For about three years now, Colin Hanks has been prepping a documentary on the life and death of Tower Records, the small, Sacramento-based operation that grew into a multimedia retail empire before it closed every one of its doors in 2006. And while Hanks could probably just turn to his father and ask for the funds to make it happen, he’s elected to go the self-starter route—or rather, the Kickstarter route, setting up a page where those interested in helping to fund his All Things Must Pass: The Rise And Fall Of Tower Records can donate towards its $50,000 goal. As the campaign page explains, they’re looking to make the film a “communal process,” not unlike the process of record shopping used to be before it was reduced to a simple point-and-click endeavor.
Should you decide you want to help, donations will get you some standard gratitude swag (everything from T-shirts and stickers to a “Thank You” in the credits), while all the money will go toward paying for things like equipment rental and travelling to interviews. And yes, Colin Hanks is a successful actor in his own right, and he's also the son of a bazillionaire who could probably fund the whole thing right now with this year’s Forrest Gump residuals alone, so it's understandable if you're not rushing to lend him one of the few helping hands that life neglected to provide. Still, you have to admire Colin’s commitment to telling the story, as well as his insistence on finding a way to do things (mostly) by himself—even if Dad did just give him a little boost. And after all, he could be pouring his inheritance into making shitty rap albums.