Project: Avery and Pete: Superseeds (Feature length narrative)
Campaign goal: 17,250.00
Success (Yes or No?): Yes
Link to Campaign: (Kickstarter) --
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2099062204/superseeds-a-super-powered-action-comedy
Date: October 2010
Overall expectations going into the "Yes/Pursue" decision
That we* weren't going to hit 17,250.00. The number is pretty outrageous, and that's coming from someone that did have a moderate amount of people that knew about about the project, knew about my work, so on and so forth. However, we wanted to take a go at it anyway, because I guess no risk no reward.
Of course, later on, I realized that it wasn't that outrageous at all for some. Friends have since raised much... much more than that.
(*we -- refers to the producer and myself, as I actually did have a producer by some miracle.)
Pre-Planning
None. Would love to say that we spent a lot of time figuring out how to harness the power of crowdfunding, but when we were thinking about starting the campaign, believe it or not, there weren't many case studies on how to do it that I could find.
At least not for the kinds of projects that were like ours.
So, there was no pre-planning beyond "we have to go and shoot a video." Which we did, and it was not good.
What advice did you receive or what were you warned about before the Campaign?
None. I didn't ask anyone about it because I know filmmakers, most would be negative if they hadn't tried it, most would be negative if they had tried it and didn't succeed, and those that did succeed probably wouldn't have any idea how they did, anyway.
So, we just went ahead and started one without doing much more than searching for examples of others like ours.
Not saying it was a good idea or bad idea, but, the quickest way to get discouraged in doing something is to ask too many people for their opinion.
Campaign Architecture
Just the usual. The help pledge, on up to the DVD/Blu Ray pledge, and then the big money pledge for EP (executive producer) Credit.
What you were trying to (and not trying to) convey in the campaign?
The major sell for us was the amount of work I had done on very little budget, and in relation to that budget how things looked. At the time, I was actually only labeled as a DP and had only directed, and half-finished, one short.
Still not finished... but, anyway...
So instead of pushing the movie, my instinct was to push the fact that we had a lot of stuff going for us behind the scenes, like gear and great crew, and that despite the low target number--in addition to what money I and others were going to put into it as well, we could actually succeed in finishing something and live up to the claim.
AS well, we definitely made sure to push the idea that we were interested in making something that was a bit more ambitious than the typical micro/nano-budget feature film.
On the opposite side, I made sure not to mention anything about competing with Hollywood, how it was my or anyone's life long dream, so on and so forth. That's just personal, but I think everyone's got a lifelong dream... and what makes a simple, fun, feature film with nothing to really to say about society today more important than the next person's lifelong goal, one that may entail actually helping people directly?
That's just personal preference, and honestly it probably doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things because I've seen people raise larger budgets partially pitching on having a family, needing to fulfill a lifelong goal, etc.
Overall, we tried to convey that we were experienced enough to deliver something beyond the average micro budget feature, and that fun was our target.
Nuances in the donor premium/reward structure
None really. The big ticket, of course, was the ten-thousand dollar EP credit ($10,000) but that's about it. Everything was as basic as it could've gotten
I'm not a business major, but being broke for most of my life (a year or two there I actually had money, coincidentally I was also working a corporate nine-to-five and
not doing anything related to this...) I have a decent idea on how to handle money.
It costs to ship and package things, so overdoing it on the kinds of things you ship below the 25.00 pledge mark is a bit hairy. A postcard, cool, but 35+ should be the place where you start shipping. Producer agreed.
Turns out, after the campaign ended and more case studies were showing up, that was part of the strategy other high dollar pledge raisers used as well.
Take Aways
By the middle of the campaign, I had to be told that the video sucked. The original video. And, I took that to heart. The audio was bad, the setup wasn't very encouraging and I hadn't shown anything of what we had done as a company, or not a lot of it.
So, the second video I threw in a small clip from the feature (which is still up on the kickstarter), actually voiced it and showed the crew, and got a tad bit more involved in pitching.
The video is hyper-important, but don't think that you can't change it after a bit and do a better one. It helped out a lot.
Another big no-brainer is the fact that you'll have to really push your links across the internet, and find those people outside of friends and family that are interested in what you're doing. Enough to pledge the larger amount.
We pushed, but nowhere near as hard as I've seen others push. I also didn't have Twitter at the time; smart.
Choose a project that's got heart, and means something to more than just yourself. Can't recommend that enough. It doesn't have to be a documentary about life and death, it can be straight-up fiction, but something that and entire niche can be interested in backing.
Horses, for example. I don't really know much about them, other than they smell weird.
And, lastly, it's kinda not over until it's over, so push til the end.
Surprises, good and bad
Big surprise was the larger pledges from people that I didn't even know, that had no connections to me outside of seeing my work on the internet, and my involvement in filmmaking forums. There were two guys that I had never even spoken too whom put in more than 350 by the time the campaign was done.
And, of course, the 10K pledge was pretty cool
The bad surprise? Well, when the campaign slowed down and we were only halfway over the mark with like fifteen days left. I guess that wasn't a surprise, but after the initial boom the encouragement got some hopes up... won't fib.
Oh, and another good one was getting to the front page of kickstarter for two days. That's cool.
Next time what would you repeat and what would you do differently?
Plan. And, get off of the internet to push my campaign.
I'd also choose a different project, one with a niche and not so broad. That was another shortcoming, because really... how many superhero feature films are being pumped out without our addition.
Would you try crowdfunding again?
Absolutely. But with a very very niche project.
Alternatives
Alternatives should probably be "Additional". When you're funding, everything goes into the pot. I'm not about to wash anyone's car, though.
That's just me.