John August

Indie

Raising movie funds on Kickstarter

How-To, Indie, Sundance

Last week, Matt went to a special Sundance session in which [Kickstarter](http://www.kickstarter.com/) co-founder Yancey Strickler spoke about how indie filmmakers can best use the site.

Here’s his report.

Kickstarter has a 45% success rate for funding projects. Of those that fail, 40% of never get a single dollar. Across all categories, more than 7,000 projects (of all types) have been funded.

In terms of film, some rough numbers:

* 1,700 successfully funded projects.

* $15 million in pledges so far.

* 3,000 live projects on the site as of this posting.

* 12 projects have raised more than $100k, six of them films. (Four of those were docs.)

How can I succeed in fundraising on Kickstarter?
—

Of the projects that are funded:

1) **Most have a great video.**

For a good example, check out [I Am I](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2115598587/i-am-i-feature-film). If you can’t manage that level of entertainment, keep it short — 60% of people stop watching videos after 20 seconds.

2) **Rewards/Incentives are priced according to expectations.**

For example, if you’re offering a DVD, ask for an amount close to what a DVD costs. No $125 tote bags. Aim to foster emotional connections to your project by offering personalized art or experiences associated with the film. Screenings, posters, credits, background roles, etc…

3) **Filmmakers have strong communities.**

The bulk of support will come from those who know and love you. That support will spur on those that follow you online and the size and reach of that support will determine how many stumblers you get. In most cases, there is very little support from strangers to strangers on Kickstarter. Count on people you know or sorta know.

4) **They reach out in the right ways.**

Direct email (and definitely not mass email) is by far the most effective way to secure backing. Facebook comes in distant second with Twitter barely registering. It’s too noisy. Tone matters! You’re not asking for a favor, you’re asking for support for your work and you’re offering participation in the process of making it — and in many cases something tangible, too.

5) **Keep the fundraising time window short.**

Thirty days is the sweet spot. Longer does not mean more. Longer means procrastination. Urgency leads to action.

How much should I ask for?
—–

Be realistic based on the size of the community you have access to and what you’re able to offer them in return for their participation. Make your goal the floor of what you need to get your project up and running. Most projects that get funded get 125% of the ask.

The average pledge is $70. The most common pledge is $25. Factor in costs of incentives into your budget and make sure you fulfill the experience by producing everything you promise.

What if I don’t reach my goal?
—-

You don’t get any of the pledged money. BUT! If you think you’re not going to make it you can ask people to raise their pledges and/or add new rewards to try to entice more or bigger participation.

You can always try again.

What about taxes?
—-

Kickstarter doesn’t advise individuals on how to handle their tax responsibilities and doesn’t report financial information to the IRS of the backers or the askers.

This is pretty much the extent of Matt’s notes from the meeting. If you have further questions about Kickstarter and indies, ask. We’ll try to get answers for you.

**UPDATE 4/21/11:** Yancey Strickler wrote in to correct numbers about how many projects have hit $100K, and the average pledge amount.

Notes on the DV Expo

Geek Alert, Indie, Video

Matt and I visited the [DV Expo in Pasadena](http://dvexpo.com/) this afternoon. We didn’t sit in on any sessions, but spoke to a number of vendors on the main floor, mostly scouting out rigs and rental houses that might make sense for a microbudget feature Matt’s planning to make.

Overall, this was a smaller shindig than when I visited a few years ago, when it was held at the LA Convention Center. Back then, a lot of hubbub surrounded Panasonic’s HVX-200 and the transition to a tapeless workflow. The 2010 equivalents are the HD-DSLRs such as the 5D and 7D, still-format cameras which provide an amazing video image but a lot of trade-offs given their shape.

At least a third of the booths were demoing either these cameras or rigs designed to make them more usable, such as shoulder mounts, audio recorders and follow-focus units. I already have (and love) Zacuto’s Z-Finder for the 7D, but I’ll definitely want some sort of shoulder support. Without it, you can’t handhold one very long.

Other observations:

* No Apple. Earlier expos had a large Apple presence centered around Final Cut Pro and Motion. This time, nothing. They probably didn’t want to have to answer a thousand questions about when the next version of FCP will come.

* No Adobe or Avid, either. Both have better native support for the formats a lot these cameras use, like AVCHD and MPEG-4. I’m really sick of converting to ProRes.

* Good-looking 3D. Several manufacturers were showing off 3D monitors. This was the first time I’d ever considered getting one.

* Lots of panel lights. Everywhere I used to see Kino-Flos, I saw LEDs.

* My favorite gizmo was probably a Wi-Fi video tap by Teradek that lets you broadcast to nearby laptops, iPads and iPhones. That would be a godsend for a virtual video village. (On Go, we used a somewhat-illegal TV transmitter for the same purpose.)

The Expo continues tomorrow if you’re in town and eager to check out some gear.

Story is free

Indie, Story and Plot, Sundance

One of my frustrations with independent film — and in particular, micro-indies of the past few years — is a lack of narrative ambition.

Flip through the catalogs of any festival and you’ll see movies with fascinating characters and rich settings in which *nothing really happens,* as if the filmmakers took a Dogma vow to avoid plot.

My hunch is that it’s actually a consequence of thinking small. If you’re making a movie on a limited budget, it may put real constraints on your locations, schedule and cast size.

But that frugality doesn’t need to limit your story. Story is free.

Waiting around for things
——

I spent last week at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, working with writer-directors on their next projects. I don’t want to single out any one script — I’m eager to see all of these movies made. These filmmakers are very talented.

But I often found myself pausing at page 45 asking “What’s happened so far?” and “What am I curious about?” And too often, the answer was *not much.*

Some of my red flags:

* Are characters waiting around for something?
* Do they take half-steps, then retreat?
* Do major events (death, abortion, incest) happen off-screen, or before the movie begins?
* Do people talk about food?
* Could you swap a scene from page 10 and page 34 without changing much?

A few of these projects would fall within the loose borders of the mumblecore movement, stories that focus on the sputtering interactions of a few well-educated characters. This is no ding on the genre; I like my Humpday just fine.

But I wonder if filmmakers are looking to mumblecore movies as an excuse for underwriting and avoiding character conflict.

A lot of story can happen even when you’re constrained to a few locations. Hamlet takes place in a few rooms. So does The Usual Suspects. Both Go and The Nines pack a lot into each of their three-part sections. And while Sex, Lies and Videotape might seem low-plot, the story keeps forcing characters to make choices and face the consequences.

In meeting with the screenwriters at Sundance, I challenged them to look for scenes in which characters were talking about things and show them doing those things. Often, the omitted scenes weren’t more expensive than what they would replace — but they were more difficult to write. The beginning of an affair is trickier than showing it mid-course. A trapped child is uncomfortable to write, but compelling to watch.

The writing is always going to be the least expensive but most challenging part of the process. Making a low-budget movie is a study in compromises. Story shouldn’t be one of them.

Making and releasing the micro-budget indie

Follow Up, Indie

Several readers who couldn’t make it to the [One Too Many Mornings screening](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2010/one-too-many-mornings-screening) on Tuesday night asked whether there might be video from the Q&A I hosted afterwards. Thanks to the OTMM crew, there is:

* [Part One (8:45)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2SFKb9_EgU&feature=channel) talks about the genesis of the movie, from script through Sundance.

* [Part Two (9:57)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-nuiJj5tdo&feature=channel) looks at how they’re trying to get the movie out in the world, from direct downloads to DVDs to college screenings around the country.

Although the discussion in general will make sense to anyone interested in making indies, some of the specific details on OTMM will make more sense if you watch the movie.

In the rooftop party after the screening, several people asked about my interest in tiny movies — most of the projects I work on have a lot more commas and zeros in the price tag. To me, it’s an experiment in disintermediation, just like [The Variant](http://johnaugust.com/variant) was.

What happens when you take out the typical distributor? What do you gain? What do you lose?

I’m toying with the idea of doing [The Remnants](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2009/the-remnants-in-full) as an itty-bitty feature, but would only do it if I could get it out in the world in a way that made sense creatively and financially. So I’m watching things like OTMM closely. I’m happy to be a trailblazer, but would love to know what cliffs and monsters lie along that path.