Get people to donate for your film

B

Blade_Jones

Hard to believe that so many people are out there looking to donate money for various things, that's what's happening at Kickstarter.com
The people who run the site pick and choose what gets listed though. They get 300 submissions a day. Films are the most popular thing being pitched on this site, but I'm sure plenty get rejected.
 
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The interesting thing is that people often ask their friends and relatives for money to fund their project, and, when those friends and relatives say no, they get resentful. It's actually a very interesting psychological perspective.
 
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people often ask their friends and relatives for money to fund their project, and, when those friends and relatives say no, they get resentful.
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I wouldn't give 1 cent to anyone to make a movie. Like throwing money into a black hole. I can't believe there's so many people willing to donate on that site.
 
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Blade_Jones said:
I wouldn't give 1 cent to anyone to make a movie. Like throwing money into a black hole. I can't believe there's so many people willing to donate on that site.
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I think the they only get the money if they reach the goal. And I'm pretty sure once the filmmakers receive their money, they're under some sort of contract that requires a finished product. So no, its not some kind of black hole.
 
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I've heard that kickstarter gives you lots of hope, but in the end you don't get all that much. I have to try it for myself to see if that's true. If anything it helps you get more exposure. And you only help yourself out by having more material to present in the kickstarter page of your projected movie.

I think people donate because they get credit in the movie or sometimes the movie makers who started the kickstarter account give certain items in return (like props from the movie, autographs, etc or sometimes ipods and random things like that.)

I would think you "gotta help yourself." In a way, it's your own pocket + kickstarter + you actively seeking other investors besides kickstarter, that gets you more budget. I'm wondering if giving yourself a large amount of time to gain money is a smart idea too, since you increase the chances of getting more $$$ but could it also slow down the momentum of a project if you are gathering money for 1-2 years?
 
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As someone who's running a kickstarter now, I can tell you that getting people to donate, including friends and family, is like pulling teeth. Start talking about your project and watch as their eyes glaze over while they come up with some way to get the hell out of the conversation.

(btw, that's obviously not directed at the awesome folks here on IT who have actually been the most supportive. You guys rock!)
 
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that1guyy said:
I think the they only get the money if they reach the goal. And I'm pretty sure once the filmmakers receive their money, they're under some sort of contract that requires a finished product. So no, its not some kind of black hole.
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There is no contract at all. The only fulfillment is getting your rewards, and even that is up in the air. It's all a "honor system" deal.

At least when we raised money, that was the deal.

And yes, there are a lot of people willing to throw down thousands of dollars for the right production. It's not easy, though: we were up on the wire and things weren't looking all that great, had to do another video and everything.

But we had a 10K drop, a 3K drop, and a number of drops that were in the 1000 - 500 range.

Just really hard to get there.
 
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I had a successful kickstarter campaign earlier this year to raise funding for a documentary. It's true with kickstarter you don't get any money unless you raise all the money - this helps keep money from disappearing into projects which don't have a chance of getting completed. IndieGoGo doesn't have this requirement but is otherwise similar. As far as I'm aware there's no contract after the money is raised - I imagine it would be a nightmare to try and enforce something like that.

Overall though it's a great way to raise money for a project if you have an existing audience of a sufficient size - if you don't I think it would be really hard to convince people who have no idea who you are to contribute. In either case it's not easy though, it's not like you just post your project and the money comes rolling in - you really have to put in a lot of time promoting it and reaching out to as many people as possible to get the word out. You also have to set up rewards for different levels of contribution - in addition to seeing the project get completed this is what makes it not a 'black hole' for many contributors. On our project some contributors will get DVDs as soon as the project is complete. Quite a few got postcards from the road as we traveled to shoot the project. One even got a dinner cooked at her house by the subjects of the documentary. All of the contributors will be thanked in the credits & on the film's website.
 
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To get things like a 10k drop, what do you think helped get that? Did you show any materials like stuff that you previously shot? Or a well written kickstarter page for the movie? I think we could learn a lot from what you did since it sounds like kickstarter worked successfully for you.
 
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that1guyy said:
And I'm pretty sure once the filmmakers receive their money, they're under some sort of contract that requires a finished product. So no, its not some kind of black hole.
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I’m curious about this.

I ask for $5,000 on this website for a feature film called “SCAM”.
I get the five large, pay the site their commission, sing the contract
that requires a finished product and collect the, for discussion, $4,800.

Scenario one: I spend $1,000 making the feature but tell everyone
I spent the entire $4,800. Who checks and what do they do if the
prove I lied?

Scenario two: I start the project but in my ignorance of the filmmaking
process I discover that I do not have enough money to finish. My DP
drops out taking the tiny, non paid crew with her but I shoot a few
more days anyway - I really want to fulfill the contract. But it’s a mess
and the lead actors drop out. I cannot finish without recasting and
starting over and I don’t have the money to do that. Who checks on
the project? What happens to me if I am serious and dedicated but
in over my head? Do I have to pay back each person if I do not finish
the product?

Scenario three: I don’t make the movie at all. I spend the $4,800 on
a trip to Vegas. At what point is the contract put into play? Who checks
the progress of the product? What legal entity is responsible when it is
discovered I scammed the donors? Do I get a letter from a law firm
demanding I fulfill the contract I signed? If I ignore it and I prosecuted
in court?

How, exactly, is some sort of contract enforced?
 
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MrDirector said:
To get things like a 10k drop, what do you think helped get that? Did you show any materials like stuff that you previously shot? Or a well written kickstarter page for the movie? I think we could learn a lot from what you did since it sounds like kickstarter worked successfully for you.
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There's another thread with a lot of info in it, I suggesteded a sticky on the topic since it's come up so much but not sure what happened. Here's the link with a lot of info:

http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=33390

Papertwin posts in that thread too with some good stuff.
 
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directorik said:
Scenario three: I don’t make the movie at all. I spend the $4,800 on
a trip to Vegas. At what point is the contract put into play? Who checks
the progress of the product? What legal entity is responsible when it is
discovered I scammed the donors? Do I get a letter from a law firm
demanding I fulfill the contract I signed? If I ignore it and I prosecuted
in court?

How, exactly, is some sort of contract enforced?
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There is no contract, again at least when we were Kickstarting. It's an honors system, and you'll make a lot of people angry, but you could certainly not do a movie at all and give people rewards. I could only see something legal happening if all of those people got together and filed a lawsuit.
 
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Dreadylocks said:
As someone who's running a kickstarter now, I can tell you that getting people to donate, including friends and family, is like pulling teeth. Start talking about your project and watch as their eyes glaze over while they come up with some way to get the hell out of the conversation.
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Everybody is excited until money enters the conversation.

It's less painful to zero in on suckers that can afford to lose money than hit up family and friends.
 
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Dreadylocks said:
As someone who's running a kickstarter now, I can tell you that getting people to donate, including friends and family, is like pulling teeth. Start talking about your project and watch as their eyes glaze over while they come up with some way to get the hell out of the conversation.
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Well, that's kind of a test, isn't it? If you can't get other people interested in your project maybe you need to work on it - either the project itself, or the way you are pitching it. To me that's one of the great things about kickstarter, it forces you to really think about selling your project long before you need to actually sell it to an audience. If you can figure out a way to reach an audience and convince them to give you money - before you've even made the movie - then it's a good sign that you'll be able to successfully find an audience once it's done. If you can't then it gives you an opportunity to rethink your approach before you've committed a lot of money and time to it.
 
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Not easy getting money to make a film. Sometimes your family and friends can't even help donate. I'm doing a fundraiser for a short film on Indie GoGo. Not going as well as it should. I guess it's hard times for anyone to help people out with their projects.
 
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