7 DAYS LEFT! 87% FUNDED! New rewards and new (old) Ernest ads
over 3 years ago – Sat, Jun 19, 2021 at 10:48:03 PM

In today's update:

• Less than a week to go! 
• 87% funded, $52k+
• New rewards from Neil Fraser Graphics
• More new (old) Ernest ads

We have less than one week left in our campaign, and things are looking great! The celebration of Jim's birthday gave our campaign a great boost earlier in the week, and we are now less than $8000 away from our goal!

Helping push us further towards the goal is another great art donation! This one is from Neil Fraser, an artist you may remember from one of our earlier updates. Neil was kind enough to donate a limited run of ten 24" x 36" poster prints of his "Jim Varney is Ernest" artwork! 

These ten prints will be EXCLUSIVE to the the documentary fundraising campaign, and will not be available for purchase anywhere else... so get them before they're gone! You can add them to your existing pledge on the main Campaign page. Big thanks to both Neil and Aaron Cohen for making these great new add-on rewards happen! ❤️

As we move closer and closer to our deadline, we're continuing to make our way through the archives to find new things to share—especially Ernest ads. In addition to the above playlist, you can find (and share!) these classic spots via the videos page on our website, as well as on Twitter and on the IOBE Facebook page. 

Time is almost up! Thanks as always to everyone who's been sharing, supporting, and shouting about our project from the figurative rooftops (especially using our social assets)! Keep it up!

- David

New add-on items! Exclusive Ernest art by Kevin-John
over 3 years ago – Tue, Jun 15, 2021 at 05:42:45 PM

We’ve got some terrific new add-on items! 

(As previously mentioned on our Jim Varney birthday live hangout...)

When we posted our IOBE teaser video last year, a talented Master Artist named Kevin-John reached out to the documentary team about a potential collaboration...

"Ernest / Jim Varney has influenced me, my art and my career since the early 80s, and I would love the opportunity to pay my respect and homage through my art."

Kevin-John has created art for some of the top IP holders in the world, including Lucasfilm, Disney, Marvel, Topps, NFL, NHL, and MLB, to name a few. And now, he's created several Ernest-inspired pieces exclusively for our documentary fundraiser!

These wonderful one-of-a-kind works of painted art are included in the add-on rewards for this campaign. To purchase them (and support the documentary), you can simply add them to your existing pledge on our main page. 

And be sure to check out all of Kevin-John’s work at https://www.kevin-john.com/ !

Happy Birthday, Jim Varney!
over 3 years ago – Tue, Jun 15, 2021 at 12:25:37 PM

In today's update:

• 67% funded, $40k+
• #HappyBirthdayJimVarney
• IOBE interview on WKRN
• Live hangout on Zoom tonight!
• How YOU can help the IOBE fundraiser

What a day, Ernest P. World! We're celebrating the birthday of the man himself, Jim Varney, who would have turned 72 years old today. And clearly the internet knows it, because we're also seeing one of the highest single-day fundraising totals since our campaign began!

Part of this progress can also be attributed to a news article published earlier today. Last week, Justin and I talked to Sebastian Posey of WKRN in Nashville, who composed a wonderfully written tribute to Ernest and Jim and his ties to the city. We had a great time talking for over an hour about Jim's life, the origins and legacy of Ernest, and everything in between...

"Varney brought a charm to the character that was all his own. He was a man who loved Shakespeare and studied Vaudeville. A man who never met a stranger. There was benevolence to Ernest. A twang of southern charm, but never at the expense of the region Varney called home. He was equal parts folksy and farcical – like Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp, by way of Mark Twain."

Thanks, Sebastian! You can read the entire piece here: https://www.wkrn.com/news/ernest-legacy-of-jim-varney/

Meanwhile, we've been prepping for our LIVE hangout tonight on Zoom—our own way of commemorating Jim Varney's birthday! You'll be able to join the event at the following link, which will go live just prior to the start time of 7pm ET / 6pm CT: https://www.beingernestfilm.com/live/

In the meantime, we are calling on all backers, supporters, and fans to continue spreading the word and sharing our campaign with as many people as possible. We'll be posting a few more goodies today in honor of Jim's birthday using the #HappyBirthdayJimVarney hashtag. 

More than that, you can find an email template, countdown images, and other helpful links at the Social Assets page on our website. It seems as though we've just about reached the entire Ernest P. World with our campaign, so now is the time to start thinking outside the box!

Who are some people, blogs, news outlets, etc. who may not know about the documentary, but would definitely be interested in seeing it happen? Those are the folks to contact now. Let's make it happen!

- David

Commemorate Jim Varney's 72nd Birthday With the Producers of IOBE!
over 3 years ago – Mon, Jun 14, 2021 at 08:35:55 PM

SURPRISE! #HappyBirthdayJimVarney

You're invited to a Zoom Hangout with the Producers of The Importance of Being Ernest in honor of (what would be) Jim Varney's 72nd birthday! 

We are hosting the Zoom chat on Tuesday, June 15th at 7pm ET/6pm CT.

The producers will chat more about the film and reveal a couple of exciting updates.

We will share the Zoom link shortly before the hangout starts. We hope you can join us!

Sincerely,

The IOBE Team

Happy Ernest Day 2021!
over 3 years ago – Sat, Jun 12, 2021 at 11:07:44 AM

In today's update:

• 60% funded, $39k+
• Reward images
• Ernest in pop culture
• An IOBE Ernest Day announcement

Happy Ernest Day, everyone! We woke today to find ourselves at 60% of our fundraising goal, having raised just shy of $40k so far. 

It's been a big week for Ernest- and IOBE-related visuals! First off, we FINALLY have images of all of the current reward tiers, so that you can get a better idea of what each pledge and add-on actually looks like. It speaks to the passion of the Ernest fanbase that many of the "Vintage Sgt. Glory prints" are already gone when I didn't even have a chance to post photos of them yet! 

You can see all of these reward images on the main Campaign page. 

In addition to images that we made, there are also some works of Ernest fan art worth checking out—including this "Ernest is Worthy" image by @allenolantern, made by remixing the Sprite images from the DeVault Vault:

And this incredible work of Ernest art by Neil Fraser Graphics, a private commission by—who else?—a group of Ernest fans: 

It feels as though Ernest's presence in pop culture comes more and more to the forefront every day. Nowhere was this more obvious this week than when everyone's favorite Worrell showed up in a monologue on "The Late Show": 

We also got an official reply from Sprite on our Ernest "Gator Pit" ad post, expressing a sentiment no one can argue with:

This isn't even everything that happened this week (more updates coming shortly)! But all in all, it's an incredibly exciting time for our campaign and for Ernest fans in general... and what better way to wrap up the week than with the 5th annual Ernest Day celebration in TN?

Oh right, our IOBE Ernest Day announcement that I mentioned above...

I'm happy to announce that the IOBE documentary team is planning to attend Ernest Day 2022—perfect timing, since it will also mark the 35th anniversary of Ernest Goes to Camp! We want to record all of the activities, meet and interview fans, and just generally capture the ways in which the organizers and attendees have been celebrating both Ernest and Jim Varney for the past five years. 

Whew, that's a lot! Keep sharing the links to our campaign, and have a great Ernest Day, everyone!

- David