<em>Dick Figures</em> Breaks Kickstarter Record

 

While animation projects on Kickstarter are as common as zombie references on Facebook, animated web series Dick Figures [1] has achieved true standout success, and, with nearly 100 percent funding, may be well on its way to becoming an animated film.

After launching in November of 2010, Dick Figures has become the highest rated and most watched animated web series on YouTube (www.youtube.com/show/dickfigures [2]). The series is nearing the end of its fourth season, and in 18 months has accumulated 135 million views with a 99 percent positive rating. The series averages over four million unique views a week, and has an ever-growing following on Facebook and Twitter. The demand for merchandise has continued to grow as well; the soundtracks, and a large assortment of apparel and other products, are all available online with the first t-shirt order selling out in only eight hours.

Dick Figures is the brain child of Ed Skudder, who writes, directs and stars alongside creative partner Zack Keller. The show was hatched out of an internal development initiative at the animation studio Six Point Harness, when Ed made a funny short about two stick figures named Red and Blue. The creative team at Six Point partnered with Mondo Media, the largest animation distributor on YouTube, to create a series based around the characters.

In May 2012, Ed and Zack launched an ambitious Kickstarter [3]campaign with the intention of raising $250K to make DICK FIGURES: THE MOVIE. The show and project has received national attention, and, now at $220K, DICK FIGURES: THE MOVIE has become the highest-funded animation Kickstarter project ever.

Source: Six Point Harness