The Flight of Dragons

Passion projects can be such an influential thing for the entertainment world. Things like Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Fifty Shades of Grey, and The Postal Service all started out as passions because there was no thought of big money at first. That's how I see Jesse Stipek's vision for The Flight of Dragons.

Jesse and I used to work with each other at Microsoft Production Studios (back when it was simply called Microsoft Studios). He managed staging equipment there and we really hit it off due to our mutual love for anime. One thing I noticed about Jesse is that he's incredibly motivated and creative. Jesse and his triplet brothers had a production group called Trico Films where they made a few films to submit to NFFTY, the National Film Festival for Talented Youth. The brothers won Best Short Film in 2008 for their short Soldiers of Necker.

Jesse has been a big fan of The Flight of Dragons since he was a kid. It was originally a 1982 straight-to-video animated film based on two books, the speculative natural history compendium The Flight of Dragons, where the name comes from, and The Dragon and the George. The movie was made by the same company that did the semi-popular Lord of the Rings and Hobbit animated films. Jesse's dream is to turn one of his favorite films into a live-action flick.

To say that Jesse has connections is an understatement. He's been in talks with folks who worked on the original like author Peter Dickinson, illustrator/concept artist Wayne Anderson, and original composer Maury Laws. Likewise, he is gathering up a new crew of talented people to help him with the new material, like composer Carl Johnson, concept designer Christos Achilleos, and storyboarder David McClave. The biggest challenge is going to be the special effects. For that, Jesse has enlisted Blufire Studios to bring the dragons, and much of the world that comes with them, to life. If you take a quick peek at their 2012 reel, you'll notice that animated dragons is not exactly new to them.

Jesse will not be getting any type of corporate funding for this initially, so he's hitting up Indiegogo for some financial assistance. This will go towards creating a fan trailer for the film, which will in a way be a sort of proof-of-concept. From there, who knows where things will lead? Perhaps Warner Bros. will see the interest in the film and back it. Perhaps this will just stay a small production with a loyal fanbase. Only time will tell.

For now, if you are interested in following the production of The Flight of Dragons, you can go to their website, Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook. And that's where I come in. I am having the pleasure of helping Jesse market the film on social networks. It's already been a pretty exciting ride and I can't wait to see the finished product. If you would like to contribute towards the making of this film, visit their Indiegogo site, which for now just covers the film's score. There are some great incentives available, including getting your name in the credits, autographed pictures, and Skype calls with Jesse and his producer. Not only that, but you'll be a part of something that you know is going to be treated with the utmost care and attention.