Credit the Kickstarter-funded Veronica Mars movie with a distribution first: as the Wall Street Journal reports, the film will be the first major studio release to simultaneously premiere in movie theaters and on online platforms. Distributors like IFC and Magnolia have been doing such day-and-date releases for years, but Hollywood’s six major studios — under pressure from theater owners — have held tight to a “windowing” model by which films play exclusively in theaters for at least three months. For the Veronica Mars movie, Warner Bros. and AMC Theaters seem to be engaging in a bit of semantic sleight-of-hand to […]

Please see important update at the bottom of this post. Plenty of tech vendors use Kickstarter as a pre-sale market, so why not filmmakers? In a letter to backers of his film Ned Rifle — reprinted here with permission — director Hal Hartley announces the inclusion of territorial theatrical rights as Kickstarter rewards. Pledge $3,000 and take Hungary. $5,000 gets you Finland. And a cool $9,000 gets you Spanish-speaking Latin America. Of course, these numbers are for theatrical only. Hartley is retaining home video and electronic distribution. But, as he notes in his letter, the asking prices are low, enabling […]

The following is a guest post from filmmaker Bryan Poyser, who is currently crowdfunding the road show for his most recent film, The Bounceback. Bryan’s A.S.A. (Air Sexes As) name is “Lunchmeat.” I am currently in the midst of what must be the longest month and a half of my life. On October 4, we launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for a “Road Show” for my film The Bounceback, which will wrap up this Sunday, Nov. 17th. I’ve barely been sleeping, I’ve had depressive lows and giddy highs, nearly all of my pride has been swallowed and yet […]

After my very successful crowdfunding campaign this summer I’ve been asked repeatedly for tips and advice by numerous other filmmakers. In the spirit of helpful guidance (and to make it easier to deal with as people keep asking me to share this info) here are my tips and guidelines. I did my campaign on Kickstarter but these guidelines are equally applicable on Indiegogo and other platforms. 1) Make sure your description is compelling, as concise as possible and conveys urgency. Click the link to see mine — you can decide whether you think it’s compelling, but in any case it […]

Yesterday was the day that “equity crowdfunding” becomes a legal means to raise investor money. For the last 80 years, companies have been required to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or a state entity in order to publicly solicit investors and advertise the sale of securities. On April 5,2012, President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, popularly known as the JOBS Act. Now, a year and a half later, it is taking effect. The federal bureaucracy grinds slowly. The first fundamental change in fundraising occurs because companies can now solicit “accredited investors,” those covered under […]

Filmmaker Cheryl Dunye recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for the post-production of her latest short, Black is Blue. In this guest post, Isis Asare of Sistah Sinema, the film’s community sponsor, talks with Dunye about this latest phase of her work. In one of the most moving scenes of Black is Blue, tears roll down Black’s – the film’s title character – cheeks after he makes a shocking discovery about a former lover. His emotional fragility is placed in sharp contrast with his sheer physical strength. In that moment, the viewer peers past Black’s masculinity, darkness, and confidence. The viewer […]

Though you may not know the name, you certainly should. Alice Guy-Blaché was the first female filmmaker in history, yet few people know her name today. Thankfully, two filmmakers are seeking to change that. Los Angeles-based directors Pamela Green and Jarik van Slujis are currently raising funds through Kickstarter for Be Natural, the first ever in-depth documentary exploring the life and films of Alice Guy-Blaché. It all started when Green happened to catch a segment of a TV-documentary called Reel Models: The Women of Film, about women pioneers of cinema. They very briefly mentioned Alice Guy among a few familiar names. “I […]

Since his 2006 debut, director and multi-hyphenate Dave Boyle has arguably carved out the most unique niche in independent film. That film, Big Dreams Little Tokyo, and his subsequent pictures White on Rice (2009), Surrogate Valentine (2011), and Daylight Savings (2012) have featured a mix of Japanese and Japanese-American characters in polyglot films that combine quirky comedy with high-strung drama. The latter two films added a semi-documentary element as musician Goh Nakamura plays a fictionalized version of himself. Now with Man from Reno Boyle retains several of his signature traits but moves in the new direction of a thriller. The film […]

Stunning black-and-white photos of movie theaters — old-style palaces and tacky multiplexes alike — sit underneath the credits of The Canyons, the 18th feature from veteran director and screenwriter Paul Schrader. Except rather than evoke the majesty of the 20th century’s dominant art form, they depict its collapse. These theaters are guttered, wrecked, their seats torn out, signage empty, neon fixtures torn and dangling from the ceilings. Some of these theaters — vintage single-screen Art Deco houses — are surely no longer viable in the modern era. The demise of the pictured strip-mall multiplexes, however, is most likely the product […]

As some of you may know by now, I am running a Kickstarter campaign for my new film Bomb It 2, which is the follow up to my global graffiti and street art documentary Bomb It. I have consulted on a number of campaigns, but never run one of my own, and I wanted to experience the complete process for myself. I am now personally more obsessed with checking for new backers when I wake up (and every 10 minutes) but what I found to be one of the hardest things to do is to make my own crowdfunding appeal […]