Bianca Ryan to Star in We Be Kings Feature Film

    CHICAGO, IL, June 13, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Bianca Ryan, the singer who won America's Got Talent and took the country by storm at age 11, is starring in the feature film "We Be Kings" alongside Magic Slim, the legendary Chicago bluesman.

Bianca is 17 now, and attending a prestigious arts school in Philadelphia, leading a more or less ordinary life after the frenzy surrounding her worldwide fame. Rather then the teen star route she has chosen serious academic pursuit, is an A student, and has become a potent song writer and alternative-styled singer.

After her America's Got Talent win Bianca's YouTube videos were getting 8 million hits plus, setting all time records. A huge fan base wonders where she's been! The answer is simple, and oddly unique. She's been working hard at school, has been active in her church, and transforming herself as a performer. Many industry professionals think that's the model for a long career, having seen the other.

Magic Slim, who is 74, lost a finger in a Mississippi delta cotton gin when he was 13 years old and promptly quit the piano and took up the guitar, and is now widely recognized as one of the last of the great Chicago bluesmen alongside Buddy Guy and B. B. King.

Also starring in the film is prodigy guitarist and singer Jonathon "Boogie" Long, who at age 23 is known as the "Baton Rouge Blues Explosion".

Other supporting cast will be Pryce Watkins, a popular 13 year old Atlanta rapper, Grana Louise, a Chicago blues- singing institution, and Cee Cee James, a veteran blues singer from St. Louis that is often compared to Janis Joplin.

The film is being financed via the Kickstarter.com crowd source financing site, where fans have the option to back the film for various reward levels. The project has already started production with one successful Kickstarter raise, and is continuing production with a series of platformed Kickstarter raises, a new business model for independent film financing.

Kickstarter is a fascinating story in itself, a site artists of all persuasion have discovered and organized backing for projects like films, board games, recording sessions, and inventions. The Amanda Palmer band project raised over $1 million in less then three days, a Kickstarter record.

For as little as $2, fans can "back" the project and artist of their choice and join an exclusive community that receives project updates, newsletters, and live video streams of the project as it unfolds.

Independent films such as We Be Kings are not attractive to the major studios who seek big budget action fare that appeals to testosterone driven teenage boys. But Kickstarter.com has given niche projects like We Be Kings a new shot at the golden ring by appealing directly to fans by in effect pre selling DVD's and CD's, and getting fans on the inside of the making of a project with stars they are passionate about. There is an added bonus of having many of the Kickstarter rewards such as limited edition posters, photos, and behind the scenes photo albums autographed by the cast, making them collectible. A worthy alternative to the fast disappearing studio big budget one film appeals to all (and often no one) business model.

The movie story tells the saga of I Be King, to be played by Magic Slim, who prowls the Midwest in a beat up Winnebago called the "Blues Bucket". The Bucket is wired for sound and he'll play his guitar from the driver's seat, blasting blues over a Wal Mart parking lot, always good for a few bucks in a bucket (painted blue like his truck) to get him to the next town.

The twist to the story is that I Be King is haunted, in a good way, by the angel of his deceased wife, Lilly. When he's about to freeze to death in a Duluth snowbank she guides two metal heads, played by Bianca Ryan and Jonathon Long, to his rescue. As payback for saving his life the kids decide to run away with I Be King to escape tough homes.

He tries to get rid of them but they stick like superglue. He demands they jettison their metal style and play the blues with him. The music they create together to get from town to town becomes, well...legendary...

The ghost of LIlly will subtly guide these three lost souls down a treacherous Rt. 61 to their rendezvous with destiny.

We Be Kings will be shot on location in Chicago, Illinois, and on Rt. 61 and points south along the Mississippi River.

The film will feature blues standards that Magic Slim has performed for years, as well as original songs by Bianca Ryan, Jonathon Long, Pryce Watkins., and Cee Cee James.

The link to the Kickstarter site and project background:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/647017682/we-be-kings-movie-project-part-2

The link to the movie website:

http://webekingsthemovie.com/

The director/producer is available for comment/background/information/interviews:

Toby Hubner
[email protected]
Tel 480-304-5587

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