Kickstarter
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How I Gained 20 Pounds and Found My Next Movie
Currently on our curated Kickstarter page is Hungry for Love, a food-fueled love story directed by Justin Ambrosino. Below is a guest essay from the film’s producer, Soojin Chung, on her own journey towards the culinary when she moved to the U.S. Please visit the film’s Kickstarter page to learn more and consider donating. Growing up in Korea, I was never interested in food. I was an unusual kid who never asked for candy or hamburgers like the other children. In fact, food was last on my list of things to obsess over. But since I moved to America things […]
by Soojin Chung on Dec 3, 2014 -
Five Questions for Writer/Director Scott Blake about his Kickstarter Project, Victory
25 New Face filmmaker Scott Blake is currently raising funds on Kickstarter for an ambitious “urban insurgency” short film, Victory. Below, he discusses inspiration ranging from Michael Mann to Joseph Conrad, why he cast Kentucker Audley and why he’s making another short. Please visit his Kickstarter page to learn more. Filmmaker: First, let’s start with Surveyor and the 25 New Faces. You were one of our real discoveries, as your film hadn’t played many festivals and you hadn’t received much notice for it. What has happened after being selected for the 25, and how did that path lead to this […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 30, 2014 -
Francesca Coppola on Her Kickstarter Project, Jonny Come Lately
Writer/director Francesca Coppola has just launched a Kickstarter campaign for her second short film, Jonny Come Lately. Below, she writes about the short’s themes and issues, her decision to shoot on film and the power of community. Please visit her Kickstarter page and, if you are able to, consider donating. I’m only a few hours away from hitting the launch button on my first Kickstarter campaign to complete the funding for my second film, Jonny Come Lately. There is a whirlwind of feelings at play here and a maelstrom going through my head right now; I’m nervous, exhausted, confused, but […]
by Francesca Coppola on Nov 25, 2014 -
Dan Schoenbrun on Kickstarting collective:unconscious
Some Kickstarter campaigns sell themselves. collective:unconscious had me at, “Five of NYC’s most adventurous filmmakers are working together to adapt each other’s dreams.” The five filmmakers in question are Frances Bodomo, Lauren Wolkstein, Josephine Decker, Daniel Carbone and Lily Baldwin, and the project’s curator cum ringleader is Dan Schoenbrun, Film Partnerships Lead at Kickstarter, who previously supported several of the filmmakers’ other projects as Associate Director of Programming at IFP. Filmmaker spoke with Schoenbrun about the conception of the project, the series timeline and the protocol for working as a collective. Donate to the campaign here. Filmmaker: What was the genesis of […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Nov 19, 2014 -
Kickstarting the Joan Didion Documentary We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live
One of the most high-profile projects to take advantage of Kickstarter’s support system, We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live turns its lens onto Joan Didion. President Barack Obama referred to her as “one of the most celebrated American writers of her generation” when presenting her with the 2012 National Humanities Medal, adding “I’m surprised she hasn’t already gotten this award.” It’s equally surprising that no documentary has yet been made about the essayist, journalist, novelist and screenwriter. That changed when her nephew made the pitch. Actor, director and producer Griffin Dunne is related to Didion through his father Dominick, whose younger brother John Gregory was married […]
by Lisa Y. Garibay on Nov 10, 2014 -
Finding Inspiration and Motivation from Within: Kickstarter Sci-Fi Shakespeare Project, Ambition’s Debt
Writer/director Devin E. Haqq is currently on Kickstarter raising funds for his ambitious indie Shakespeare adaptation, Ambition’s Debt. Read his essay below on deciding to crowdfund, and consider supporting his project. Night after night, I lose sleep, wracking my brain over this mad dash to reach an unbelievable goal on Kickstarter. With everything involved in this crowdfunding campaign for my feature project, Ambition’s Debt, an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, I find myself asking the same question; “What the hell was I thinking?” People say it’s a full-time job and it’s so intense, but you can never really know […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 8, 2014 -
Five Things Tinder Guys Don’t Know about Being an Independent Filmmaker
In addition to being adorable, overachieving independent filmmakers, we (Caitlin and Penny) are both single gals in various deserts of actual human interaction (Brooklyn and Central NY, respectively.) Thus, we rely on our phones and thumbs, through a mostly-unknown dating application called Tinder, to find “love” (or whatever). Here’s a first-date conversation we both get to have all the time: Tinder Guy: “You’re an INDEPENDENT FILMMAKER??! That is so cool! Is that just like, a nonstop adventure of inspiration and creativity?” Uh, yeah; that’s exactly what it’s like. This post is dedicated to you, Tinder Guy. 1) Most of the […]
by Penny Lane and Caitlin Mae Burke on Oct 7, 2014 -
Forever Ally: Adapting Poetry to the Screen
Currently featured on Filmmaker‘s curated Kickstarter page is Forever Ally, a short film by Iyabo Boyd. In this guest post, she writes about her process adapting a work of poetry she discovered one night at a reading. Check out her campaign and consider donating; it ends October 2. Forever Ally follows exchanges between a gay black man named Ronaldo and his recently deceased cat named Ally. Told primarily through lyrical missives between heaven, earth, and Ronaldo’s cat-scratched sofa, the story and characters are unique, offering a nuanced, complex, and genuine approach to ruminations on death, friendship, and opening oneself up […]
by Iyabo Boyd on Sep 25, 2014 -
43 Takeaways from Sundance Artist Services Day at the IFP Filmmaker Conference
“The most important task is to make great movies,” said Sundance Institute Executive Director Keri Putnam at the start of Thursday’s Artist Services Workshop at IFP’s Filmmaker Conference. “All this talk about audiences is meaningless unless you have something in your heart you want to get out there.” However, Putnam’s comments were not to construe that filmmakers shouldn’t think about the rapidly changing world of distribution, marketing and audience building. As Putnam went on to say, it is “easier, less expensive to make a movie, but no easier to find an audience. There is a volume of movies and a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 22, 2014 -
Kickstarter: How to Disappear Completely in 28 Days
Filmmaker regularly offers crowdfunding filmmakers on our curated Kickstarter page the opportunity to write a guest essay about their campaign. Here’s Sasha Solodukhina on the struggles of funding a first-time work, How to Disappear Completely. To learn more about her 30-minute film, visit its Kickstarter page, where the campaign is in its final three days. Unlike Spike Lee, or Charlie Kaufman, or The Coolest Cooler, even unlike the potato salad – I am not yet a product. I have no brand to articulate me, or any kind of large body of work to stand behind. At this point, you have […]
by Sasha Solodukhina on Aug 26, 2014
