Kickstarter
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The Eyeslicer: An Indie Filmmaker Variety Series (By Invitation Only)
Producers Dan Schoenbrun and Vanessa McDonnell have launched a Kickstarter campaign for The Eyeslicer, a new variety series by and for indie filmmakers. Among the filmmakers set to contribute are David Lowery, the Zellner Brothers, Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn, Yen Tan, Calvin Reeder, Shaka King, Ornana, John Wilson, Jennifer Reeder, Leah Shore, Colin Healey, Lauren Wolkstein, and Chris Radcliffe The campaign is aiming to raise $28,000 to fund season one and if all goes smoothly, the 10-episode, 10-hour first season will launch in January. Schoenbrun (a contributor to Filmmaker) and McDonnell recently collaborated to create collective : unconscious, an anthology feature film where they […]
by Paula Bernstein on Sep 30, 2016 -
Playing the Fool: Embracing Tarot while Kickstarting For Entertainment Purposes Only
Last Thursday, in a fortune telling shop in Manhattan’s West Village, a woman around my age told me the Evil Eye was on me and my family. She told me she was afraid for my life, and I needed to give her $500 right then so that she could burn a candle for me. When I told her I didn’t have the money, she asked if I had an ATM card and could bring her the money quickly. I said “thank you” and left. I wasn’t worried about the “Evil Eye,” but it was an eerie brush with the city’s […]
by Colin Healey on Aug 22, 2016 -
The Campaign to Revive Early Films from Christine Vachon and Todd Haynes
Led by IFP founder Sandra Schulberg, who serves as its president, the nonprofit IndieCollect is working to conserve independent cinema. In just two years, the company has rescued and archived more than 3,500 film negatives, according to Schulberg, the president of IndieCollect. IndieCollect recently located the master picture and sound elements for eight of the shorts Vachon and Haynes produced in the ’80s and ’90s with Barry Ellsworth under their non-profit Apparatus banner. Apparatus backed a number of other directors, including Suzan-Lori Parks, Mary Hestand, Susan Delson, Brooke Dammkoehler, Larry Carty, and Evan Dunsky. Now the company has launched a Kickstarter campaign with hopes of raising […]
by Paula Bernstein on Jun 28, 2016 -
“I Wrote This Role For My Brother, Not About Him”: Jesse Klein on Making We’re Still Together
Editor’s note: the following is a guest post from Jesse Klein, director of the drama We’re Still Together, which will be having its world premiere at Karlovy Vary. A Kickstarter to raise funds for deliverables, travel, accommodations and other necessary expenses can be found here. In thinking about my film We’re Still Together and what could be said that the film itself does not say, I thought of my older brother Joey. The movie starts with him in every way. In the fall of 2012, I was back in Montreal after finishing an MFA in filmmaking at UT-Austin without an idea of […]
by Jesse Klein on Jun 22, 2016 -
How We Raised $27,000 on Kickstarter for a Film About Black Teen Identity, First Love and Islam
My name is Nijla Mu’min and I’m an award-winning writer/filmmaker from the East Bay Area. In March, I launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $25,000 for my first feature film, Jinn. Jinn is a coming-of-age drama about a teenage black girl named Summer whose life is turned upside down when her mother abruptly converts to Islam and becomes a different person, prompting Summer to reevaluate her life and identity. It’s a fun, fresh exploration of millennial culture, Islam, and first love. Since the campaign ended, fellow independent filmmakers and colleagues have reached out to me for insight on how to […]
by Nijla Mu’min on May 25, 2016 -
Fight Club Author Chuck Palahniuk Crowdfunding Lullaby
Though he wrote the novel on which David Fincher’s 1999 hit Fight Club was adapted, novelist Chuck Palahniuk has never written a screenplay. That will change with the upcoming film adaptation of the author’s 2002 novel Lullaby. Palahniuk will executive produce and co-write the screenplay with director Andy Mingo. Along with producer Josh Leake, the team has turned to Kickstarter to raise $250,000 to fund production of the film. Lullaby follows the life of Carl Streator, an over-the-hill reporter whose family mysteriously died years earlier. Palahniuk wrote the novel during the murder trial of the man eventually convicted of murdering his father. “Chuck doesn’t […]
by Paula Bernstein on May 17, 2016 -
How Who the F*@% is Frank Zappa Broke Crowdfunding Records
Raising over $1.1 million on Kickstarter, Who the F*@% is Frank Zappa (working title) recently shattered the crowdfunding record for a documentary project, previously held by the Bill Nye film. Directed by Alex Winter (Deep Web), the film is an authorized exploration of the iconic musician’s life and work. Of course, the project benefited from Zappa’s name recognition and hardcore fan base. But that alone isn’t enough to carry a crowdfunding campaign. In order to drive engagement, the filmmakers extended the campaign far beyond Kickstarter itself with coordinated benefit screening events of Zappa’s concert film Roxy: The Movie around the world, additional “Add On Rewards” including […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 27, 2016 -
Kodak and Kickstarter Launch Program for Indie Filmmakers to Shoot on Film
Despite outliers such as Alex Ross Perry and Todd Haynes, the general consensus among independent filmmakers is that shooting on film is too expensive to be feasible. Over the past year, Kodak has been working to get the word out that shooting on film is a possibility – even for low-budget indies. Along with Kickstarter, the Eastman Kodak Company today announced a new initiative to support independent filmmakers who want to shoot on film. The program is open to cinematographers launching a Kickstarter campaign in order to bring their vision to life using 35mm or 16mm film. Four directors with upcoming Kickstarter campaigns […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 25, 2016 -
“Dear Crew”: A Doc Filmmaker Prepares Her Crew for 10 Weeks of RV Living
Filmmaker Emily MacKenzie is currently on Kickstarter with her documentary Scar Story, about Paulette Leaphart, who survived breast cancer following a double mastectomy, and who will be raising awareness by walking topless from Biloxi, MS to Washington, D.C. MacKenzie, producer Sasha Solodukhina and their crew will be traveling along with her, and they are now in the final nine days of their campaign to raise production funds. Below, MacKenzie shares a letter she has written to her crew — and partly to herself — about the challenges that lie ahead. Consider donating here at Kickstarter. To my crew – I […]
by Emily MacKenzie on Apr 25, 2016 -
Kickstarting VIVA DIVA, a Short Film Starring Mya Taylor
Mya Taylor will follow up her Film Independent Spirit Award-winning performance in Tangerine with performances in several short films which tackle transgender issues. Her latest project, VIVA DIVA, which is billed as “the story of two trans women of color Rozene and Diva, on a road trip of a lifetime,” is aiming to raise $10,000 on Kickstarter. Written and directed by Sundance Institute Native Lab fellow, Daniel Flores, VIVA DIVA is a road trip movie featuring Rozene and Diva as they make their way down to Guadalajara for gender reassignment surgery. Rozene stops in on her father to try to get answers about […]
by Paula Bernstein on Mar 7, 2016
