Source: Kickstarter.com & Mike Mooneyham of the Post and Courier
As you know, we reinvest the majority of any money we make from advertising on TNAStars.com back into the wrestling business. So far, we’ve used those funds to purchase a variety of merchandise to give away to you, our readers. We’ve also used some of those funds to invest, via Kickstarter.com, in Mickie James‘ upcoming country music album. Well, we recently used some of those funds to invest in an upcoming unauthorized (i.e. not WWE-financed or approved) documentary of the original Extreme Championship Wrestling.
For those of you interested in learning more about the documentary on Kickstarter.com, you can click here.
Recently, Mike Mooneyham of the Post and Courier talked to John Philapavage – the man behind the documentary. Here are some highlights from that interview.
Why Produce This Film:
We like to call this the study of a subculture’s subculture. Pro wrestling is a world that is an odd island to most people. In the 1990s, Extreme Championship Wrestling was the bizarre underground of that subculture. We wanted to bring the fascinating behind-the-scenes story of this promotion to the mainstream, its ups and its downs, from its beginning in the early ‘90s all the way into 2012.
How Far Along is the Project:
We’re about a week or 10 days from having a first draft with just interviews — no music, b-roll, photos or anything else. There are still little pieces of footage trickling out and a few new things to work in, so it’s a long process. The next two months are going to be killer.
Why Should You See This Documentary:
I honestly think this is must-see because it’s the first wrestling documentary in a long time that I think a wrestling fan can show their sister and/or their mother, and it might spark intelligent conversation. I think it will open a lot of eyes, both to the positives and the negatives of the business, but ECW specifically. There is a lot of positive and negative to that legacy they’ve left, and I think a lot of fans are too close to it, or feel they have it clearly defined. I’d take your non-fan friend to see it with you, so you have both perspectives to the discussion once you see it, on the drive home.
Some Comments on Why Paul Heyman Isn’t In The Film:
Heyman was terribly elusive during the many years it took us to make this film. I think he likes to control the room, so to speak, and I don’t think he was interested in dealing with the questions we were asking. I also think he figured we were so small, it might never amount to anything. He’s a very calculated guy, and I can appreciate that.
