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In this Discussion
- 1234 October 2014
- Cherry_Pie October 2014
- distant_shoe June 2014
- ed_chigliak October 2014
- flossy_log_lady October 2014
- kdawg June 2014
- Leland October 2014
- ManInTheIvoryTower October 2014
- MirandaJuly October 2014
- Schlabe June 2014
- swamp_knobbler_mahan October 2014
- ThickeningAgent October 2014
- UncleBoatShoes2011 June 2014
- YoursTruly June 2014
crowd funding
hello uhxers,
i am getting ready to start a big crowd-funding effort in hopes of raising some bread for a new film project. but i can't say i'm super excited about this because i typically cringe and/or sigh whenever i read an email or facebook post from a fellow 'maker doing the same. so with that in mind i come to you all for advice, as many of you seem to do the internet pretty well.
there are so many things i am worried about. how do i do this without being completely obnoxious? how much money should i try to raise? what sort of rewards should i offer? as i stroll through successful kickstarter campaigns for films past, i am always amazed at how much money people are able to raise for projects and campaigns that really look mediocre at best.
i am getting ready to start a big crowd-funding effort in hopes of raising some bread for a new film project. but i can't say i'm super excited about this because i typically cringe and/or sigh whenever i read an email or facebook post from a fellow 'maker doing the same. so with that in mind i come to you all for advice, as many of you seem to do the internet pretty well.
there are so many things i am worried about. how do i do this without being completely obnoxious? how much money should i try to raise? what sort of rewards should i offer? as i stroll through successful kickstarter campaigns for films past, i am always amazed at how much money people are able to raise for projects and campaigns that really look mediocre at best.
Comments
In 1964, an Air Force B-52 bomber, loaded with two 9 megaton thermonuclear bombs, crashed in western Maryland about 100 miles from Washington DC. The plane crashed because its tail was torn off when the plane encountered heavy turbulence. Obviously the bombs, which combined were over 1000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, did not explode- if they had most to the eastern seaboard of the United States would have been obliterated- but the thought of two nukes slamming into the ground in a fiery inferno is a bit unsettling.
The plane was returning from an Operation Chrome Dome mission- a then top-secret program in which the US had no fewer than 12 nuclear armed B-52s in the air at all times. The Air Force, along with Boeing- who manufactured the planes- knew that these aircraft had a structural issue which made the tails prone to snapping off in heavy winds. The crash of flight Buzz One Four was the fifth such incident of the previous 14 months, and it was such a known problem that the Air Force produced a training film for B-52 pilots to teach them what to do if they experienced this, but it was decided not to take the planes out of service. Also, there is a very good chance the plane's crew was under the influence of meth amphetamines (crystal meth as we know it today was largely developed by the Air Force specifically for the crews of these missions because they ranged from 24-28 hours). Apparently this sort of thing happened all the time during the Cold War, but the truly crazy part of all this was that the pilot of this plane that crashed in Maryland with two nukes on it was Maj. Thomas W. McCormick, my grandfather!
I think the way that crowd funding projects stay away from being obnoxious is to ask for an amount of money that doesn't look ridiculous. Sometimes a kickstarter is obnoxious because it feels unnecessary (Zach Braff). I think if you maybe explain some reticence for using crowd funding that might help. I'm not sure.
Either way, I think people will not be turned off by your crowd funding attempt.
Sounds like a good idea and one that makes sense for crowd funding.
I think the funding mechanism depends on the output: How long will the film be? Where will it be seen? Will you be leveraging crowd dollars with corp or big money donors?
Neither KS (which I have used in the past but never again for my own art) nor Indiegogo are really good for artists. Artists need a more generalized crowd-patronage app, where people can just support a maker and opt in at various recurring levels to support a body of work as opposed to one-off projects. Maybe if internet micropayments get squared away this will become more of a reality?
That said, I suggest you go for the crowd funding. Your film sounds awesome and people will be happy to support it. Until artists have a better mechanism, they just have to awkwardly work with the tools out there :(
For a film it helps SO MUCH to have some footage already that you can share and a clear picture of what you want the final product to be. The actual result may be different, but I don't generally want to fund someone "exploring" a topic.
And of course explain who you are and what you've done. That's huge. It's way easier for me to share a link to your kickstarter if I don't have to explain you. I can just share a link and say, "Holy shit, it's about time Matt made another fucking movie? RIGHT!?!?"
figuring out how much to ask for is the real stick in my side right now. Kickstarter is littered with film funding campaigns for projects that look awful but somehow managed to raise $50K+. I have no intentions of asking for that much, but wonder if asking for only $12K is underestimating myself. (in all honestly, the project in the end will probably cost $40K to produce, if not more). I don't want to rely on Kickstarter for all of it (and am generally frustrated with filmmakers who do) but I'm also very aware that the more money I can raise the better the movie is going to be.
rewards, however, are fun to think about. does an 'Oregon ghost-town road trip' (hosted by yours truly (as in me, not Yours Truly)) sound like a worthwhile reward? or some of the panda bears from Some Days are Better than Others? (see here: http://tinyurl.com/pozcdsq )
i also think i finally figured out what to do with that GIANT PENNY from the YACHT video.
if you are making art for just your friends, then yeah, asking for 12 to 40 k from them is a bit weird. the whole concept of putting it online is that people that are not your close personal friends might be interested and might even give
so, i say, whatever you do, don't let your own feelings of mild annoyance at your own associates fund raising via social media, and your own eye rolling at people who made more than you think their film is worth stop you from funding what you believe will have an impact as a piece of art on strangers who might give you money
your friends will forgive you. its only a mild annoyance that they can scroll past in 4 seconds if they don't give a shit. being annoying on the internet goes with being an artist on the internet
furthermore, why are we more annoyed with our friend's and associates use of social media for promotion and fund raising and we give big banner ad corporate pandering a shrug, or at the very least we think "comes with the territory" and keep scrolling
don't be shy. be modest, and maybe more than a little "knowing" but believe in yourself and your project.
that's what i see being successful. a little wide-eyed belief goes a long way. this is the part that i have a huge block with in my own life as an artist with things to promote. the older i get, the more i have a hard time "selling" this inescapably sculpted persona of someone who makes music i want others to buy
i'd rather be online making inside jokes with friends than anything that smells of selling myself. and that's to my own complete detriment.
bottom line is, go fishing for some supporters! there's nothing like getting an email and/or some money from someone you don't know who has connected with your work.
really tight call
you have probably already seen this, and I'm probably merging into the lane of annoyingness, but just in case please check out:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mattmccormick/buzz-one-four
also, on October 19th I'll be throwing an open studio party at the Boathouse where I will be giving a short presentation on the project.
and there will be lots of free beer there, which is never annoying.
Did I grow up in a more individualistic era? Does crowd-sourcing seem juvenile or amateurish to me? Do I have a problem with that (at this late date in a life of vigorous amateurism)? I'm not sure. In fact, it's weird, I have no idea why I'm so resistant about it for my own work.
This has nothing to do with what other people do. (Especially you, Matt!) I love hearing about and often support others' work in this way, and I've built succesful campaigns for others. For me though, I'm more comfortable with the look and practice of trying to land a coffee with an individual investor than thinking of levels and pitching a campaign.
Something about privacy maybe, or wanting to maintain a kind of non-duplicitous relationship to my secret garden of misanthropic dissappoiment and despair....
Did I just say that out loud?
We're working towards a crowdfunding campaign for a game. I'm already sending out emails to people... you can follow along and read the first one I sent out:
https://tinyletter.com/redwindsofmars
But yeah, I'm pretty much having a nervous breakdown as I run this Kickstarter. At least with grants, investors, etc, it was all relatively private, so if you failed at least you failed quietly with nobody watching...
You have to be worth 1M to invest in a startup. IPOs are designed to enrich investment bankers. Owners can and do sue company officers that make decisions for any reason other than profit. That profit goes to the shareholders and is traded in a stock market that is rigged with hidden fiber connections and secret data centers.
Even the rags-to-riches story of the VC-funded start up is pure spin. For the most part those VCs are sophisticated operators who take advantage of "makers" just looking to put the word Founder on their LinkedIn profile. They succeed in large part not by making good decisions but by having access to "deal flow", something made easier by the fact that only the investor class is deemed worthy to participate in the process.
And to pile on the point Alan made, I would jump at the chance to see ads prioritized by social distance. All this sturm und drang about Facebook and Twitter ads that push us products based on what our friends like... I say it doesn't go far enough! Push me products MADE by my friends and their friends, and their friends' friends. We should have a goal of spending a % of our income on these types of ventures. In the future I only want to spend money on goods and services that are connected to me by N connections or less.
Edit: Matt's film looks rad, dropped a fiver.
most of you already know about my Buzz One Four project, and some of you have even donated to the Kickstarter (thanks!) but I wanted to make sure everyone knew we are having an 'open studio' party here at the Boathouse on Sunday evening, starting around 7:30. I'll be doing a presentation about Buzz One Four around 8pm and we got a keg of Mirror Pond. Stop by if yer interested.
LET'S DO THIS!
http://www.gofundme.com/restore3962mlk
Historical and community preservation!
It seems like it would be fun to collaborate and drop BIG money on a few campaigns (get those sweet high level rewards, am i rite?!).