Last week I posted my interview with Aaron Hillis in which the Brooklyn-based curator and critic announced his purchase of Video Free Brooklyn, a Cobble Hill video rental store. In the interview he spoke of the fundraising campaign he needs to do to make the store viable again… and here it is. Check out the well-choreographed video and also the rewards he’s offering to his Indiegogo supporters. There are some hefty offerings here, including the entire Oscilloscope catalog and dinner with director Robert Downey, Sr., a private screening with actor David Cross, and Bobcat Goldthwait performing stand-up in your living […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 5, 2012Presenting evidence from a “speculative archaeological find” in Zadar, Croatia, “Ancient Cinema” is a multimedia installation and transmedia project by Canadian artist Henry Jesionka scheduled to debut in Zadar in June. The piece’s premise — that ancient artifacts recently retrieved from Zadar point to the existence of the world’s first motion picture project. Jesionka explains his Indiegogo project: Based on this speculative evidence, “Ancient Cinema” will present a working recreation of an ancient Roman movie projector, projecting the world’s first animated “films.” Along with this groundbreaking discovery, the installation will feature a short documentary about the sourcing and analysis of […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 27, 2012On April 5, President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, known as the JOBS Act. The Act establishes a number of registration exceptions from traditional securities laws to facilitate a wider adoption of micro-financing practices, including crowdfunding. This is the phenomenon by which a relatively large pool of small investors can use the Internet to make an equity investment in a company. Filmmaker has covered this important development. Scott Macaulay presented a helpful introductory overview to the Act and discussed some of its likely consequences for indie makes. Matthew Savare, an attorney, and Richard Jaycobs provided a more […]
by David Rosen on May 21, 2012Big news for crowdfunders — Google announced today that YouTube videos can now be directly linked to projects on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. (Actually, in Google speak, that’s “Using annotations to help fund your creative projects.”) Given the expansive reach of the user-generated video giant, this means that many more eyeballs will land on projects seeking coin on these platforms. From Google’s announcement: Over the past year, crowdsourced fundraising has exploded as great way to raise money for creative projects. We’ve seen lots of you using platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo to fund projects, and we want to make it easier […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 17, 2012The JOBS (Jumpstart Our Small Businesses) Act, a collection of six bills intended to make it easy for small businesses to raise capital by relaxing various Securities and Exchange Commission requirements, including those related to crowdfunding, passed the Senate yesterday. It is now headed back to the House for reconciliation and could become law next week. While the House version of the bill passed swiftly with bipartisan backing, its passage through the Senate was rockier, with some Democrats and progressives warning that the bill would dilute necessary investor protections contained in the 2002, post-Enron Sarbanes Oxley Act. The bill exempts […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 23, 2012The JOBS (Jumpstart our Business Startups) Act, which passed the House last week, has stalled in the Senate over criticism by Democrats over some of its provisions, including those related to crowdfunding, the strategy being used today by many independent filmmakers. Currently, it is illegal to use crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo to solicit actual investments. Monies pledged on these platforms are donations usually lacking any tax benefit or further income possiblity for the funder. (Or, increasingly, they are pre-buys for a specific goods or services.) The JOBS Act aims to change that, allowing businesses, including filmmakers, to solicit […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 16, 2012I’ve been meaning to post notice of the other big camera announcement this past week — RED’S unveiling of the SCARLET-X. Over at his No Film School, Koo has been all over this camera, writing that instead of the Scarlet being what we once thought the Scarlet would be (“a 3K for $3K camera), “It is very, very close to being the same camera as the $28,000 EPIC-X — it’s the same size and weight, has the same large sensor, takes the same accessories, and maxes out at the same 5K resolution — except the SCARLET-X starts at under $10K.” […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 6, 2011Writer/director Jentri Chancey emailed to tell me about her and producer Lorrie Marsh’s approach to developing their independent film project, Lost in Sunshine. She writes: We’ve been continuously working to lift this project from its feet for the past two years. Our approach is to reach out to our (target) audience before the movie’s ever made. And creating an online prequel by expanding narratives, and enhancing audience participation via games, etc., is how we’re attempting to do it. Instead of raising money for actual film production costs right now, we’re raising funds so that we can use fan input, digital […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 7, 2011As most of you know, I write a weekly newsletter that contains a letter that’s not usually posted on this blog. Sometimes it consists of thoughts that coalesce into an article or blog post down the line, and sometimes it consists of of-the-moment reactions to events just hitting the news. Often the newsletter poses questions that I’d like our readers to comment on. Yesterday I wrote about the newly announced Amazon Studios and solicited feedback. I hope to, in the next few days, write about the provocative new venture, which has good elements (a new financing source for independent filmmakers […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 19, 2010Marketing and publicity specialist Sheri Candler has a post up on her blog entitled “Five Ways to Fail at Crowdfunding” that is a good read for those thinking of kickstarting of gogo’ing their indie feature. She opens: I am prompted to write this post because I have been hit up many times lately about supporting, advising or donating to various crowdfunding initiatives. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t quite a complaint because I have been known to support many campaigns by doing any one of these things (ask anyone else offering their advice if they have done any of these […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 12, 2010