Crowdfunding has always been a divine
and abstract concept; it is the modern day equivalent of money
growing on trees. Almost everyone has what they believe is the next
great invention idea or a screenplay this is sure to be a hit at
Sundance if they only had the money to get that project off the
ground. But launching a successful campaign is not as easy as it
looks at first. Most of the crowdsourced film projects I have kept
track of did not reach their goals. That is way some people choose
IndieGoGo, you can still get some money even if you do not reach your
goal. This is a defeatist way of thinking however, we all want our
project to be labeled a success. So how can you do it? What goes
into creating a successful crowdfunded film project?
First of all it is important to manage
your expectations. Kickstarter statistics show that 90 % of the
successful film and video projects have goals set under $20,000. We
are all attracted to the big paydays like the $1.4 Million
Spike Lee
raised or the heart-stopping $3.1 Million former
Scrubs star
Zach Braff used to finance his third feature as a director;
Wish I Was Here. I hate to say it but you do not have the name recognition
of Spike Lee or Zach Braff, if you did you would not be reading this,
you would be taking Hollywood power meetings and counting your money
somewhere. That is the irony here, the people you can make the most
from crowdfunding are the ones who need to rely on it the least. However, I do agree with Braff and the others who justify this by
saying it is difficult for anyone to get a film financed. So what
does this mean for you and I, the independent filmmaker who is
starting out? If you have a feature script you want to get produced
you could consider adapting that story into a short film and try to
raise the funds for the short through crowdfunding. Then that short
can play at festivals and act as a calling card for your feature
screenplay. You would not be alone if you went this route, many
features started out as short films;
The Evil Dead, Grace,
Napoleon Dynamite and
Obvious Child, just to name a
few. People in the industry call making a short first or similar tactics as "proof of concept." Try to pick a project that could be made properly on a small
amount of money. Kickstarter statistics state that the average
amount a successful project receives is $7,825. The average amount
in the film and video category is even lower; $4,466.
The other reason why it pays to have
low expectations is because crowdfunding lives up to its name, it is
crowded with competition. One study shows that out of the 45,815
Kickstarter projects launched prior to 6/2/2012, the film and video
category had the most submissions with a total of 13,502 campaigns. Not only is the film and video category the most popular, but it has
a much lower success rate than all of the Kickstarter projects put
together. Statistics show that around 50% of all Kickstarter
projects are successful while only 24.1% of the film and video
campaigns reach their goal. These numbers tell us that it important
to have a projects that stands out from the rest. You need a
professional looking video pitch that is short and likely to attack
people. It all needs to be appealing enough to get backers to pledge some cash. Try to build an audience for your project before you launch it on a crowdfunding website.
Nothing in this world is free, not even
free will. Crowdfunding is no exception. To be successful you need
rewards that your backers really want. That is way strangers will give money to your creative cause, they will not be doing it out of
charity, it is because they want something your project has to offer
them. Just like having a low amount for your goal set, the numbers
show that you should offer some rewards in exchange for $20 or less. As of June 12
th, 2013, only 39.99% of the film projects
that DID NOT offer a reward for $20 or less reached their goal, while
those that did have rewards for $20 or less had a 45% success rate. Some of the most poplar rewards are DVD's or digital downloads of the
finished film, producer credit on the movie and IMDB and more
exclusive things like movie props, tickets to the premier or being a
featured extra in the movie. Foe example,
Blue Like Jazz
raised $345,992 dollars and 3 backers gave $8,000 each to fly
DonaldMiller; the author of the popular novel the film was based on, over
to their home town to perform a private book reading. When the indie
romantic comedy
Obvious Child got accepted into Sundance in
2014, they turned to Kickstarter and raised $37,214 to cover the
travel and promotional expenses. Two backers on the
Obvious Child
campaign paid $1,000 each to become VIP guests at a show of their
choice with either of the two stand up comedians who were featured in
the film;
Jenny Slate and
Gabe Liedman. Five backers gave $500 each
to have Jenny Slate record an outgoing voice mail message for their
cell phone. These rewards worked because people with name
recognition were behind them. Chances are you cannot compete with
rewards like this so you have to work with what you have instead. Pretend that you are a potential backer, are the rewards you are
offering worth the amount you are asking for? People like to brag to
their friends that they are an executive producer on a movie or that
they were a VIP guest at a film premier or got to spend a day on a
film set.
Then there is the question of how long
your campaign should last. You would think to have it up for the
maximum number of days the site would allow right? More days means
you have more time to raise the money. Surprisingly, the average
number of days that successful Kickstarter projects had set to reach
their goal is 38 days. The reason behind this is one of the things
discussed in the best selling book
Contagious: Why Things Catch On. By having an offer available for a limited time can make
you stand out from the competition and it can encourage the consumer
to act, in this case pledge money to your project.
Lastly, here is a surprising tip that
is not often considered. Be the first to back your own project! The
first thing bartenders do when they start their day is put some of
their own money in the tip jar. I have walked into a coffee shop in
the morning as they open the doors to find that a few dollars are
already in the tip jar somehow. Nobody wants to be first to invest
in something, if other people are spending their money than it must
be a good project. I am sure many times people directly involved
with a crowdfunding project put in some of their own money to reach
their goal. It is likely that you will have to spend some of your
own money on this eventually, so why not do it through your
crowdfunding campaign?
I hope this helps you with all
your fund raising endeavors. Please check out this IndieGoGo
campaign for a movie I am working on called
Medium Justice.
