Several months ago, we posted about a video that was going viral at the time, called “It Could Happen To You.” It was the story of a married couple named Shane Bitney Crone and Tom Bridegroom, told by Shane one year after Tom suddenly died. It was not only devastatingly sad, but it also highlighted exactly what all too many gay couples go through because we’re not yet treated equally under the law.
Towleroad reports that soon after, a team of producers led by the wonderful Linda Bloodworth Thomason [Little Rock, represent!] decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign to turn it into a full documentary:
“The prejudice and bigotry that Shane and Tom experienced was not unlike what I witnessed in 1986 when my mother died of transfused AIDS,” said Bloodworth Thomason.
It’s broken all the Kickstarter records for film:
BRIDEGROOM, the documentary about tragedy befalling a gay couple and the inequalites that result from a lack of marriage protections, has become the highest funded film in the history of Kickstarter.com. The fundraising website, which has helped to finance more than 7,400 films, confirmed that the indie documentary about marriage equality surpassed all previous fundraising efforts by netting $384,375 in four weeks.
The entire story of BRIDEGROOM is a testament to the power of social media. On the one-year anniversary of his partner Tom’s death, Shane Bitney Crone posted a video to YouTube entitled, “It Could Happen to You.” The video takes the viewer on a ten-minute journey through Shane and Tom’s relationship, their commitment to marry if it were to become legal in their state (California), their attacks and rejection from Tom’s family, Tom’s tragic death, and refusal from both the government and Tom’s family to recognize their relationship.
Fantastic. Here’s the original video if you haven’t seen it. Grab Kleenex.
