Important Update on Scramble the Seawolves

[Jeff and Shannon Arballo]

Hello Seawolves!

**Dan Arnes was kind enough to send this email update to all of you this afternoon. Thank you Dan! I wanted take a moment to also post the update on the forum. **


We wanted to reach out today to share the developments on Scramble the Seawolves and to ask for your support .

As we shared with you in Savannah, we were extremely optimistic and excited about the possibility of Scramble the Seawolves being picked up by a Network as a 4-part series. At the very least, we had Producers committed to producing the 2-hour Documentary.  A couple of weeks ago we were asked to provide on update on the progress for the Wolfgram, which you’ve likely received.

Unfortunately, our update today comes with a slightly heavy heart.  Shannon and I had to make a very difficult decision and that was to sever our contracts with our 3 Producers. There were decisions and revisions being made by the Producers without our approval and we ultimately felt that these decisions and changes were compromising the integrity of the project and we simply could not allow that to happen. We worked tirelessly, doing our part through the pitch process, yet agreements by others weren't being honored and their motivation seemed to be more driven by money, not necessarily what was best for the project. We chose to close this door and cancel our contracts as we knew it was in the best interest of the Seawolves.

Clearly, these developments we have shared took place after we gave our updates for the Wolfgram.

We have never taken for granted the trust that you all have placed in us and we remember the promise that we made to each of you.  We assured you that we would care for and protect your story and tell it with tact and authenticity.  This commitment has remained at the center of every decision we have made.

It may seem that this as a major set-back or an impossible task ahead. Sometimes believing that things happen for a reason, even though we don't understand why at the time, is difficult.  The Seawolf spirit, brotherhood, sacrifice, accomplishments, tenacity and resolve continues to motivated us and WE WILL accomplish this mission!  

The second reason for our email update is to let you know our plan as we move forward and to ask for your help.

We have contacts at several Networks and intend to revise the sizzle reel and pitch deck and will re-pitch directly. Likely this will take some time as we go through this process. We intend to focus our energy on getting our project in the hands of key decision makers at major Networks and in the hands of a production company that has successfully developed, pitched and produced Documentaries with similar subject matter.

It is possible that we may also produce it on our own. In that case we will need the resources to put the right Team together.  

We simply can not get to the next stage without generating funding and support, quickly.  Many of you have already contributed to the project and for that, we say THANK YOU!

Every facet of the production process, including working with Producers, Lawyers, editing, sizzle reel, pitch deck, etc is time consuming and costly.  We do need to generate contributions quickly so that we have the time we need.  

We are hoping to raise approx $15K, which will give us about 4-5 months to work with.  

We intend to launch another Indigogo Campaign (in the next few weeks), that that only lasts for 60 days. The challenge, however, is that the funding is only accessible to us approx 30 days after the campaign closes. Unfortunately, we do have a more immediate need.

If you would like to make a contribution there are a few ways that this can be done that do not involve the Indigogo Campaign.  

       1. PAYPAL - For information, visit https://www.paypal.com/ to send money to the Account: [e-mail]
*After signing up, you must add a payment method (favorite banks, debit cards, or credit cards) to complete a send money transaction. Funds go right into the recipient’s PayPal account.

       2. Regular MAIL:  Arballo Entertainment: 1296 Avenida Fragata, San Marcos, CA 92069-7370


"Scramble The Seawolves" Documentary Trailer (04:06) link:  https://vimeo.com/139287888




Thank you in advance for your understanding and consideration!  As always, we welcome the phone calls and are happy to answer any questions you have.

Respectfully,
Jeff and Shannon Arballo
[phone]
[e-mail]

[Larry Rogers]

At the Reunion in Savannah on Friday night, Jeff presented two trailers for the "Scramble Seawolves" project. Different producers were under contract to present the story of the Seawolves to various network executives.

At the business meeting on Saturday morning, when I made the appeal for financial assistance and we passed around The Box, I made the comment that the contracts Jeff had in hand were basically a Kiss and a Promise. They said something to the effect...  "You go put it together and make it work and if it's good then we'll pay you something on the back side and we take credit." The financial burden was still on Jeff.

Since the reunion, it has come to light that these producers were not fulfilling their commitments. The presentations that Jeff was making to these guys was not being passed through. One guy apparently wanted to make it into a Buck Rogers//John Wayne type of thing.  

After attorney review, these contracts have been canceled. There had been one other option for financing but those funds had been directed elsewhere when Jeff made the request. Murphy's Law, don't you know.

Because of the delays caused by these events, financing has become an issue because of the time of year. For the next couple of months, people are busy with family and holidays. It will be February before things settle down. In the mean time, Jeff needs to get a more complete video assembled for presentation directly to the people at network level. This takes time and money. Studio time to assemble and edit the videos and splice in the stills and combine the interviews and pay other people to help do this. Remember John at the reunion who was manning the cameras at the video interviews? He wasn't working for free. And he wasn't getting minimum wage either. Jeff was paying John out of his own pocket. That's one of the reasons why the little fund raiser at the business meeting was so important.

Here's the deal. We need to raise some money to get this project through to the first of the year. The numbers are not huge. The magic number is $15,000. The bare bones, scrape-by number is $9,500. We can do this.

There are about seven hundred fifty members of the Seawolf Association. If each of us could give One Hundred Dollars, we would be set! But I know that is not going to happen. Some cannot afford that much. But can you afford Twenty Dollars? Then please donate that much. Fifty Dollars? That works too. Some of us can contribute much more. As I will. But it will take all of us to make this happen. Your help is needed.

Please contribute to our story being told. This is also part of history being preserved.

As a kid growing up as a ridge-running, backwoods redneck in the hills of North Carolina, little did I know that my time in service would one day be on a par with the 332nd Fighter Group, the Tuskegee Airmen. After WWII ended in 1945, it took over fifty years for those guys to be recognized for what they did.

In 1945, the Army produced a short film entitled "Wings for This Man" about the 332nd. It was narrated by Ronald Reagan. In 1995 (fifty years later), HBO produced the film "The Tuskegee Airmen." An episode of the documentary TV series "Dogfights" aired on the History Channel in December 2007 (sixty two years later).

For us, it has only been forty two years. Together, we can make this happen now. Please help.

Thanks guys
Larry Rogers

[Mike Dobson]

Well said Larry, I totally agree. As many of you know, I was Pres at the start of this project, ..........  I had met Jeff and Shannon at the Santa Monica High School Seawolves Homecoming game when Jeff and Shannon did a video of the event and I watched them for that evening and how they were attached to us through Shannon being Joe Crutcher's daughter........  in other words, this was not a Brandon Tully "Seawolves of Vietnam" type incentive or interest. This was far more personal.  When the request was made to me to back this I felt immediately that this was the connection to "get it done" right. After some thought , I realized that, as Larry said above, we were something special that would never happen again. Ideas and proposals have been passed back and forth about how do we carry on ...... one of those thoughts involved integrating with the Redwolves and Firehawks as a association to "continue our word" . After breaching thoughts about this to members of those groups and looking at reality, we have realized that those two groups are our "children/grandchildren" and much like the majority of us, we didn't join the Legion or VFW because they were members of our Grandfathers clubs, but we backed them and looked up to the trials they had faced to keep the flag high over us. I realized that our service in HAL-3 is very much like the groups Larry mentioned ------- but I also compared us to " Doolittles Raiders" in the respect that when the last one of us dies, "The light will be turned out" ...... no amount of integration with other groups will ever change that ...... we will be gone forever.
  Now, that being said,  WE WANT THIS TO BE DONE RIGHT !!!!  While this has taken time to get this far, and some of us have passed on and will not see the finished project, this is probably our only shot to do it right !!  With our backing, I fully expect a finished project to tell the truth about us and our daily devotion to those we made the pact with to protect at all costs, including our lives -------- a amazingly small number of us , 44 to be exact, ended up paying that price. For all of us that were there, we need the truth to be told. If Hollywood jumps on it after Jeff and Shannon's production, then I will enjoy knowing OUR version is there first ..... and hope I will enjoy seeing the Hollywood version later.  I can only imagine the heavy heart feeling that came Jeff and Shannon when other elements tried to alter our story to fiction. That being said, I am saying now, I whole heartedly back Jeff and Shannon in their decision to "break it off" and continue on the "gravel road" to success. It would have been easy to "stay on the smooth pavement" and let it happen to an ending that would not have fulfilled Jeff and Shannon's promise. In the spirit of the SEAWOLVES, it took GUTS to decide to once again split off and journey on to continue to complete the promise they made to Joe, myself, and every one of the SEAWOLVES. I fully support their decision ------- As Larry said, every dollar counts --- my check is in the mail -- that is my Merry Christmas to all of us !!!!   Jeff and Shannon -------- YOU ROCK !!

[kid purington]

...Thank you Jeff and Shannon for all that you are doing for the Seawolves...I am glad to be able to help sum... put the check in the mail today...

[Pat Samel]

You guys are doing a great job. Put a check in the mail Sunday. Keep up the good work. I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say we really appreciate what you are doing.

[STUBBY]

     Being          a Techno-Tard(technologicaly Retarded) how about someone doing a "Go-Fund-Me" for the project ?   Just sayen