Crowdfunding A Case Study

gonzo_entertainment said:
I'm in pre-production right now on a kickstarter for a web series.
We've been in pre-pro for over a month with about three weeks left to go until we kick it off. Here's a couple of things I hope will make it a success.
1. It's aimed directly at a target audience, a particular horror sub-genre. That audience has websites and forums devoted to it. I know the web masters of a couple of those sites and can count on some pretty decent promotion there. I'll also pound the genre forums with it.
2. I'm spending about $500 in expenses next Sunday on an all day shoot for a 30 second teaser. I have already cast the lead and hired the key crew, so we'll try to get very high production values on the teaser.
3. I'm recording the pitch portion later this week. I come from an acting background so very comfortable in front of the camera. It is scripted and will be shot with coverage and edited, not a one angle talking head video.
4. I'm the announcer for the local roller derby team. I get paid with a sponsorship. That means I'll be able to pimp it on the mic at at least one bout with an audience of about 2000 people.
5. I have my previous film in a well attended film festival about a week before the kickoff, so should be able to do some good promotion there as well.

No guarantees, but we'll see how it goes.
Click to expand...

This is all great to hear. You're ahead of the curve. If I could stress one piece of advice over any other though: most people will not back your movie for the movie's sake. You've got to give them a reason to back you. It should be personal and relatable. And ideally, you gave most of them that reason long ago.

Do not expect much out of the people in the roller derby crowd unless they know you. I had Joe Carnahan tweet about the project twice and can't attribute any donations to his 2,000 followers. Unless your web series is about roller derby... and even still, you need a platform where you can foster a dialogue about it. Forms of one-way communication did very, very little for us.
 
Screenforme said:
Here's my campaign: https://www.indiegogo.com/enemyofthemind

I think it has almost everything to do with who you are and who you know. And to some extent, where you are and timing.
I've seen your posts so I know you're in San Antonio, and I'm in Austin, and to be honest, there are so many crowdfund campaigns that pop up on my twitter
and Facebook feed, it's ridiculous. The people who post these things even say initially, "I know you see these all the time but..."
People turn off immediately.

Plus, you have to post about this s**t nonstop and I know the majority of the people on my FB/Twitter don't even actually KNOW me so why would they give me MONEY? I've found even if I do KNOW them, they don't even know I've made a film or posted about funding, because Social Media is sometimes so convoluted with other s**t that how does yours get through!?
Even some of the lead actors in the film haven't even liked the FB page or couldn't tell people about the project!

Honestly, I get it, because I myself have been a part of many INDIE projects that never finish or show up so why invest in the FB page or donate, when the film may never even see the light of day?

I went and trolled Austin Film Festival, with tons of postercards. I hit up everyone, celebs included.
I made some great contacts, press people, producers, blah blah, but out of a thousand cards/flyers given out, I got exactly ZERO donations, or even new Fans or follows on Twitter.

I was inspired by Zak's campaign and started one to try and raise money to pay the people who haven't been paid yet on my own film, we've raised around 1300 out of 27,500.
Yes, that was ambitious but I thought if we'd make it that far, I could then give the money to the people who deserve it, didn't pan out.

I'd like to hear some critiques on my campaign as well, though I'm pretty sure it's just that my vid isn't all that great, among other things definitely, and the particular film I made isn't a personal story that's a masterpiece.
I'll be the first to admit that the film itself isn't even that original, maybe that has something to do with, and I shot it because it's my first and I wanted to do it without a budget and actually finish it, within in a year. Well, I accomplished that.

Good luck on your film when you get it going.
Click to expand...

Hey Brandon and Manny. The energy level between you both was energetic and positive. Only real issue was the production value of the pitch. The video was shot well but it was just a typical flat texture (I did the same thing). I personally liked that you included snippets of the the trailer which was really cool and engaging. Something I would watch. The acting is superb. If anything I just don't think enough people are seeing the video.

I know indiegogo has a dashboard which gives you stats on how many times people have visited your page. I only had 1, 134 views in a span of 3 months. That's horrible. I need those stats everyday. We both had a campaign goal of $25k. If the 1% conversion is correct that means you would need to have your page viewed at least 50,000 times with an average of $50 per contribution to reach $25,000.00. That's massive. Without a solid digital street team its hard to reach that kind of networking.

Regardless I think your film would do well in the indie film festival circle. Wish you guys the best of luck.
 
Last edited:
Good stuff Zak.

Yeah, not expecting a ton from the derby crowd, though I've announced for 6 years, have a few fans of my own, so maybe pick up one or two people you never know. I also fronted a popular local punk band in this area for a long time, so some minor celebrity there as well.

My best bet is the genre fans and their websites. If it catches fire there I might do ok.

I'm setting my funding level at the bare minimum I think I could shoot it for and hoping to get over funded.
 
Good Thread.

ElGato, you should consolidate your thoughts and experience into a blog post or article like Zak.
 
Been sorta glancing at this thread on and off and staying silent. A lot of what's being said is true... but, one thing that needs to be recognized is that no two campaigns are alike. It's definitely true that if you've got a more generic property, it'll be more about your support group (fam, friends, fans) than your project.

On the other hand, check out the Kickstarter campaigns based on popular franchises or niche groups. Gothic or say Discworld? They both raised 30K-50K just on fanbase alone, and it wasn't because of the work.

As filmmakers we tend to think that "oh we do cool stuff, people want to pay for this." ... No, they really don't. People don't want to pay for ANYTHING that they don't have to pay for, so you need to keep that in mind. We aren't Kickstarting again until we've done another feature and some more free web content. And, when we do, we'll heavily way the niche factor versus the fan factor when deciding which project to tackle.

Maybe by the end of 2012.
 
j said:
Good Thread.

ElGato, you should consolidate your thoughts and experience into a blog post or article like Zak.
Click to expand...

Hey J. I was thinking about it but I think this experience works best with input from other filmmakers who have both failed and succeeded at crowdfunding.
 
I love this thread!

I love this thread!

Hey everyone--

This is a really helpful and inspirational thread! It's definitely helped me with mine! I'm in the final stretch after a REALLY short period of time. IT'S GREAT!

Best,
Marcus
 
Kholi said:
Been sorta glancing at this thread on and off and staying silent. A lot of what's being said is true... but, one thing that needs to be recognized is that no two campaigns are alike. It's definitely true that if you've got a more generic property, it'll be more about your support group (fam, friends, fans) than your project.

On the other hand, check out the Kickstarter campaigns based on popular franchises or niche groups. Gothic or say Discworld? They both raised 30K-50K just on fanbase alone, and it wasn't because of the work.

As filmmakers we tend to think that "oh we do cool stuff, people want to pay for this." ... No, they really don't. People don't want to pay for ANYTHING that they don't have to pay for, so you need to keep that in mind. We aren't Kickstarting again until we've done another feature and some more free web content. And, when we do, we'll heavily way the niche factor versus the fan factor when deciding which project to tackle.

Maybe by the end of 2012.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. We all have lots to learn from this fairly new structure. It's going to be an interesting year.
 
I guess i'll pose an obvious questions... But assuming that everyone of us has some rich friends / co-workers (making a few million a year) why not go directly to them but rather scraping away in hopes of making $15k for a month of work??
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
I guess i'll pose an obvious questions... But assuming that everyone of us has some rich friends / co-workers (making a few million a year) why not go directly to them but rather scraping away in hopes of making $15k for a month of work??
Click to expand...


Hey Patryk. Ideally you would need multiple sources of income for your project (crowdfunding, investment, pre-sales, donations, grants, bartering, debt financing and fundraisers etc.) It would be a hybrid of funding. This era demands diversifying your film budget. I personally am not in the stage where I am talking to multimillionaires. They are not in my circle. In a few months I will start researching possible prospects.
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
I guess i'll pose an obvious questions... But assuming that everyone of us has some rich friends / co-workers (making a few million a year) why not go directly to them but rather scraping away in hopes of making $15k for a month of work??
Click to expand...

Another note I wanted to add is that I've been a producer/UPM on two micro indie feature films and one short film in the last year. All three had investors. Even the short film was funded by one investor. Maybe with this recent JOBS Act it could make it easier for filmmakers to once again attract investors. Besides the money I think the real value of crowdfunding its building an audience and brand which is priceless.
 
Crowfunding should be called "family&friends funding" as this is where the money, for the most part, will be coming from. Although an indie needs all the help necessary, i'm pretty sure the few dozens or hundreds that end up donating to crowfunding campaigns do not constitute brand awareness.
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
Crowfunding should be called "family&friends funding" as this is where the money, for the most part, will be coming from. Although an indie needs all the help necessary, i'm pretty sure the few dozens or hundreds that end up donating to crowfunding campaigns do not constitute brand awareness.
Click to expand...

Indeed.
I did have one large contribution from a "business" associate, a local bar owner I had done a commercial for (at cost). The favor was paid back.
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
Crowfunding should be called "family&friends funding" as this is where the money, for the most part, will be coming from.
Click to expand...

If you don't have any sort of public history, sure. There are plenty of campaigns out there that prove otherwise, though. An hour of surface research would show that. It's nobody's fault but the content creator if they haven't a following of any sort, or made a name for themselves on any scale within the community.

Being unknown in any sector makes you an unknown. Pretty basic.
 
Large "stranger" contributions generally come with a social cause, an attachment to some other popular item (video game), a celebrity (either as the one fundraising or attached to the project), or as you Kholi noted a pretty wide following already established. These make up most of the "big" projects. The average guy trying to raise < $5K to make his short, start his business, etc... It's mostly friends and family.
 
On our recent crowdsourcer, out of 4000 people contact - 40 contributed. Which gives you 1% "return." It took 12 straight hard working days to raise our money. And it took 1 hour meeting to raise 2x the money from one large contributor. Although nickle&diming seem to work for some it thought us that it's not the way for us. It's the last time we are doing it because the amount of energy put in is not equivalent with the return. For docs it seems grants and large private individuals contacted directly is the way to go.
 
Arniepix has a point. As much as criticism can be a negative thing from some perspectives, I do hope these pointers that others are sharing can help you get your project to the next step.

From a producers POV, 'up and coming' translates to "this girl hasn't done anything of merit yet", the same with the words "raw talent" can mean 'untrained'. To target your audience well, you cannot put a single bit of doubt in their mind about your ability or the ability of your cast and crew. If you want it to look like a hollywood film, make everything look like it! - from your images to marketing material. You need to send a clear message that you're not there to f**k around. You're there to get the job done, and there to get the job done WELL! No one wants to see a film go to VOD. Crowds want to see success stories. Maybe add in not just goals of funding, but where you're targetting the film as well. So if you're looking at festivals and acceptance into a 'Big 3' or something, put them down in writing...not just for the crowd either, for yourself as well.

Do not be afraid to network with people. The more people who share your interests, the more people will want to help - and the less you will feel like an introvert. The more help you get from others with certain talents, the more you can combine then with your own to make it even a more amazing concept.

If your project concept teasers are images, make the images COMPELLING. Make them portray the story in one image. This is where knowing a photographer helps. You need to extract performances out of your actors, even for stills. Make some of your images look like some of the best screen captures in the world...or have them related to the concept of the film. You need the images to CAPTIVATE your audience for them to be interested. Some of the images you have up, in my honest opinion, do not really tell a story. They look like something from a amateur models portfolio. I don't mean to sound harsh, but I'm not really known for my 'sugar coated' truths.

If you cannot act in front of a camera, get someone else to film a behind the scenes thing while you film a trailer...then get a VO. Easy. But people need to see your quality of work before backing it...so all your stuff must be of an insanely HIGH standard for it to stand out. With Digital SLR's now, it's easy for anyone to look good. So find the things that will make you look great!
 
It's my understanding that rarely is VOD a film's sole revenue source, but rather an avenue for additional revenue. In other words... I agree with the above.
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
On our recent crowdsourcer, out of 4000 people contact - 40 contributed. Which gives you 1% "return." It took 12 straight hard working days to raise our money. And it took 1 hour meeting to raise 2x the money from one large contributor. Although nickle&diming seem to work for some it thought us that it's not the way for us. It's the last time we are doing it because the amount of energy put in is not equivalent with the return. For docs it seems grants and large private individuals contacted directly is the way to go.
Click to expand...

This just proves what Kholi was saying. You didn't have enough qualified prospects or gateways to said prospects.

If you don't mind me asking -

What genre was the film?

Did you identify your target audience?

Did the audience have interaction points (ie forums, conventions,magazines, podcasts etc.)?

If so, how long were you involved with the community before kickstarting the project?

Was the group aware of it before they were asked for money?

Are you an "expert" in the community? What have you done for the community previously?

Who is in a position of respect in the community and did you engage them? Meaning talk about involvement vs. asking for money.

What were the ancillary groups (ie you are making an anime film, comic book fans might be related)? Do you have contacts with these groups? Who can introduce you outside of your contacts?

Did you investigate related terms in search engines to determine what people are searching for related to your project? Did you build a site positioned to place well with those terms?

Are people actually looking for what you are creating based on search traffic? You should know how often your topic and related terms are searched within a month. SEO your site to place high in those terms with BTS / pre-pro content on your site and ensure you are first page on results before the kickstarter. People won't know something is there if it never comes up.

I have no experience with film, but this is pretty standard stuff when trying to launch a product. I don't mean to assume, but it sounds like you didn't know what money was available, who had the money, or how to contact them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top