Help Michelle Smile Again!
All right Oz (and Valley Wind) community, we’ve got a job to do. We need to Help Michelle Smile Again. Here’s the story:
The date was September 20, 2009. Twas the last day of shooting on Legend of Oz that year.
It was a showdown between our two remaining witches after Dot’s arrival in Oz kills Ester. We were shooting the fight for the Silver Crescent between Colleen Sutton’s Locasta, and Michelle Leblanc’s Wester. [The Crescent is a weapon of great power.]
What happened was… well, this video can explain better than I can.
(Watch for the VIEWER DISCRETION warning towards the end of the video. It explains itself but don’t watch past the warning if you’re really squeamish.)
To recap for those can’t (or didn’t) watch the video, sometimes on a movie set, despite all preparations to avoid it, accidents happen. That was the case this day. Even in a simple fight scene, sometimes a hit can connect when it isn’t supposed to. It’s never fun, but it does happen. Most of the time, you just walk it off.
This time, as you saw, Michelle ended up with a chipped tooth. She actually ended up with three. And a $680 dollar dentists bill. Uppercuts are dangerous, kids.
Now while the tone of the video was a bit tongue in cheek, Michelle’s awesome and we really do want to help her smile again. Which is something that’s hard to do with a $700 chunk out of your bank account.
Starting today, the donate button on the blog here will collect money solely to comp that bill. Let’s show Michelle how we can come together as a community and help her out the same way she would help you. This will last for about a month or until we collect the full amount.
Whether it’s just a few dollars, or a bit more, every penny helps the cause.
For some added incentive, everybody who donates will be recognized right here in a thank you post as a warrior fighting for the cause. We will also shoot and post a special video from Michelle, thanking you all personally.
As a bonus, your donations will also help Colleen smile again. Accidentally connecting on set is doubly horrible when you hit a friend, and (as you no doubt noticed) Colleen felt terrible about uppercutting her dear friend.
ADDED INCENTIVE:
On top of that, anybody who donates $20 or more will get an 8×10 of Michelle, smiling, as Wester and maybe even a big hug.
Additionally the three highest donations will recieve actual props from the Legend of Oz (an auction of sorts). Starting with the highest donation and working down, the recipients will get to choose from;
1) The Silver Crescent. The Silver Cresent is the big weapon in Legend of Oz, carried by Dot throughout the movie. It’s the equivalent to the ruby slippers. This prize is for one of the three Crescents made for the movie. [Only one crescent will be given away.]
2) Dwight, the crowbar. Dwight is the name of the crowbar Fright uses, and often loses, in Legend of Oz. He found it on the side of the road and it’s been his best friend ever since. Now it can be yours.
3) The Gale Family Portrait. This framed portrait of Henry, Em, and Dot at Dot’s graduation sits on their mantle in the farm house in the early scenes of Legend of Oz. (Far right of picture below.)
Send us a donation and one of those authentic movie props could be yours. Every penny could make a difference here.
You don’t need a paypal account to donate. You don’t need to sign up for anything. Paypal accepts credit cards and provides a secure transaction. Just make sure to leave your name so you can be properly thanked. (If you’d prefer to remain anonymous, let us know.)
If you don’t do the online transaction thing but want to help out and join the ranks of the awesomes, email me and we can meet up in person. Heck, I’ll smile, too.
THE SILVER CRESCENT EDITION DVD
Here’s one final thing you cast, crew, and fans can get into. We’re going to start pre-sales right now on a special Limited (SILVER CRESCENT) Edition of the Legend of Oz DVD. We were going to wait until Windrush to open up sales but we’re happy to get to it now.
The Limited Edition of the Legend of Oz (released in 2011) will feature special cover art, special menus, and a photo booklet insert. The Limited Edition DVD will also have additional content in the form of bonus photo gallery, a video introduction from the cast, plus both the above video and the thank you video. None of which will be on the regular DVD.
These DVDs will be sold on pre-order for their 2011 release starting today for $50 (plus tax) and only 1,000 will be made. Ever.
Why this matters is because for the duration of the “Make Michelle Smile” campaign here, the full price you pay for the DVD (excluding tax) will go to the cause. AND your donation will still put you in for the auction prizes above. Which means you can pre-order your Limited Edition DVD and feel good about donating to help Michelle Smile again at the same time.
So put $56.50 (or more, considering the auction) in the donation box and tell us you want your Limited Edition DVD. Make sure your email address is correct so we can contact you and confirm details.
HELP US LAUGH
Okay, long post over. Help us out. Sacrifice one stop at Tim’s/Starbucks, once a week for a month, and that’s $10+ to help Michelle Smile.
Join up to the Facebook page to learn right away when our campaign’s been a success. And in the comments, help us laugh. Post your best tooth or dentist joke. We’ll post the best of them along with the thank you video.
