My film Crowdfunder just went live

PaulWrightyThen

IOTM Winner
Hi guys,

just wanted to let you know that the crowd funder for the film I've written and am going to direct, 'Fissure' has gone live. Never done one before (crowdfunder) so its my first rodeo as they say.

It mean a lot if you could check it out, and if you feel inclined support us with a pledge or a share to get the word out.

Synopsis:
Ten years after her daughter went missing Kate, a bereaved mother destroyed by guilt and drugs finally seems to have her life back on track. That is until she begins to suffer from flashbacks which unlike the self loathing nightmares of her past point towards the possibility that her daughter is still alive, trapped on another plain of existence where dark forces rule.

http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/fissure/

Thanks in advance guys,

Paul
 
As you may know from reading my other posts I dislike flexible funding. But
you've been around a while and I can afford £10.
 
As you may know from reading my other posts I dislike flexible funding. But
you've been around a while and I can afford £10.

I'm like a stricter version of Rik! I would kick in a tenner but I don't do flexi funding and I've got to stick to my rule.

Best of luck though, if you have a project twitter account I'll do some promo tweets for you!
 
I'm like a stricter version of Rik! I would kick in a tenner but I don't do flexi funding and I've got to stick to my rule.

Best of luck though, if you have a project twitter account I'll do some promo tweets for you!

Like I said... These rules are news to me. If I may be so bold, what puts you off? So I don't make the same mistake again? Is it a distrust that the movie will get made? Something like that?

The Twitter is @fissurethemovie and the Facebook is https://www.facebook.com/FissureShortFilm/

Really appreciate the pledge and the off of support from both of you. :)
 
A lot of people on this forum have concerns about flexible funding because it basically asks you to invest in a product regardless of whether that product can actually be made. So if my campaign is for a film with a budget of £10,000 then the film that I'm asking people to invest in is a £10,000 film. Not a £500 film, which is what happens if you only get 5% of your budget, or a £2,000 if you only get 20%. But whether or not you are capable of making the film you advertise, you still get my money!

So I think people tend to prefer the fixed model, so that you get the money you need or you get nothing. Then we know where we are.

That all said: if you get close to your goal, I'll chip in something :)
 
A lot of people on this forum have concerns about flexible funding because it basically asks you to invest in a product regardless of whether that product can actually be made. So if my campaign is for a film with a budget of £10,000 then the film that I'm asking people to invest in is a £10,000 film. Not a £500 film, which is what happens if you only get 5% of your budget, or a £2,000 if you only get 20%. But whether or not you are capable of making the film you advertise, you still get my money!

So I think people tend to prefer the fixed model, so that you get the money you need or you get nothing. Then we know where we are.

That all said: if you get close to your goal, I'll chip in something :)

Everyday is a school day. I'll know for next time. :)
 
I did not know that people had flexi funding rules :0

Thanks though DR. :)

There are no rules, it's a personal choice.

Nick explained it well; you need £3,500. If you only get £500 or £1,000
then you will not make the film you want to make. I'm not interested in
helping you make a "less than" film. In many cases the filmmaker may
not make the movie at all. This concerns me. I'm quite comfortable
donating .02% of the total budget to someone I don't know personally
as a show of support. I am not comfortable donating 2% of the total
budget to someone I don't know personally or even 1% of the total budget.

So allow me some questions: if you don't get the entire £3,500 what are
you going to do? What are you going to do if you only £1,000? Only £500?
 
There are no rules, it's a personal choice.

Nick explained it well; you need £3,500. If you only get £500 or £1,000
then you will not make the film you want to make. I'm not interested in
helping you make a "less than" film. In many cases the filmmaker may
not make the movie at all. This concerns me. I'm quite comfortable
donating .02% of the total budget to someone I don't know personally
as a show of support. I am not comfortable donating 2% of the total
budget to someone I don't know personally or even 1% of the total budget.

So allow me some questions: if you don't get the entire £3,500 what are
you going to do? What are you going to do if you only £1,000? Only £500?

Questions are good. :)

So, everyone who is involved is doing it as a favour. They are getting expenses which will be covered in the budget, regardless of size.. The bulk of the money is going towards lighting gear, stabilisers, prosthetics. Also insurance for the gear we hire. Our DP is getting massively reduced rates (on camera and lenses) might even be able to swing a better deal than that.

If it all goes south, the money will no doubt go on making sure non of the cast and crew are out of pocket (I'm getting nowt, obviously) and we will wangle lights (somehow, part of a big network of filmmakers in Manchester) and we will still make the film. Some of the costumes, i.e the wraith might have to be dialled back a little, but I'm going full Cameron on the scenes that involve this character, So shot in the dark, only highlights and hints at the creature (Much like the teaser trailer).

I really wanted dollies and sliders, and a jib just to add some life to the shots and this is where a big chunk was going. If, not art from adversity. The main thing for me is making sure everyone gets something for their efforts. With the talent involved if we only have 50p we'll still make a belter.

Another thing that the money is going on is festival submissions. If we don't get it, I'll just have to pony up the cash myself. Which I don't mind doing, I'm not rich by any length, would have just liked some help, you know?

Which you have helped with :)

If you have anymore questions or suggestions let me have em. Seriously, I'm here not just to promote but to learn. Its my first crowd funder.

Cheers :)
 
I've donated £5. Great project home and pitch video. It's not clear though what contribution gets one the movie. Maybe you can make your wording a little more succinct in the pledges. Also, have you done any press releases?
 
Hi Amos! Thanks so much. Once it went live I realised they weren't worded so well, but people had pledged so I can't change em. We have a little bit of stuff. Why do you ask? :)
 
We've just hit the £1000 mark over the weekend. Massive thanks to everyone who has chipped in and shared. Still some way to go, but its going good :)
 
I would be very cautious with Facebook advertising – it is an extremely expensive way to get very few engagements, and I generally would advise against paid advertising for crowdfunding (especially when it's so ineffective at targeting people with the money to contribute).
 
(especially when it's so ineffective at targeting people with the money to contribute).

You don't need people with money. The reason it's called crowdfunding is the backers don't have money anyway so they contribute in numbers to make an impact, as a crowd. That's why the majority of funding is from the $10 - $25 range.
 
You don't need people with money. The reason it's called crowdfunding is the backers don't have money anyway so they contribute in numbers to make an impact, as a crowd. That's why the majority of funding is from the $10 - $25 range.

I think perhaps you are falling into a slight fallacy about crowdfunding.

If you're trying to raise $5000 then you would need 500 donations of $10. That's just a ridiculously time-consuming and inefficient way to raise that money. I wouldn't sniff at a $10 donation, cos any little helps, but when you're working on a crowdfunding campaign you have to hunt down those bigger, $100+ donations.

I also think you're mistaking the modal average of, say, $10-25, with the median average which will be a lot higher. Randomly selecting three recent featured projects from the KS website:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1195082866/from-bedrooms-to-billions-the-playstation-revoluti?ref=category £39,061 from 1,117 contributions: £34.96 ($46)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sharkwater/sharkwater-extinction?ref=category_popular $154,943 from 1,339 contributions: $115.71

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sarataigherblackcrew/black-animated-short-film?ref=category_featured €4,628 from 68 contributions: €68.05 ($75)

There's probably better data on this issue (and less anecdotal!) but I think it's worth illustrating the point because the most efficient way to handle crowdfunding is to chase people who have money (not to mention the fact that, if you're going to donate $20 to a complete stranger, you probably have plenty of disposable income anyway). With my crowdfunding campaign, we would never have got close to hitting our target had we not had two separate donations of £1000+. I appreciated people chipping in £10 or so, but all those £10 donations added up to little more than £500 or £600.
 
You don't need people with money. The reason it's called crowdfunding is the backers don't have money anyway so they contribute in numbers to make an impact, as a crowd. That's why the majority of funding is from the $10 - $25 range.
That's the hope, isn't it? But it's not the reality.

To be clear, I am NOT talking about crowdfunding a project by famous
people or social medias “stars” with a huge following. I'm talking about
the average filmmaker like those of us here.

If you are crowdfunding under 2,000 then donations in the 10/25 range
might be the majority. Most likely those donations will be from friends,
family and people who know the filmmaker personally. But even then you
need to get 100 to 200 people to support you.

In the 2,500 to 10,000 range you are not going to be able to rely in friends,
family and those who know you; you need to expand beyond. Getting 500
to 1000 people who don't know you to donate 20 or 50 is nearly impossible.
You need people with money as Nick pointed out. People who can drop even
25 on a complete stranger have to have disposable income. You and I aren't
going to give 10 to 25 to a complete stranger just because they posted here
in indietalk and have drive and passion. Well, to be accurate I did. And you
gave 5.

Look at Paul's donations; 33 donated £20, 25 donated £10. Two people from
indietalk! That's terrific and he is very likely to reach half his goal. May even
go over that a bit. But he's not getting the 140 to 350 people he needs in
the 10 to 25 range.

Amos says he should buy a Facebook ad. What has your research shown,
amos? How much does a Facebook ad cost and what is the usual percentage
of people who click on it to those who donate 10 or 25? Have YOU (amos)
ever seen an advertisement on Facebook for crowdfunding and donated to
a complete stranger? How many times? What amount?

Here's hoping Paul gets to 50% of you goal...

and over!
 
From my own experience running small $3 ads on facebook, I have to say it's pretty effective. Way better and cheaper than Google that's for sure. Let me illustrate with a little story. In the 1st 25 days of their campaign, the Ekster Wallet guys raised €200 000. Then they did Facebook ads on day 25 and got €100 000 from that in just 5 days. So a third of their funds came from 5 days of facebook ads and their biggest regret was that they didn't think about Facebook sooner.

As for me, I'll be running a campaign soon on Indiegogo and hopefully can be a case study for Indietalk on the virtues of Facebook Ads.
 
Back
Top