Contact: Jerry Karp
jerry@rocketwords.com or (415) 731-6468
Rocket Words Grant Proposal Wins Production Funding for Filmmaker Janelle McCuen
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (April 2002) Jerry Karp of Rocket Words has announced that filmmaker Janelle McCuen, a Rocket Words client, has received a $1,000 post-production grant from the non-profit Open Meadows Foundation to help with the completion of her film, Shoes. This is the first foundation grant McCuen has received for the post-production and distribution of Shoes. Because of the prestigious status of Open Meadows, this initial grant will go a long way toward helping McCuen land additional funding, from private donors as well as from other arts-focused foundations. Karp assisted McCuen with the strategizing for and writing of the grant-winning proposal.
Shoes is a 23-minute narrative film portraying three days in the life of Julia, a nine-year-old to struggling fit in at a new school. Her misery focuses on her ugly, worn welfare shoes, which come to symbolize in her mind her standing as an outsider and a social inferior. The shoes, and Julia's obvious vulnerability, soon mark her as a target for her classmates' fierce ridicule. In addition to festival submissions and local screenings, McCuen foresees an extensive life for Shoes as a powerful education tool, helping grade school teachers spark discussion of crucial social issues including class bias and the intense damage that children can inflict by marking one of their peers as an outsider. The aim is to inspire compassion and help children make positive choices in the face of adversity, and in fact Shoes ends on a note of hope and redemption.
To enhance the film's effectiveness as a teaching device, McCuen has assembled a team of expert, dedicated educators to create a comprehensive classroom curriculum and discussion guide for Shoes. The Open Meadows funds will be used to begin the production of this material.
A Continuing Collaboration
The successful Open Meadows Grant proposal is just one chapter of a two-year working relationship between Rocket Words and McCuen's production company, The Girl Project. “Working with Jerry has allowed me to feel confident that I can present my ideas in writing powerfully and effectively, whether I need a press release, a grant application, or a fundraising letter,” McCuen said. “I am no longer stopped when faced with a challenging writing assignment. I turn to Jerry to take my ideas and make sense of them.”The working relationship began in 2000, when Rocket Words helped McCuen produce a successful sponsorship application for Shoes with the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC). Gaining BAVC sponsorship has allowed individual donors to receive tax deductions for their financial support of the post-production, distribution, and curriculum development for the film.
About Rocket Words
Rocket Words is the writing service of Jerry Karp. Through Rocket Words, Karp helps artists, musicians and arts-related businesses increase sales, enhance audience and media awareness of their work, and gain funding for their projects. Rocket Words services include lively and effective web site content, press releases/press kits, grant proposals and marketing materials, as well as well-researched, entertaining articles for music, arts and design-related publications.Karp is a versatile and accomplished copywriter and editor with a unique and powerful combination of language, media, and communications experience. Recent Rocket Words clients have included SFJAZZ (The San Francisco Jazz Festival), The Girl Project Film Production Company, OnlineRock.com, Metal Images Jewelry Studio, Caroline de Baëre, Inc., and Meyer Sound Laboratories. Karp's recent publications include articles in Jazz Steps, Auditoria Magazine, San Francisco Reader, and WetFeet.com.
For more information about Rocket Words services, please contact Jerry Karp at jerry@rocketwords.com, or call (415) 731-6468. For a full range of writing samples, please visit www.rocketwords.com.
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