The Typewriter (In The 21st Century) documentary

[Video Link] Christopher Lockett, a director/cinematographer in Los Angeles, began working on a documentary called The Typewriter (In The 21st Century) after visiting Boing Boing and following Cory's link to a Wired.com article about "The Last Generation Of Typewriter Repairmen."

Christoper says:

We're down to our final [7] days in the Kickstarter.com fundraising... and we are woefully behind out goal of $20,000. We are presently at $5,631 with 34 backers.

We've shot 17 interviews with typewriter repairmen, users, collectors, authors, artists, street poets, historians and enthusiasts, documented two type-in events and have shot in LA, SF and the Phoenix/Mesa, AZ area. We've photographed famous machines once owned by John Lennon, Jack London, John Steinbeck, John Updike, George Bernard Shaw, Ray Bradbury, Tennessee Williams and Ernest Hemingway. 

But we're only about halfway through shooting the film. There is a lot left to shoot on the West Coast, and even more to shoot on the East Coast and abroad. Details of our plans and some of the incentives we're offering are on the Kickstarter page: 

One of the incentives we're offering at the $5,000 donor level is to type a letter on a typewriter owned by Ernest Hemingway that he used to keep in Cuba. It's in Los Angeles now in the Soboroff collection. 

Of the $20,000 we're hoping to raise, none of it goes toward salaries. It's all for travel and post-production.

Obviously, I think it's a documentary worth making. Please take a look at the trailer for the film on that Kickstarter page. 

The Typewriter (In The 21St Century) documentary on Kickstarter

• [nixiebunny]

  The fate of all dead media – to be ignored.  For all the griping that people do about word processing programs, they really are much more pleasant to use than a typewriter.  I had a Selectric II in my room, but it sat unused for years and the cats went and peed in it, and now it sits defunct and forlorn on my front porch.

  But my family did name our underwater robotics team The Typewriter Repairmen, just to keep the dream alive.  See http://www.selectric.org

• [Wisconsin Platt]

  Well, after the Shape Shifters stopped coming by, really, what source of income can keep them going.

• [boxjar]

  I’m working on a free application called Keep Writing which is intended to work like a typewriter – with proper overtyping. I’ve actually really made it for myself in order to use it in the upcoming nanowrimo, but feel free to try it if you’d like:

  http://keepwriting.boxjar.com/

  It’s PC only at the moment, but it’s intended to be available for Mac as well in the near future.

• [martinhoward]

  A very interesting look at typewriter lovers and their machines..

  I collect typewriters from the 1880s & 1890s.
  You can see my collection here.

  http://www.antiquetypewriters.com

  The typewriter shown below is the beautiful Hammond 1 from 1881.

  Enjoy!
  Martin

• [AwkwardEngineer]

  Support them!  I love typewriters, I keep my blog, http://www.awkwardengineer.com, on it.  If they come out to the east coast, I’d want to talk to them!

• [claudette mccubbin]

  Now what is the weird thing about people using typewriters?  Geez….