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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Crowdfunding...

Gunleik Groven

Gunleik Groven

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Hi.

Curious about this.
I have both long and shortterm projects and stuff i could write, where I have been thinking about crowdfunding as a way.

Tried it briefly with the lust'n love project with Suzana. Most/all of the money rised came from here close friends...

Which is cool, but a bit discouraging... :-)

For those of you with any good experiences (or bad ones) with crowdfunding, how did you go about it, and what made the campaign "tick"?


Cheers

Gunleik
 
I tried this for my short film and had mixed feelings about it. Some very close friends and family helped out, but I think a lot of people just got tired of being pitched to via Twitter or facebook. If you have something that people will truly want to own or be part of then I think it is great (especially if the donation is a pre-order for something) but if not the campaign can become annoying to those aren't as passionate as you are. I ended up self funding a lot of my film based on the initial attempt. But I have seen it successfully done in many cases so it probably just depends a lot on the content you are pushing. Look at the success of the ostrich pillow, that thing was a runaway freight train.
 
Ok. Thx.

One thing I am thinking of, is a "linear light for dummies" article. Geeky and techie, i have a great reference group, and I think it is kind of needed, but it will take at least a month of work, more likely two to get right and with examples and documentation and for people to be able to test and understand the principles at play.

Geeky shit, which I happen to think can be very relevant for many dp's and post people alike...

Then there's of course projects.

Ultimately I wouldn't mind being funded to be me... Hahahaha

Get it that that's not an option, but think along how to break "me" down into edible and comprehensible projects...

That's not tye mainstream, "me", though, as that personae has enough to fill the time of several me's :-)

Hahahaha
 
Just went to a workshop and learned that a successful campaign is all about the following 10 Steps:

1. THE PRIZES... get creative... this is a WAY bigger factor than people think. DVD's are so boring. Wrap them in bubble gum or include a T-Shirt. People will pay $50 for a T-Shirt. Its a badge of honor.
2. THE VIDEO - See Rick Darge's highly creative effort. His use of actual $1 bills to show how he would spend the $ absolutely sold me... as did his humorous and no bullshit approach.
3. Host REAL world EVENTS like a a party and encourage people to donate then... think about how easy this is.
4. Dont OVER POST it online until the last day. Nothing turns people off faster than ANYTHING that is over promoted. Think about it. From saturation trailers of the same damn trailer the week before a blockbuster to that funny commercial that soon makes you puke its on so much. to that hit song that plays over and over ad nauseum... once a week is PLENTY until the last day.
5. Have a large Angel investor ready to donate the first money.
6. Dont ask for too little! This is huge... many times we see an amount and think... "no way they can make that for so little money" also make sure to budget for FEES and COST OF PRIZES
7. Understand and appreciate that most people donate last minute. Stay with it and don't get discouraged, get creative with more prizes!
8. Accept the BRUTAL REALITY that friends will be the LAST people to donate usually. Strangers are your friends. Market OUTSIDE of your city.
9. Up and Coming producers in LA and NY will PAY FOR PRODUCER and EXEC PRODUCER CREDITS. This is also huge. Try and find people needing credits.
10. Dont OVER POST YOUR CAMPAIGN on FACEBOOK TWITTER etc.. .its so easy to smurf your own campaign and worth mentioning twice.

I havent used any of the above yet, but they sure make sense to me. Good Luck Gunleik!
 
Lots to talk about, but first...

How much do you plan on raising?

Which crowdfunding site do you plan to use?

How much did you raise before?
 
I supported some Kickstarter projects so far. I will do it again, so far no bad experience.

What I found, it is not so much how many people someone has on FB, Twitter, G+ etc., it is more about how skilled people are in communication with their "followers".

The only Kickstarter project that failed, was the one where I was certain he will make it -- as he had a huge number of followers, but he felt obviously a little bit like a VIP, and wasn't that good in terms of "two way communication".
 
Interesting that you bring this topic up now as I've been trying to figure out how to make an Indiegogo campaign take off as well. Some very good pointers there Tim! I've been scouring the interwebs trying to find the places where posting a link to the project may help it. The issue is getting people outside of your friend base and family base to spread the word. And I feel terrible posting it over and over again to my friends on FB, so I don't. I, and the director and writer of the project, felt that because we have a proven track record of completing the project and actually getting it out there, that it would count for something. People wouldn't be giving to something that would never see the light of day. But again it is really only friends and family that see it. I haven't even pitched it here on Reduser as I feel it is not what this site is about. But since you brought it up... the campaign has 10 days left. If you're maybe interested or think you might post it in places I can't reach, well thank you. This has been my pitch starting with what we have done and where we are going:

[TABLE="class: tborder, width: 100%, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD="class: alt1, bgcolor: #DADADA"]Check out the trailer for Exhumed, a psychological horror thriller feature film starring Scream Queen Debbie Rochon. Filmed in B&W, we give a nod to Film Noir and Hitchcock.
Make sure you choose HD on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3VtR9FPmLg
I'm the Director of Photography for the film. It's been on the festival circuit and has won at the Buffalo Screams Horror Film Festival (NY) 2012 where it took Best Feature, Best Cinematography, Best Director and Best Ensemble Cast. It also took 1st Place feature Film at the Rhode Island International Horror Film Festival 2012. It is looking at a distribution deal in the spring that should make it available on demand.

The next project is being funded now and we are looking for help in getting the word out on the IndieGoGo campaign. It would be lovely if you can help the project in any way possible... skip that Starbucks coffee today and help with a couple of bucks. But even if you can't do that please spread the IndeiGoGo link. There may be some wonderful benefactor out there looking for a project that they know will be completed and see the light of day. Speaking of benefactors... we have a Patron of the Arts who has promised to MATCH each and every pledge made. So if you give us 5, she'll give us 5. How great is that?
We're in our last week of the IndieGoGo drive. If you liked "Exhumed"... help us with "Normal", it's going to be great! Here's the Indiegogo page... pass it on!
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/289679?c=home
And here is the Facebook page for "Normal":
https://www.facebook.com/NORMALTHEMOVIE?ref=ts&fref=ts[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
 
Some food for thought. Just personal opinions.

I think crowd sourcing is great if you have a story to tell, and that is your objective. But those looking to break into the film business, unless you really blow people away, it's a challenging road. Film is a business, and one of the greatest skills is to learn the business side as well as the filming aspect. Learn to find money, or team up with people who are good at finding it for you. A film should have business plan, objective and plan for making money, or at least it's money back. Is it something distributors would be interested in, or is it just a piece of art? Maybe you can get grants. Is it theatrical, is it marketable? Will it work better on TV? If you crowd source, how will you follow it up?
 
I raised over $35K on a Kickstarter and have a lot to say on the subject but I'll summarize this way:

You need an executable strategy. Putting up your creative stuff and hoping that strangers will find it doesn't work. You insure your success when you pre-produce, just like any other production. You have to treat it like a discrete production in its own right. It's good if you can talk to people who have already succeeded at this and get their impressions of why their campaign worked.

Usually, stranger money starts to come in when you get over a certain tipping point, between 50% and 70% funded - abundance begets abundance and people want to back winning teams. I think this applies more to Kickstarter than Indiegogo, where the momentum and the juice are more intense because of the higher stakes.

The most successful Kickstarters are run by inventors - people who are offering solutions to problems. When you make a film, you are usually bringing your audience a problem which needs to be solved by them. If you can change this thinking - your film is the answer to something, not the beginning of a problem, you can change a lot about how your problem is perceived.

I didn't track Rick's project while it was in progress but it is a very nice model for success. I wish I had noticed it, because I would have backed it. He makes you believe that the film is so important to him and to the world - the Alan Watts historical tie-in is terrific and taps into a current bit of spiritual zeitgeist - so you feel like you're getting on board 1) for the ride or road trip, as it were, you're part of it and important and 2) you feel like you are in strong hands - a man with a plan, vision, gear, know-how without ego

It looks like FUN. People want to feel like they are part of something at least as much, if not more, than they want to feel that they're backing art. That is the secret to succeeding with feature film - your backers want to feel that their contribution matters.

One thing which we did, which is not visible on our Kickstarter campaign, was a tremendous amount of thank yous and direct correspondence with the backers, via Facebook, where the community we built (which is what you are doing) could see the momentum grow and feel like they were part of a movement and a community.

those are my tips - here's a link to the project which I co-produced - another tip is, conceal your participation - you'll see that my name is given the briefest mention - which allows me to go back and do it again. once you are the "front" person, you are one and done. it's tough to go back again and keep asking. but if people perceive someone besides you as the ask, then you can run more campaigns for more projects. Make someone else the face of it - find the most appealing spokesperson you can - it may not always be you, and it automatically doubles the number of eyeballs which it can be seen by. Having a baby with an existing fan base is a winning formula.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2141350807/teddy-boy-feature-film
 
Brandon J.F. said:
My Kickstarter was successful...

$57,000 and 1,000+ people gave money.
Click to expand...

Thats great.

A side note: I was told that many of the "successfull" crowd fundings are actually just money laundry. Basically people that push their black money trough/ between gambling sites and different paypal accounts and then towards their own crowd funding project. And alot of times people then also get carried along on the success of the project. so in the end the people that started actually not only get their dirty money washed but also get a lot more out of it. :)
 
@Björn... That sounds plausible...

Haven't thought of that, but if I had some cash I needed to surface, it sounds like a model allmost made for that.

Interesting theme for a movie? :-)
 
Gunleik Groven said:
@Björn... That sounds plausible...

Haven't thought of that, but if I had some cash I needed to surface, it sounds like a model allmost made for that.

Interesting theme for a movie? :-)
Click to expand...

True, it would be a perfect crowd funding feature for sure... :)

plot:

A guy grows weed, does not know what to do with with them, wants to make a film, push the money towards kickstarter, gets more money than he can handle , ends like scarface.. LOL

It's a bit like that super man story where they where rounding down the digits of the phone bills and transfered the difference to their own account. :)
 
Björn Benckert said:
Thats great.

A side note: I was told that many of the "successfull" crowd fundings are actually just money laundry. Basically people that push their black money trough/ between gambling sites and different paypal accounts and then towards their own crowd funding project. And alot of times people then also get carried along on the success of the project. so in the end the people that started actually not only get their dirty money washed but also get a lot more out of it. :)
Click to expand...

I don't think it's that common. People will often back themselves though or have family members do it to reach their goal at the end or to make it appear that they have more support than they really do. It is very easy to see if someone does this if you know what to look for. Washing money by crowdfunding is not worth the effort or risk. Cash businesses without a digital trail are better suited for laundering money.
 
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