Hi from Ben!

So, you're here! Maybe you're thinking "Wow, I've followed one or more of these creators for years and I'm all in on any stories they have to tell." Or perhaps you found the campaign on Booktopia, thought it looked cool, and pledged on that basis alone. Or a friend referred you, promising that it's awesome.

However you got here, I want you to feel at home, so today I'm going to share a bit more about the creative journey that led to the development of American Geniuses. But to understand the beginning, I have to start at the end, like one of the movies that gives the audience critical information before any of the characters know it!

I spent twenty years in the film and game industry, developing and producing dozens of beloved movies and shows, and not knowing that I was neurodivergent. I didn't know until January of this year! But art tends to tell on the artist. We write the secrets about ourselves into fictional characters before they ever reach our conscious mind.

American Geniuses is my reflection on living life as a person stuck at the intersection of giftedness, ADHD, and autism. It's a deeply personal story that explores the struggles of kids who are celebrated for their differences, as long as their differences don't make other people uncomfortable. As many "formerly gifted kids" discover as they move into adulthood, the promises that adults made to them—that they were special, they they would change the world, and that they were destined for achievement at the highest levels—quickly meet the reality of bills, make-work jobs, and burnout. The spark fizzles and they wonder what happened to their potential. They feel like failures who could have succeeded if only they had more energy, more motivation, or more executive function.

I was one of the lucky ones: I masked well enough (more or less), learned how to turn fear of imminent failure into adrenaline-fueled productivity, and found myself telling stories that enough people cared about to support my career in the arts. I'm still working in the arts, happier than I've ever been, making stories, games, and music as a full-time career.

But so many of my closest neurodivergent friends hit the burnout wall and had to give up their dreams. And after twenty years making movies, I hit that same wall during the pandemic and crashed. Hard.

Returning to the world of American Geniuses felt like returning to a story that, despite its fantastical setting, was deeply personal. I hadn't been trying to write "normal characters." All of these kids knew they were special—that's what everyone always told them!—and were still at a place in their lives where they believed in themselves and their futures. And so I started wondering what would need to change in their worlds for them to realize their potential and make a real difference. What were the forces that would soon start demanding conformity and compliance from them? What would they need in order to retain their spark of genius as they moved into adulthood?

The answers are what this story is about. In one sense it's wish fulfillment: "What if we kept our dreams and passions alive?" In another, it's a recipe for reclaiming the weird, broken, and often hidden parts of ourselves from the people who just wanted us to shut up and be normal. Mostly, it's about community and mutual aid. The more we understand and see each other, the more we can SUPPORT each other and start to rekindle the sparks of genius that we each carry.

Writing manuals and teachers say to "write what you know." I'm not sure that's accurate. Maybe we should spend more time writing what feels good, or true, what makes our hearts alight. Even before I knew what I was doing, it felt right to create characters who weren't "normal." Instead of the Hollywood "everyman" character, meant to stand in for the audience's point of view—not too smart, not too different, just average and relatable—these kids would delight in their special interests without worrying about whether an average movie-goer would get the details. There would be no designated "audience translator" to rephrase their words for easy comprehension. They could be experts.... no, GENIUSES. Unapologetically.

At the end of the day, I love the original definition of "genius." We all carry it. Genius is the part of us that makes us unique, where our passions, loves, hopes, and dreams reside. It's what makes us different. It's the part that so much of the world does its best to kill. Genius typically doesn't make money for the machine. Genius is busy getting excited about a cool new flower, or the history of ants, or perfecting poached eggs. Genius is letting ourselves be drawn into the joy of discovery.

This story was where I let my own "genius" free to play. As the characters came alive, and began making demands of the narrative, they all engaged in that same quest, for the freedom to be who they were. And they ultimately made the hardest discovery: that they couldn't do it alone.

I'll share another day about the "American" part of the title. (As a recent emigrant from the USA to Canada, where I'm now a citizen, I have complicated thoughts.)

Thanks for reading!

The two weeks after a campaign are always a strange sort of limbo, but as of today BackerKit has released project funds and we can officially get to work!

Here's what to expect in the upcoming months:

Stay tuned, we have so much more to share!

- Ben