This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
This week's Utah Crowd-Funding Project aims to show audiences something that may or may not exist.
Salt Lake City filmmaker James Cawley, who last year made the documentary "Secrets of the West," is pitching a possible TV series, "Epic Mysteries," a reality series looking into the unknown. Cawley has filmed the pilot episode, which goes hunting for Bigfoot.
Cawley has gathered a number of Bigfoot investigators for the show: Cliff Barackman, from Animal Planet's "Finding Bigfoot"; Jeff Meldrum, professor at Idaho State University and a "leading Bigfoot expert"; Ben Hansen, host of Syfy's "Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files"; and Utah author Larry Correia, creator of the "Monster Hunter International" novel series.
The show is hosted by Bethany Woodruff, the Scottish-born Brigham Young University alum who rocketed to YouTube fame two years ago appearing in a viral marketing ad for Poo-Pourri Before-You-Go Toilet Spray.
The show was filmed in Utah and in the Pacific Northwest, which are believed to be Bigfoot's stomping grounds. Cawley is the show's writer, director and cinematographer — and portrays Bigfoot in the show's re-creation scenes.
The episode is in post-production, and Cawley is looking for finishing funds via a crowd-funding campaign. He has gone onto Kickstarter to seek $6,000 to finish the pilot and make inroads toward distribution.
So far, the campaign has received $2,883 in pledges. The deadline is March 18.
Benefits for backers range from a high-resolution image of "what Bigfoot really looks like" (for $5) to an executive-producer credit (for $1,000).
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