Dear friends, family, creative partners, and colleagues,

WE’RE SHOOTING A PILOT!

After almost two years of a deep dive into depolarization theories and how they could be turned into entertainment formats to reduce the alarming divide in our country, I’ve decided to take a leap of faith and shoot a trial episode of one of the most promising shows my partners at Harvard and I have been developing!

To make it even more exciting, Harvard researchers will conduct a research study by showing that pilot and a control version to over 2,000 people to test how much our project reduces hatred and tribalism amongst viewers!

You may already know how the show works, but here’s a brief reminder:

SYNOPSIS

This is a non-partisan, high-stakes, physical trivia game show where a conservative and a progressive team up to bridge their differences, both literally and figuratively! They must work together to build a bridge by answering questions correctly to win a cash prize... or risk losing all their money and sinking in a gigantic tank filled with cold and turbulent water. Think of it as a combination of Jeopardy! and American Ninja Warriors/Floor is Lava.

WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH THIS PILOT?

Aside from the Harvard study that will be published on a scientific journal, we plan to use the pilot to either sell a full season of episodes to a network/streaming service (Netflix, Hulu, Max) OR to use it as a fundraising tool to produce the show independently and launch it on Youtube, TikTok & Instagram (where most of the conspiracy theories and disinformation originates).

WHAT YOU GET IN RETURN

The most important thing is contributing to an effort that’s trying to heal our nation and bring hope in these chaotic times. As you may have heard me say, I believe in the power of media and entertainment to change people’s hearts and minds and my partners and I are convinced this endeavor has a great shot to achieve that!

Additionally, every single person that donates will be recognized in the credits of the pilot episode as follows:

P.S. Any amount, even $1 helps, so thank you so much for your contribution! 

HOW IN THE WORLD CAN THIS BE DONE FOR $15,000? (We've increased the GoFundMe goal to $20K, please read the UPDATE for more info!)

Great question! Well, the reality is you can’t—the budget for a pilot like this usually costs anywhere from $150K to millions of dollars. However, I have to thank my humble beginnings as a TV producer on a shoestring budget back in El Salvador for this. It taught me how to make $5 look like a million! So I’ve decided to go back to my roots and use creativity (not money) to solve problems. The total budget will be around $30K, so I’m trying to raise half of that with people like you and will use my lifelong savings for the other half. It’s a nerve-wracking but also exciting challenge that I’m enjoying thoroughly.

THE LOCATION

For starters, this beautiful million dollar studio I had in mind…

is GONE!

But instead, I’ve found the gorgeous Penguin City Brewing Company in my hometown of Youngstown, OH that would be excellent…

And after sharing the mission of this endeavor, the owners have agreed to rent it for $200/day! So, as crazy as it sounds, we’ll bring a 15,000 gallon overground pool (thank you Amazon!) to transform the brewery into a TV studio. Here’s a render of how it would look like:

In a surprising twist, I kind of like it better than the original plan. Also, it’s been great to find partners in Youngstown, a community that I admire and relate to for being so resilient and talented, always ready to prove people’s misconceptions wrong. I think it fits the mission of the show better to film the project here, in the heart of the country and in a region that seems to be forgotten but represents real America.

THE BUDGET

I’m lucky to have the support of you, friends and family, who will so kindly offer your free talent and manual labor. That’s invaluable. Unfortunately, there are some costs that simply cannot be avoided, for example:

There are a LOT of other extra expenses not mentioned here (props, post-production, audio-mixing, music, catering, paying the contestants... Just to name a few) and I will be covering those. But your donation would be such an important foundation for this effort!

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

Polarization and disinformation are jeopardizing America’s future. We are seeing unprecedented levels of division not only in Congress, but also amongst regular citizens over race, gun safety, immigration, gender rights, and the environment. According to the Pew Research Center, partisan hostility is at record highs, which has resulted in almost a third of registered voters believing in election denialism and bills being introduced in state legislatures to give officials the ability to overturn elections. Furthermore, 71% of Americans believe our democracy is at risk, according to a recent NYT poll, and 40% of voters believe that it is acceptable to use violence to stop opposing political parties from achieving their goals, according to a recent University of Virginia study. 

Luckily, renowned social scientists and researchers at universities like Harvard and Stanford believe there’s a way out. They’ve developed theories and fascinating experiments to bring together extremely polarized people to break the bubbles that they live in… 

That’s where this project comes in—Putting a creative spin on their cutting-edge depolarization theories to turn them into an entertaining game show that could reach millions of people in the United States and could later be replicated in other countries around the world.

Please feel free to share this post with other likeminded people. And if you're here because someone shared the link with you and would love to learn more about who I am, you can do so here.

Once again, thank you so much for all your support towards this effort to preserve our democracy!