Naperville Filmmakers Reach Fundraising Goal, Spread Drug Awareness to Broader Audience

Nearly all summer Naperville student filmmakers Kelly McCutcheon and Jack Kapson watched their online fundraiser inch closer and closer to $5,000 – the amount needed to put their “Neuqua on Drugs” documentary onto DVD.

And finally, last week, it happened.

Not only did they reach their goal of $5,000, they surpassed it thanks to a Kickstarter campaign and support from donors in Naperville and across the country. Kickstarter is an online funding platform for various types of projects, which gives artists and creators a certain amount of time to meet their funding goal.

Earlier: 

“Neuqua on Drugs,” which tells the uncut story of Naperville’s youth drug culture, was launched on Kickstarter July 2 and fully-funded by Aug. 8, more than a week before their deadline.  

“We were really excited when the one pledge brought them over $5,000,” said Jack's mom Jill Kapson, who has helped the project through social media along with her husband Cliff. “We were very pleasantly surprised.”

With more than $6,000 raised, the DVD will soon be available for purchase on the “Neuqua on Drugs” web site.

Funds raised through Kickstarter not only go to artwork, packaging and professionally copying the documentary onto DVD, but also to create a web site for the project. Naperville web design company VisionFriendly.com has already started work on the site, which will make the DVD available for online purchase in September.

Originally, the students hoped to produce 500 to 1,000 copies, but just this past weekend two anonymous donors said they would match any donation up to $500 until the fundraiser ends on Thursday, Aug. 16 at 4:17 p.m.

“They’re going to make 1,000 copies to start with,” Kapson said. “And if 1,000 go right away then they’ll have the money available to make more once they see how things go with the web site and everything.”

The , which is , will also have a copy available.

Even though the project exceeded funding expectations, Kapson said the real work starts now with packaging the film, so the celebrating hasn’t happened just quite yet.  

“No not yet, I think maybe when it’s all over we will,” she chuckled.

Kelly and Jack certainly have a lot to be excited about as “Neuqua on Drugs” falls within the roughly 32 percent of the nearly 20,000 Kickstarter film and video projects that have been successfully funded, according to Kickstarter.

The film-making duo also plans on submitting the documentary to Sundance Film Festival, which takes place Jan. 17 in Salt Lake City.

The online fundraiser has not only helped spread the word about Naperville’s very real drug problem to a broader audience, but it also may have added a new member to the Kapson family.

“Kelly is over here all the time now, especially after editing [the DVD],” Kapson said. “She’s practically another member of our family."

For more information on "Neuqua on Drugs" Kickstarter, click here.

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http://www.neuquaondrugs.org/