It started with a couple middle-aged guys wondering what to do with their lives. Nothing unusual about that. But these two had been running a venture capital firm together for a decade and found themselves asking this question in 2008, when the financial system was melting down, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were dragging on seemingly without end, and the environment appeared to be reacting to years of abuse by unleashing massive hurricanes and tidal waves.

These two guys, James Houghton and Tom Matlack, both love their wives and kids, and more than anything they wanted to be good fathers and husbands. Yet something else called to them. They wanted to do something important outside of their private lives: Make a contribution; spark a conversation; lead by example in telling their truths. They sensed an underlying tension in conversations with the guys they knew.

So they set out to write a book about what it means to be a good man–not self-help drivel, not book about guys for women. They wanted to compile a collection of first-person accounts that would illuminate the unspoken challenges of being a good man in modern America.

Along the way, Tom and James would start a foundation to help at-risk boys, a foundation that would receive all proceeds/profits from the book and help support places like the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and Big Brothers Big Sisters. They hired an agent, who, book proposal in hand, went to some of the country’s most influential editors.

But publisher after publisher rejected the proposal. “Men don’t read,” they said. “They never read anthologies, and they certainly aren’t going to read an anthology about being a good man!” It was a moment of truth for Tom, James, and the team they had assembled. Together, they all decided to launch a national essay contest to test the waters, to see how men might receive the book. The response was overwhelming. Men from all over the country and all walks of life submitted gut-wrenching tales of their attempts to be good fathers, good sons, good husbands, or good workers. There was no turning back now. If publishers wouldn’t help, Tom and James, decided, they would make it happen on their own.

And they have: The Good Men Project: Real Stories from the Front Lines of Modern Manhood will be out within days. A team of the very best book designer, social media guru, marketer, event planner, lawyer and editor have donated their time. As have 31 contributors from Hall of Famer Andre Tippett to New York Times war photographer Michael Kamber to Pulitzer prize winner Charlie LeDuff to former Sing Sing inmate Julio Medina.

Along the way, Tom called a friend in Hollywood, Matt Gannon, who agreed to shoot short video clips of a couple of the book’s authors talking about their essays. Perhaps these videos could be used to promote the book. But when Gannon showed a rough cut of the first video, the one about a photographer taking pictures of men being killed during war, James and Tom knew they had more than just promotional material. If men sometimes find it difficult to be honest about their views on manhood, then maybe these video images would force the issue. No man could watch them and remain unmoved.

And so a film was born, along with a website and ongoing discussions at many online networking sites. Later this fall, the film will premier in theaters–as a film should. It will have its first showings at the Institute of Contemporary Art, in Boston, and at the Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles. Visual artist Shep Fairey and Mad Men creator Matt Weiner will participate in a panel following the LA screening. The pieces have fallen into place. The Good Men Project has become something real.