Dying to Tell Production Fund

The campaign will move Dying to Tell: The Life of Stephen Jenkins from completed narrative development into full production and launch, delivering two enduring works that do not yet exist: a one-hour documentary film and a companion coffee table–style memoir. Timely investment matters because the project is ready to secure coordinated production, project management, and vendor support for marketing and release—momentum that can be lost if financing is delayed.

The campaign will illuminate a six-decade journey through identity, otherness, loss, awakening, and renewal, inviting audiences into a reckoning with death, rebirth, belonging, and purpose. It will culminate in a public film premiere paired with a book signing, creating a clear moment of community engagement.

Blue Ridge Collaborative will report progress through production milestones, completion of launch deliverables, and execution of the premiere and book signing, while actively exploring film distribution pathways (including PBS, streaming platforms, and digital outlets) and assessing publishing options for the book. Major donors can play a defining role through a lead gift toward the $152,000 goal, underwriting key components and aligning recognition with the launch and public-facing release.

This campaign matters now because Dying to Tell is at the point where foundational narrative and messaging work has been completed and the project is ready to move from concept into full production and launch. Blue Ridge Collaborative is positioned to fund and produce both the one-hour documentary film and the companion coffee table–style memoir with care, intention, and creative rigor—momentum that can be lost if financing is delayed.

Waiting increases the risk that production, project management, and the vendor support needed for marketing and launch cannot be secured in a coordinated way, slowing the path to completion, premiere, and distribution exploration. Timely investment enables the project to be made and released with the clarity and quality the story requires.

If this campaign succeeds, Dying to Tell: The Life of Stephen Jenkins will exist as a completed, one-hour documentary film and a companion coffee table–style memoir—two enduring creative works that do not exist today. Together, they will illuminate a six-decade journey through identity, otherness, loss, awakening, and renewal, and invite audiences into a reckoning with death, rebirth, belonging, and purpose.

Success also unlocks public-facing engagement: Blue Ridge Collaborative will stage a public film premiere paired with a book signing, and will actively explore distribution pathways for the film (including PBS, streaming platforms, and digital outlets) while assessing publishing options for the book, from traditional publishing to self-publication.

The campaign will deliver two concrete outputs: (1) production and completion of a one-hour documentary film and (2) production and completion of a coffee table–style memoir, supported by project management and vendor work for marketing and launch. It will also deliver a public premiere event paired with a book signing, creating a clear moment of community engagement around the release.

Blue Ridge Collaborative will track and report progress through production milestones from concept through completion, completion of launch deliverables (marketing and vendor-supported launch activities), and execution of the premiere and book signing. The organization will also report on distribution and publishing pathways explored for the film and book, including outreach and assessment of options such as PBS, streaming platforms, digital outlets, and publishing routes.

Major-donor partnership will be structured around the campaign’s overall goal of $152,000 to fund production of the documentary film and companion book, along with project management and vendor costs for marketing and launch. A lead gift can underwrite key components of bringing the film and book into the world and help ensure the project is produced with the intended care and creative rigor.

Blue Ridge Collaborative will build a close working relationship with major donors through meaningful engagement with the project’s progress from concept through completion, and through inclusion in key moments such as the public film premiere and book signing. Recognition and visibility can be aligned with the film and book launch activities, consistent with the project’s public-facing premiere and distribution/publishing efforts.