PLAY ON! — Will the Fun Survive?

A Documentary Film

Seventeen years ago, we went to Toy Fair with new inventors who hoped they’d created the next hit toy. Where are they now?

In 2008, six first-time toy inventors walked into New York’s Toy Fair with big dreams and even bigger stakes. ToyDirectory’s cameras were there to capture every moment. What we didn’t know then was how dramatically their resolve—and the specialty toy industry itself—would be tested.

Big Dreams at the Biggest Toy Show

The New York Toy Fair is the Super Bowl of play: thousands of inventors, buyers, and media packed into the Javits Center, hoping to discover the “next big thing.” For newcomers, it’s a make-or-break moment. One order could launch a company; silence could crush it.

These six dreamers came with inventions as diverse as their life stories:

• A mother who couldn’t have more children—so she created an $85,000 Jack Russell Terrier movie series, The Tails of Abbygail, to bring joy to other people’s kids instead.

• A water-loving tinkerer who spent 12 years and tens of thousands of dollars engineering the ultimate self-siphoning water gun, “Frolicking Floaters.”

• A full-time mom who raided her children’s college funds to invent Blunders, a board game that makes manners fun (and prayed that Oprah would notice!).

• A special-effects artist who sculpted dinosaur puppets so real they could star in a movie, determined to resurrect a dream that almost went extinct.

• A Brazilian software manager who quit his steady job to gamble everything on a 3D puzzle no one thought could sell.

• Two ex-HR executives, sickened by toxic corporate culture, who crafted a game to teach kids about values, empathy, and character.

Then the Crash Came

Months later, the Great Recession hit. Hard. The myth that toys were “recession-proof” was quickly disproved. Independent toy stores shuttered, and small manufacturers struggled as the economy dived and Amazon rose. The documentary was shelved. Plans to follow up with our dreamers were postponed indefinitely.

Seventeen Years Later…

Now, like Michael Apted’s Up series of documentary films—which follow children throughout their lives—PLAY ON!’s once-in-a-lifetime footage offers a rare chance to see these dreamers at the beginning of their journey… and then find out where that long, bumpy road has taken them.

Executive Producer Bob Naimi (founder of ToyDirectory, 1996, and TDmonthly Magazine) and Co-producer/Co-director/Cinematographer/Editor Alison Marek (award-winning filmmaker and former Director of Videography at ToyDirectory) have teamed up with another award-winning filmmaker, Karina Duffy (Co-producer/Co-director/Cinematographer/Editor), whose widely acclaimed feature film Tahi: The Human Journey has played internationally in festivals and on multiple streaming sites.

We’re also thrilled to share that PLAY ON! has fiscal sponsorship through From the Heart Productions, which considers this an important historical project. This partnership also offers a tax deduction for any contributions made toward the film.

Why It Matters

Toys are more than playthings. They shape imagination, teach values, and spark curiosity. PLAY ON! explores what happens when ordinary people risk their security, careers, and savings to bring joy and meaning into children’s lives.

This film is about resilience, creativity, and the human drive to make something that matters. It’s about parents, innovators, and dreamers daring to leave a legacy.

Join Us in Bringing This Story to Life

Your support will help us complete PLAY ON! and bring it to parents, retailers, educators, and toy inventors:

Stage 1: The Trailer

• Recapture the 2008 footage

• Edit, score, and finish a trailer

• Post on ToyDirectory, social media, etc.

• Use for grants and fundraising

Stage 2: “Blunders” (North Carolina)

• Film follow-ups with Aimee Symington of Blunders

• Edit, score, and promote a 15- to 20-minute film

• Distribute online and via in-person North Carolina events

• Use for grants and fundraising

Stage 3: The Feature

• Film follow-ups with the rest of our dreamers

• Edit and finish a feature-length film with original score

• Administration and legal

• Distribute and publicize through conventions, festivals, streamers, TV, and online

Thanks to our fiscal sponsor, From the Heart Productions, your donation is tax-deductible. Significant donations may also qualify you for an associate producer credit on the film, webpage, and IMDb.

Donate by clicking on our From the Heart Productions PLAY ON! donation page.

Or pay by check:

• Please make check donations payable to From the Heart Productions.

• Indicate the name of the film, “PLAY ON! Documentary,” on the memo line.

• Mail your check to:

From the Heart Productions
1013 Harbor Blvd. #53
Oxnard, CA 93035