Script Frenzy: Every Little Bit

Yesterday the GoodSearch clock started, for me, at $0.67. Today? It's just about to hit $5 even (Link might not work for you if you don't have the Office of Letters and Light preselected. If not, just trust me.). That's over 450 searches in a day. Or $135 if it's kept up for a month. And, yeah, I've contributed my own small portion to that sum. The thing is, you can, too.

A bit of digging (read: any) and I discovered just why fundraising is so important at this juncture – behold th Script Frenzy budget. Sure, I could have just waited for the week's e-mail – which reveals that something like only 250 people have donated so far (Each contributing an average of around $75, by the way. I feel poor now.) - but, eh, I'm impatient. It's in my mailbox now but it wasn't this afternoon. The budget's buried in the FAQ, specifically the Donations and Finances part. I mean, the button's right there but it's a bit hard to find if you don't know what you're looking for and/or are incredibly nosy.

But, anyway, the $18k raised covers, basically, the web hosting. And that's only one small line item in a $120k budget. Hopefully they're relying on funding avenues other than the backs of their participants because, you know, the way these things go only a small percent of people are ever going to pony up. The figure supposedly stands at 3% now. And I wouldn't expect it to get much past the “barely in the double digits” mark. If that.

As the “send $$$ pls” e-mail says:

Script Frenzy stands at a scary crossroads. In one direction, the program thrives and grows for years to come; in the other, it withers up and disappears forever. Honestly, it all comes down to whether we can pay our operating costs for this first fragile year...

...We've loved every minute of this first Frenzy. And we still have nine wonderful days of writing ahead of us. We want to do this all over again next year, but we can't do it without your help.

Scary stuff. Those $102k that the Frenzy needs to merely break open loom like an empty word count meter. But unlike mine and others' non-existent progress, this race to the finish line actually matters. It's a lot of cash to raise (Everyone involved in the Frenzy would have to donate, now, something on the order of $12 each.). But, still, manageable at this point.

I mean, if there are this many people insane enough to think they can write a script in a month, there have to be enough wild-eyed individuals to do whatever it takes to keep the crazy train rolling, right?