first few years I continued taking on corporate film projects — to keep the lights on and to support the non-profit film. I also ran through my retirement savings. This year I mothballed the corporate work to devote full attention to finishing GrowthBusters – so we can release the film in the first half of 2011.

It’s not easy to attract major funding for a film project that questions the most fundamental beliefs powering our current system. Most people or organizations with money got that money by operating successfully in our growth-based system. It’s a pretty small slice of the universe of potential funders (both individuals and foundations) who are visionary enough to support a project this radical. . . .

Some visitors to GrowthBusters, and maybe even many of our fans, may not realize we are depending on financial contributions (tax-deductible in the U.S.) to produce our non-profit documentary, Hooked on Growth. 

A glance at the fundraising thermometer upper right will show you we’re making progress, but we have a long way to go. We’ll finish the film even if we fall short of the goal. But the closer we can get to $250,000, the fewer important ingredients we have to leave out of the film and the distribution plan. The film can have a lot more impact if we can afford an original music score. Stock footage? Costs money. Color correction? Money. Animation? Serious money (though we’re trying to get some of this donated to the project). Then, it would be a shame to have a great film but no money to spend on publicity to make sure millions see it. You get the picture.   DONATE HERE! . . .

Submit your creative design in the Growthbusters ad design contest to help develop ads for use by organizations, bloggers and other supporters on the web. You and other supporters will vote, and we’ll use the best to spread the word about the Growthbusters Hooked on Growth documentary project.

To enter, email your ad to community@growthbusters.org. Entered ads will be posted to the Growthbusters Facebook Page for voting by our fans. All submissions are due on or before September 24th.

By submitting an ad you give Citizen-Powered Media all rights to use your ad as we see fit, and you warrant that you own the rights to use all elements of your ad. We’ll try to give winners we use plenty of acclaim. Ads must be able to fit into standard web advertisement sizes in terms of pixels into one of three categories to be entered in a jpeg format: . . .