Looking for advice on crowdfunding for my short film. I did some good training on this in lockdown, but what's Your personal experience?
Indie Go Go, Crowdfundng or Justgiving? Has any of You used any of these sites, and how did You find them? I'd be grateful for any feedback/advice. Thank You :)
Image: draft concept poster for Resigned.
Replies9
- @Ross McClure All points taken - and good ones, too, thanks.We're asking much less than we need, as we'll be applying for funding later in the year - and it looks serious business if You can demonstrate You've got some money already! We're also getting ready to shoot a teaser trailer which I'm storyboarding, plus I'm starting a look book, so there's plenty to show on social platforms soon, way before we launch the camplaign. Indie Go Go on top of my list :)
- Hi Katherine! I would suggest using IndieGoGo instead of Kickstarter as you get to keep whatever money you make from the campaign. So if you only get 50% funded, you keep the 50% (plus a slightly increased fee to the platform), whereas with Kickstarter you have to get the full funding or you get nothing.I would recommend thinking about it as an entire project to create and manage in itself, separate but connected to your film. Don't short change it or do anything without the same commitment you would show to your actual film. You have to think about so many different elements including creating the page content, marketing the campaign on social media, listing rewards that are actually things you can provide rather than just being quick fixes and giving yourself the time to recover after the funding campaign before you actually shoot the film!The other major thing to consider is the pre-campaign. What's the pre-campaign you ask? Well, you need to tell people about the campaign weeks if not months in advance and keep banging on about it endlessly on social media so that everyone is pumped and prepped for it when it actually drops. You want to go 'hey it's live guys!' and for everyone to be ready with their card and contact info. If they only hear about it on your launch day, you're dead in the water. Think of a movie release - they shout about it way ahead of time so when it comes out, you're there in the theatre on opening weekend! That's the mentality you need ;)And lastly, think of a healthy but not massive amount to ask for. If it's a short I wouldn't go above10k as it looks like you're asking for too much money (in my opinion!). Better to hit your initial goal and then have a stretch goal if you get more money than limp to the finish line with only 40% of you original target!Good luck!!
- @Katherine Luna Gate Great! Let me know how it goes.
- @Dalano Barnes awesome - love it, very honest. Yes, we're looking to make a teaser trailer with talk-to-camera cuts, and a look book. Very helpful, thank You :)
- @Darren Ross thank You, I'll keep an eye :)
- @Jeffrey Gold I'm ready for the challenge and I'll take my chances :)
- I’ve recently just finishing crowdfunding for my debut short film, which I did on Kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dalano/the-man-behind-the-machineThe one thing I was told which is really important is having some sort of video to showcase your skills. It’s very common for filmmakers to just do a talk-to-camera for their video to talk about the film but that’s quite generic and it doesn’t showcase your craft. There are some very creative ways people have done talk-to-camera videos with great cinematography and editing that works. I personally made a concept trailer which cost me £60 to hire the studio and it’s worked really well for me!
- I'm a writer trying to get my short film scripts produced. The BFI Network, which offers short film funding themselves, did a great Q&A with Kickstarter in March about how best to approach crowdfunding - all the tactics and strategies you can use, plus some data about what leads to success. Their site is temporarily down but it might be online in some format.
- Katherine,I heard it can be effective, but that it takes a lot of work, a lot of logistical work, to maintain a campaign. Preferentially, it is a job separate from your other responsibilities, and is ideally delegated to another, designated team member in order to preserve your energies for the project itself—lest it evolves into a project-within-a-project. Also, the statistic that floated out there for a while was that family members (already interested parties) need to be exposed to a campaign about seven (7) times before they actually invest themselves. Unfortunately, that exhausts everything I have learned about these campaigns from those who have done it. I hope this helps.JeffreyFilm Composer
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