Two Thousand Stiffs: a Historic Documentary

Before fame, Jack London was an 18-year-old drifter in a nation in crisis. He joined 2,000 jobless men marching on Washington—and found his voice. Two Thousand Stiffs is his untold origin story.

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What the project is

It's the story of the first organized march on Washington - to demand help for the citizens. It's the origin story of one of America's greatest voices, and the origins of what became our societal "safety net".

The video

I have produced a 10 minute documentary style video that tells an overview of the story: https://youtu.be/-Fyay-ki_oM

The Historical Graphic Novel

The film industry, especially for documentaries sucks right now. I pivoted and instead created an entirely new style of "Graphic Novel" drawing upon archival photos I recreated and reimagined the scenes and used generative A.I. to build the book. See a 150 dpi copy of the book here - COPYRIGHTED - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fqFHkcDtYao1rL-FG6gZC0XB-pE5dZg7/view?usp=sharing

Logline

Long before he became a world-renowned writer, Jack London was a witness to history. Two Thousand Stiffs recounts his journey with Kelly’s Industrial Army — a forgotten mass movement of the unemployed seeking justice at the nation’s doorstep. Through storms, hunger, and hardship, London's real-life tale captures the endurance of the human spirit and the raw truths of America in crisis.

Inspiration

Before fame, Jack London was an 18-year-old drifter in a nation in crisis. He joined 2,000 jobless men marching on Washington—and found his voice. Two Thousand Stiffs is his untold origin story.

How it began

This project began as an effort to produce a documentary. I applied for so many grants and assistance program for filmmakers. That industry HATES A.I.- I never got traction

What it does

Recreates the 1894 march of Coxey’s Army through a graphic documentary blending history, imagery, and narrative to revive voices of the unemployed protesters called “Two Thousand Stiffs.”

How we built it

I used all the tools! I subscribed to 11Labs, StableDiffusion Ciitai, LTX Studios, Katalist, ChaptGPT/Sora, Gemini/Leo, and a few others. I created the songs used in the video with Suno. I used OpenShot opensource video editor

Revived Protest, Progressive & Union Songs

While creating the video you will view I wanted to include period music and songs they might have heard in 1894. No recordings exist and the c=songs have long passed form our memory. I used Suno.com and the lyrics I found through searches to "reimagine" an entire album worth of songs that were appropriate and they came out quite cool! Here's a link on Suno https://suno.com/playlist/157303b6-e84a-4f59-a5fb-d2a50dee82cb Here's link to 4 of those songs in a music video: https://youtu.be/jNPZ4RDtmEs

Challenges we ran into

Man oh man, society is hating on Generative A.I.!! I struggled in the film industry to get anyone to pay attention to a new filmmaker in Montana. Now, I am struggling with any publisher or agent or bookstore agreeing to sell my graphic novel - just because it contains A.I. - Yeah, tell me about struggles. I've spent almost three years on this project. I know the story is fantastic and needs to be told. But it has been a challenge!

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Walt Disney is quoted as once saying: "The secret to success can be summed up with 'the three P's' - those three secrets to success are: persistence, persistence and persistence". I am living that quote.

What we learned

So much. Oh, so much. I have been working with computers and graphics since before the term "desktop publishing was a thing. Generative A.I. has been both very rewarding and occasionally frustrating. I have learned many programs and interfaces!

What's next for Two Thousand Stiffs: a Historic Documentary

I have printed 100 copies of the graphic novel. I am using that to send unsolicited pitches to Hollywood big shots and other sin the industry. I don't have the resources or connections to get this made into the Blockbuster that it should be, but I am using what I have (a pretty storyboard/pitchbook) to send it out and seek the right person to take it to the next level - ever optimistic.....

Built With

  • civitai
  • elevenlabs
  • gemini
  • hailuo
  • imagefx
  • ltx
  • luma
  • openshot
  • photoscape
  • runway
  • sora
  • stability
  • stablediffusion
  • thinkdiffusion
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