What are everyone's thoughts on how to make the best use of Kickstarter/Indiegogo? I raised cash for a short last summer, but am having trouble raising enough to see my current project through post. We've shot just about everything, and I'm working on the assembly now, so the funding seems to have dried up, as I think people assume we don't need the money now that it's shot. What I think a lot of folks don't realize is how much work goes into a film after it's shot... Any ideas for how I can raise cash after shooting is done? Thoughts would be appreciated. The campaign is at http://www.indiegogo.com/apts. Just to be clear: I'm not asking any of you for money -- just want you to know what I've got up now, so you can make suggestions. I know the whole thing has a self-depreciating angle, but I think people who know me would be put off if I was too serious...
Financing / Crowdfunding : Trying to raise cash (like everyone else). What works? by Henry Snyder
Trying to raise cash (like everyone else). What works?
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Get out there and ask for it! Just keep asking. It's like the Indian rain dance. The reason that always works is because they keep on dancing until it starts raining!
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I think you should hold a local fundraiser. You've got a big team, a big team mean lots of people, lots of people coming together in one night to show support can help get the word out. Also I think it would help if we had some video of you and your crew talking about the making of the movie and sharing your take on the story. Just a couple of my ideas.
Talent
That's an interesting question. I was thinking about Kickstarter myself. May I ask the amount you asked for and the amount you raised?
Magna... you're my hero :)
yes, I did. And I can talk about it here since we're talking about crowd funding. I wrote a short over the weekend called Dead Serious. It's a dark comedy. I thought I had a backer, because he said, I want to back your next project, but when I told him I was doing another project- he vanished. :p so now I think I'll do a crowd funding campaign, only I won't be able to talk about the plot- so yeah, I'll be studying your blog!
I will Magda! Thank you!
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I definitely agree with Loralie. We were having trouble raising funds for our kids' show, Epic Heroes, so we held a yard sale / bake sale, and it seriously helped us out. I had no idea what a difference it would make in our campaign.
Sounds odd I know, but I ran a children's theatre for years and it was always strapped for cash, the best fund raiser I ever did was to invite my team to make a pot luck dinner (you need a big team for this. Sell the dinners for $7-$10. I knew some hairdressers willing to help out so they charged $10 for the hair cuts and gave the theatre the cash and a local band came and played for free... we made a killing.
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I recently helped fund a web series (I could only put a little in but it all helps!) - the reason for this? They found me on twitter. Their web series is about princess parties - on my twitter account I had recently been talking about a web series I was filming, and princess parties that I have just started up. They tweeted at me to say hello and I was interested. Using the search function in twitter can be quite powerful if you have something like kickstarter set up. It'll take time, dedication and probably lots of rejections etc, but they seem to be doing well with it, and I think that's one of the things I'm going to do for a project I'm writing at the moment when I'm looking at funding - search for people who are talking about things related to your project and get in touch with them! Local fundraisers can be great too - one great thing to do is get in touch with local colleges and uni's to find people who are just starting out in their field (either just graduated or still students) - bands, hairdressers, chefs etc - tell them they can have their cards out at the event, and you can link to them on an online something (even if it's just a facebook event where you list the suppliers) and it's promotion for them.
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In my experience I've found you have to abuse social networking and the internet. Keep in mind that often friends and family are not the majority of your donors. People donate to you who believe in what you're doing. So you need to find these people.
PARTY at Magda's house!!! wohoooo!!!!
@Andrea--GREAT points!
I've just started my own Indiegogo campaign to see where it goes. I've always self-funded and found ways around needing much of a budget (borrowing, pleading, learning new skills) so never really worried about it all that much, but I've found that where I need to spend money really is in getting the final product seen... putting it out to festivals can be a costly business so really want to raise money specifically for that. Whether the Indiegogo route works for me or not will remain to be seen as I don't have that many connections in the business.
Agreed there David. I did Indiegogo and it really didn't pan out. I've got a campaign waiting on Kickstarter but I doubt the funds are coming in for that one either when it launches. I abused Facebook and got some ads that ran, but it set me further behind and the funds now are almost not there. I'm still filming (next month) so will see how it goes. A local marketer wanted big bucks to go get funds. I know it takes money to make money, and I'm willing to pay the right person, just let them take the cut of the funds we get. (So if anyone reads this and wants to do that.. I'm all ears!)
@Henry your thread here was one of the reasons I started my thread. I know I need to launch a campaign and I know what it feels like to fail, so I decided to start a sort of class project here on stage 32 for suggestions and ideas right from the get go. There have been innumerable helpful hints. Here's the link. http://www.stage32.com/post/443253786673161620
I just started my Indiegogo campaign and I'm excited! Please spread the word - http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/222620?a=1185429 and feel free to make comments on the page. I'll let you know how it goes!
I love the PERKS! I might be using some of your ideas... just a warning :p We NEED a video Lauren. Use it to introduce your crew, ell us about your movie anything! PS you're very beautiful grin
Thanks Loralie! Yes I should be able to get the video done later, good idea to talk about the crew!
Perks are one of the keys to success I reckon. I've been pretty pleased with my own campaigns run so far, with just a week gone I'm closing in on halfway to my goal, with 50+ days to go! Social media'ing has really helped, though sometimes I think I might be boring people! So I'm not just tweeting the campaign, but other bits and bobs as usual too. If you fancy checking out my campaign, I'd love to hear what people think (I've got a tiny bit of video up there too, which I agree is important, it's really helped people get an idea and feel for what you're trying to achieve)... http://www.indiegogo.com/theverybigproblem
looks like a great film!
I've made my video! You can see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vri5BuRkDQ It's also in the process of uploading here (30 mins.), it's added to my Indiegogo page. Feel free to comment and share, thanks!