Box of Stars.com is LIVE!

Starbox pictures (me and Adam) are very excited to announce the beginning of our Internet marketing campaign.

Our Box of Stars Web site is now live.

This press release just went out to all our favorite media outlets ...

Independent Film Producers Selling “Stars”

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 1 – From politics to paying off personal debt, fund raisers of all types have taken to the Web in recent years to raise money. Non-profits, political parties, and even bloggers have learned that if you want something, you have to ask for it. And who better to ask than a few million Web surfing strangers?

While many fundraising Web sites give you nothing more than a sincere “thank you” and a printable receipt for your contribution, smart fundraisers are learning that you have to give contributors something of value in return.

Independent filmmakers Adam Hatley and Glenn Hopper think they’ve found something people would be willing to pay for.

“We’re selling stars,” Hatley said.

“That people can put in a box,” added Hopper, who says he came up with the idea recently while “lying on my back in a ditch on a particularly clear night.”

“I was lying there with a blunt force head trauma, and I thought, ‘I’d like to own a piece of that – my own corner of the cosmos. One of those stars. Keep it in a box under my bed.’”

Thusly, BoxofStars.com was born. The Web site, launched Nov. 1, features a screen sized box, which users are filling with stars that they can personalize and use to link back to their own Web sites.

Why a box of stars?

The box of stars is part of a promotional campaign by Starbox Pictures, a small independent film company currently in pre-production on their feature film debut entitled Suicide Squad.

The inspiration for the name Starbox Pictures came from the line “My God. It’s full of stars,” from Arthur C. Clarke’s novel 2001: A Space Odyssey.

“For some reason, that line has always stood out to me,” said Hopper. “It marks the beginning of Dave Bowman’s journey through the cosmos … and seemed a fitting tag line for what we were trying to do with our production company and film.”

Filling an empty box with stars is an excellent way to show the progress of the firm’s fundraising efforts, Hatley said. “The box of stars is like a blank page. As we fill the box, you can see our dream (of producing the film) becoming a reality. It’s like putting words on paper. Each star brings us one step closer,” Hatley said.

Star buyers can customize their stars’ color and size and personalize their stars to point to their Web site, or to send a personal message into cyber space. “It’s a viral marketing tool that we hope will catch on with Internet users, who’ve already shown their interest in similar sites like Million Dollar Homepage,” Hopper said. “Our site, however, is cleaner, and honestly I think it’s a cooler concept,” he added.

Starbox Pictures is pursuing traditional fund raising, but has also started an aggressive Internet campaign with the Box of Stars Web site, a line of merchandise to promote their film and their production company, and a blog that chronicles the filmmakers’ progress on the movie.

Suicide Squad
Written by Glenn Hopper and John Regan, Suicide Squad is the story of six Generation X’ers who met on the Internet, and meet in person for the first time on what was planned to be their last night on Earth.

From the BoxofStars Web site:

For the past four years, they've known each other only by their Internet screen names. But tonight in an abandoned barn a thousand miles from the rest of their lives, a group of social misfits is drawn together on what is to be their last night on earth. Keenly aware of their fast-approaching fate, the group is freed from societal constraints and emboldened to speak the truth. While awaiting the arrival of their mysterious leader and their ultimate demise, the Suicide Squad is forced to explore the beliefs, events, and circumstances that led them here.