Part 1 of our Road to Oprah Quest was completed from October-November of 2007.
Here is a recap:
After fundraising dollar-by-dollar, we raised $3,100 and bought this used school bus on E-Bay:
With the help of volunteers, we then converted the bus into a bio-diesel RV over the summer, with a stage on the roof for the band and a lemonade stand caboose to sell producer credits to pay for fuel. We continued to fundraise to cover tour costs with the help of our producers.
Meanwhile, we sent a newsletter to thousands of our producers anouncing our plan. Our Producers then helped us set up a cross country tour across America ...we even got invited to the headquarters of Google and YouTube!
Destination Oprah
In the Fall of 2007, we finally set off on our 10,000 mile tour across America, travelling through 28 states to give dozens of presentations at universities, art galleries, skate parks, house parties, a Veterans' Home, and street corners on our way to Oprah's studio in Chicago.
Day 1
On our first day of our tour, our bus caught on fire on Hollywood Boulevard in front of Mann's Chinese Theater. We thought that might be the end of our tour, but luckily Darth Vader came to our rescue. After a tow to Chuy's Auto shop, we were back on the road the next morning... Click here for the full day 1 recap.
Things went better after that, and we spent the next few weeks on the road, giving presentations about The 1 Second Film project and the future plans of the Collaboration Foundation.
Chad Hurley, co-founder and CEO of YouTube,signed up as our Executive Producer after our presentation at YouTube's Headquarters!
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So what did Oprah do?
After nearly a month on the road, after driving 10,000 miles, we finally reached Oprah's Studio in Chicago...
Unfortunately, we never got a chance to meet Oprah. On the day we reached Chicago, Oprah unexpectedly had to go to Affrica to address an issue at her leadership academy for girls. Our volunteer crew all had jobs to get back to, so we headed back to Los Angeles one dollar short of our goal.
While we didn't meet Oprah, our trip was still amazing; we met thousands of incredible folks across America who gave us warm meals and places to stay, filmed hundreds of hours of unbelievable footage, and we all made it home safe! We also added another 1,000 Producers, who chipped in to help us finish our project, including a $10,000 donation from a really nice lady who was very inspired by what we're doing.
So what next?
We still want to ask Oprah for a dollar!
We are now editing footage from our tour to send to Oprah's Producers, while making some big improvements to the1secondfilm.com website based on lessons learned.
Also, we still have this awesome bus, so we're thinking about taking another trip to Chicago... maybe travelling through the Pacific Northwest this time.
So stay tuned for the Road to Oprah 2!
Maybe we will call Oprah in advance this time, just to make sure she knows we are coming. :)
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p.s. If you go to a school along the Pacific Northwest, and would like to help set up a presentation for R2O2, feel free to contact us.
