Crowdfunding
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Crowdf@*%ing 2014
The following is a guest post from director, writer and actress Bethany Orr, whose untitled Iceland-set, psychosexual drama is currently raising funds on Indiegogo in a campaign titled “Iceland or Bust.” Click here at the link to learn more and to support the project. Okay, so you’re not Zach Braff. The market is saturated with projects competing for attention and the hard-earned dollars of YOUR potential supporters. So why crowdfund in 2014? Hasn’t that train left the station? I mean, it’s a huge risk, what if you embarrass yourself? Crowdfunding is, after all, the quickest new way to get unfollowed […]
by Bethany Orr on Jul 29, 2014 -
Parsing DIY Distribution with the CRI Virtual Toolbox
Need to make a snap decision about a crowdfunding or DIY distribution platform? Then check out the Virtual Toolbox from NYU’s Cinema Research Institute. The Cinema Research Institute at NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Graduate Film Program selects four fellows a year who “engage in the entrepreneurial exploration of the film business and initiate valuable research to be leveraged by the film community at large.” This year’s fellows have explored everything from dynamic pricing models to modeling film investment, but while we wait to learn more about their work, recommended and available online now is the Virtual Toolbox, created […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 8, 2014 -
Crowdfunding and Audience Myths on Reinvent Hollywood
In late May, Ted Hope kicked off the Reinvent Hollywood series, which employs the opinions and experiences of several familiar faces in independent film to address the industry’s pitfalls. From what I’ve seen in the three Google Hangouts thus far, Hope and his conspirators do a great job of summarizing and highlighting areas for improvement, but speak in more general terms when it comes to solutions. The latest 90-minute roundtable (and recap), which centered on audiences, aims to dismantle some of the more widely held beliefs that have resulted from the proliferation of crowdfunding. Says Sheri Candler of the muddled impetus […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jul 1, 2014 -
Kickstarter Simplifies Guidelines, Now Instantly Approves Campaigns “by Algorithm”
Kickstarter announced today major changes to its process for accepting applications, simplifying its guidelines for creators and allowing campaigns to “launch instantly” by bypassing the human approval process. Kickstarter’s new rules boil down, writes founder Yancey Strickler, to three points: Projects must create something to share with others. Projects must be honest and clearly presented. Projects cannot fundraise for charity, offer financial incentives, or involve prohibited items. (The rules in full can be read here.) In his post, Strickler emphasizes that “Launch Now” is just an option; creators will still be able to propose projects to Kickstarter’s Community Managers, who […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 3, 2014 -
Thunder Funder Talks its New Independent Film Financing and Production Venture
Thunder Funder is the recently announced film production arm of Thunder Studios, a Long Beach, California soundstage and production house, and it’s making a bold play for independent projects. Rodric David, founder and CEO of both Thunder Funder and Thunder Studios, has announced $12 million in annual investment and partnerships with several other companies — post-production services vendor Pace Pictures, Red Digital Cinema and, to handle distribution, indie vet Cassian Elwes of Elevated Film Sales — to bring to independents “all the tools required to present audiences with a film that is truly the best it can be.” A dive […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 28, 2014 -
dana.io Debuts with a New, Low-Cost Crowdfunding Model for Filmmakers
Crowdfunding your film can be fraught with many potential dangers, but one of the most common issues overlooked by first-time crowdfunders is the cost of running a crowdfunding campaign. These costs are varied but can include: the production of promotional assets like campaign videos; the cost of your time for marketing the campaign and supporting your backers; the cost of fulfilling your campaign rewards; and finally the costs of using your crowdfunding platform of choice, Kickstarter, IndieGogo etc. The price of using crowdfunding platforms can be broken down into two key costs: credit card processing fees (normally something between 2-4% of […]
by Kieran Masterton on May 27, 2014 -
#ArtistServices Austin Workshop: Talking Crowdfunding, Torrents, DCP and More
Sundance often faces criticism from the independent film community as being inaccessible and too commercial. Two weekends ago Austin Studios, the Sundance Institute and the Austin Film Society held the sold-out “#ArtistServices Austin Workshop,” proving Robert Redford’s initial vision of supporting truly indie film is strongly intact. The day-long event was focused on educating filmmakers about the business side of fundraising, marketing, and distribution for small movies. Filled with local filmmakers like Two Step director Alex Johnson and Before You Know It director PJ Raval and producer Annie Bush, the raw hanger space (Austin Studios is located on the site […]
by Eric M. Levy on May 20, 2014 -
The Paragon of Audience Outreach? Robbie Bryan Talks Black Hat
Any panel, roundtable or seminar that concerns technological advancements in film is bound to hit upon the issue of audience engagement. How we can best make use of the embarrassment of riches the internet affords us in finding the right people to watch our film. Filmmaker Robbie Bryan has managed to collect (at the time of this writing) 235,427 Facebook likes for his upcoming film Black Hat, that’s still only in the development stage. He’s leveraged his fan base into an ambitious Seed & Spark campaign, interacting with them along the way and soliciting their input in the shaping of his […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Feb 4, 2014 -
Indiegogo Partners with VHX and Yekra
Last week, Vimeo announced its partnership with crowdfunding platforms Kickstarter, Seed&Spark and Indiegogo, the latter of which is looking to keep as many options open for its filmmakers as possible. Indiegogo has gone and brokered a deal with the direct-to-fan streaming platforms VHX and Yekra: successful campaigns will receive a sizable discount should they choose to distribute their final product on either site. These initiatives seem to strike at the heart of crowdfunding’s dilemma — that raising funds is only half the battle. Once a film is completed, there’s still the matter of it being seen. This should be relatively easy, […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 22, 2014 -
Vimeo to Team with Crowdfunding Platforms
It’s a busy 10 days for news breaks as Sundance is now officially underway. To start things off, Vimeo has just announced its partnership with crowdfunding platforms Indiegogo, Kickstarter and Seed&Spark, in a program that will allow them to cherry pick projects that have raised at least $10,000 for an exclusive digital premiere window on Vimeo on Demand. In exchange, the filmmakers will receive free Vimeo Pro accounts and access to a $500,000 Audience Development Fund to aid in project promotion. This announcement comes on the heals of Vimeo’s acquisition of 13 TIFF titles that will stream exclusively on VoD […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 16, 2014
