Categories
Truly Free Film

Guest Post: Peter Broderick “Crowdfunding Takes Off”

Today is a guest post from Hybrid Distribution Guru Peter Broderick, who kindly allowed us to reprint from his Distribution Bulletin. If you don’t yet subscribe to his newsletter, better get on that, and quickly right that wrong, because otherwise your life-line for really knowing what options exist before you is growing thin! Peter has consistently sourced the truth of what can be done as an alternative to corporate supported & controlled filmmaking & distribution. The generosity he demonstrates sharing his knowledge is an example for us all. This time Peter demonstrates that Crowdfunding has entered a new SIX FIGURE stage of uber-major significance and you will want to get yourself some of that…

Crowdfunding has taken off. The most successful film projects are now raising hundreds of thousands of dollars, when not that long ago they were raising tens of thousands. The top three films in the Kickstarter Hall of Fame are BLUE LIKE JAZZ ($345,992), THE PRICE ($161,774), and I AM I ($111,965).

Unlike BLUE LIKE JAZZ and THE PRICE which are both based on material written by authors with large and loyal followings, I AM I is an excellent example of how to build support for an original script. After seeing my presentations on crowdfunding, writer-director Jocelyn Towne and her producers Cora Olson and Jen Dubin from Present Pictures (GOOD DICK) convinced an investor to match up to $100,000 in donations. They built a solid website, calibrated their reward levels, planned the stages of their campaign, and created a great video. Done in one long carefully choreographed take, viewer’s found this humorous video irresistible.

They began their 38-day effort on Kickstarter through their personal networks. Jocelyn spent the month before the campaign drafting individual emails to everyone she knew and saved them for launch day. On Twitter, 40,000 people were following her actor/husband Simon Helberg (featured in the hit TV show, THE BIG BANG THEORY) and 10,000 were following Jason Ritter (another popular I AM I cast member who is the star of NBC’s THE EVENT) . The team also made good use of Facebook. Jocelyn worked tirelessly on the campaign, writing personal thank you notes to almost every donor.

Donations started strong ($17,000 in the first few days), slowed down over the Christmas holidays, and accelerated as they approached the finish line ($24,000 in the closing days). Their contributors included friends, family, colleagues, and a few studio executives. 80% of their 902 contributors were total strangers. Amazingly, 3 of these strangers made $10,000 donations, for which Jocelyn and Simon promised to come to their hometowns and do private screenings just for them. Overall, as is typical with Kickstarter projects, the majority of donations were at the $20 (32%) and $100 (26%) levels.

Their campaign was so successful that it gave I AM I the momentum needed to move into production. Even after their campaign ended, people were still asking to contribute. The I AM I team added a Donate button to their website and is offering rewards similar to those they gave on Kickstarter.

In addition to the $111,965 raised, their campaign created a large network of supporters. Producer Cora Olson observed, “our initial goal was to raise as much money as possible, but when we saw how many online impressions we were making, we realized that this awareness could ultimately be more valuable than cash when it’s time to launch the film.”

© 2011 Peter Broderick

Peter Broderick is a Distribution Strategist who helps design and implement customized plans to maximize revenues for independent films. He is also a leading advocate of crowdfunding and crowdsourcing, championing them in keynotes and presentations around the world. You can read his articles at www.peterbroderick.com

Categories
These Are Those Things

More Beatles Punchlines In Need Of The Jokes

We all make some bad decisions in life. I hear some folks confess fear that something stupid they did way back when will end up on YouTube. It will. It’s true. But know what? So what. If it is true about The Beatles, it will also be true about today’s pop stars, and just as no one cares about those mistakes, you shouldn’t care about your mistakes. We should learn to live like clowns. Why so serious?

Which is a long way of saying why I was so excited when @jonarcher tipped me to this tidbit of the Fab Four trying their hand at Willie The Shake.

Categories
Bowl Of Noses

Yesterday’s Cars Of Tomorrow

The Past sure had some good ideas about the future.

I still want my jet pack though.
Thanks to VSL for the tip!

Categories
Truly Free Film

Hey Docu-makers! The Deadline Is Approaching

The PUMA CREATIVE IMPACT AWARD is something all doc filmmakers should apply for — and it’s NEW this year. This £50,000 prize will be given annually to the documentary that has made the greatest social impact. This unprecedented award is administered by the Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and supported by PUMA. Deadline: April 1 (and it is open to filmmakers from any country).

Check out the guidelines and submission process here.

Categories
Truly Free Film

Stay Inside Today & Make Yourself Eligible For A Film/Video Grant From Creative Capital

Seriously, so what if it is warm and sunny and you need to wash away your winter blues. An opportunity like this comes around, well, once every three years. That’s not every day, so you better get cracking. The deadline to submit just the “Letter of Inquiry” is March 1st and…

You can learn more about Creative Capital’s Film/Video & Visual Arts grant here. You can access the guidelines here. And you can apply here.

Seriously though, we live in a country where the arts are not recognized as either a cultural necessity or an economic force. That will not change until we demand it. One measure of that demand is the number of applications. Creative Capital is a fabulous organization. I am thankful we have them to help.

Categories
These Are Those Things

Ringo, Paul, & George In A Park With A Ukulele

What’s the joke that gives that as a punchline? I don’t know but this is that video. 1994.

Categories
Truly Free Film

What Did We Miss? The Overlooked Movies Of 2010

What’s with all the attention for the movies that everyone saw? Spirits, Oscars, Critics Groups: doesn’t it sometimes seem like the wrong emphasis? All this money is spent, all this noise is made, for what we have all already have seen. Okay, I get it. If you are reading this, you are not like regular people anyway. You probably go to the movies, and all the events of this weekend are actually for the folks that don’t go to the movies. Is it ironic that people watch the Oscars, but don’t want to pay to see movies (but that’s something for later). If we started our own awards show for the films that needed more love than what they got, what films would be this year’s nominees?

I recognize my dream of an awards show for overlooked movies would not have much of attendance beyond maybe me and the filmmakers, but that sounds like a good party to me! So any sponsors out there want to back next year’s Overlooks? I think we will make the statuettes (they have to be small so that even the recipients overlook them) out of organic material; not only will they be “green”, but the awards will perish on the vine, just like the films did!

When a great — or even a good movie — does not perform in the US, what’s to blame? The distributor? The Superabundance of content? The infrastructure and the release strategy? Timing? The audience? All or none of the above? Or is just because sometimes the world just sucks. What ever it is, we know it is hard out there for a flick.

I do think we can start to get it figured out if we look at what deserved better. It is a healthy activity for us to take a moment this weekend and speak about the great movies that more people would have dug, if only we could have gotten them to the movie palaces.

Now, sometimes there are good movies that do come out that don’t get much attention or audience, but I would not call them overlooked. We still make, release, promote, and celebrate movies that have a limited audience. Really a lot of the films on my Top Ten movies, generally fit into this category — partially because they have limited love returning to them, I feel compelled to love them more.

So… What movies deserved more attention than they got? Now these may well not be “Academy” worthy films. They don’t have to be “prestige” titles and smell like vegetables and vitamins. They do have to be films that are however about the craft, about the filmmaker clearly achieving the majority of her goals — whether we like them or not. I do think they should be films that are fun, but my sense of that, is not everyone’s. I have included a few films that did get some love mind you, but not the love I personally feel they deserved.

But without further adieu, allow me to nominate a few:

Animal Kingdom
Daddy Longlegs
The Disappearance Of Alice Creed
Fish Tank
I Am Love
I Love You, Phillip Morris
The Illusionist
LittleRock
Monsters
Please Give
Red Riding Trilogy
The Square
The Wild And Wonderful Whites Of West Virginia

I haven’t yet seen, but suspect I would feel the same about:

Carlos
Dogtooth
Down Terrace

It wouldn’t be a list worthy of the title “Overlooked” if I didn’t overlook a few myself. Please add to this list.