#NerdsUnite: Confessions of an Indie Filmmaker
<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Meg. She's an indie filmmaker here in LA and is here to talk about her experiences and challenges in filmmaking. Dudes, Hollywood in a recession is nooooo fun! But here's what's working and isn't working for Meg. Hit it lady!!! </editorsnote>
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's Meg Pinsonneault
Have you heard about this crazy thing called “crowd-funding?” In case you haven't, allow me to elaborate. Crowd-funding is a way to get friends, family, and strangers alike to donate to the endeavor of your choice. I use this platform to fund my films, but there campaigns for all kinds of stuff out there, like small businesses, non-profits, and inventions. Crowd-funding is so many things. It’s wonderful, difficult, inspirational, time consuming, exciting, painful, and everything in between. It offers a way for a filmmaker to get their films made without having to pay investors back. This is a huge deal. The most widely used sites are Indiegogo and Kickstarter. With Kickstarter, they use a fixed funding system which means that you must hit your goal to get your money. On the other hand, Indiegogo uses flexible funding which allows you to keep the money earned, even if you don’t reach your goal. However, Indiegogo just recently added fixed funding to their platform, so now users have the option to use either. Indiegogo charges 4% of your earnings if you reach your goal and 9% if you don’t. I’m currently on my second crowd-funding to finish a feature documentary called Gwapa (Beautiful) about a poor Filipino family’s remarkable journey to help their three kids with cleft deformities. I prefer to use Indiegogo for one main reason, their platform is internationally based, meaning anyone anywhere can donate. Kickstarter is limited to the US only, meaning you must have an US based bank account in order to donate to a campaign. I think that’s very limiting, especially dealing with a cause related project like Gwapa (Beautiful) that’s based in the Philippines.
But let’s start from the beginning here. Last March, I jumped into my first crowd-funding campaign for a short period thriller called “Feast of the Foolish,” about a Depression Era outlaw who seeks answers about his future from a dark enchantress. I launched that project without knowing what I was getting myself into. It’s easy, right? Free money, right? Wrong. I’m here to warn you that crowd-funding is very time consuming and takes a lot of work. If you’re the kind of person that thinks social networking is silly and trite, then this platform isn’t for you. Crowd-funding relies almost entirely on your social network and how far it can reach. If you have a large network, then it’ll make your crowd-funding experience a lot easier. As you can guess, it’s also important that you use both Facebook and Twitter, as well as other services like Stumbleupon, Tumlr, and Vimeo. But aren’t Twitter and Facebook the same? Nope. The difference is great: Facebook is for people you know and Twitter is for people you don’t know who share common interests. Both of these networks are very crucial during an online campaign, like winning a nomination or crowd funding. I hear a lot of filmmakers complaining about how time consuming social networking can be. But I say that you’re looking at it in the wrong way. Social networking is just part of the indie filmmakers’ repertoire now. If you don’t have that skill, them you’ll surely drown! They didn’t teach me this in film school, but they taught me to be flexible and keep an open mind. I believe it’s a very exciting time for filmmakers right now, if you can adapt quickly enough.
Luckily, my “Feast of the Foolish” campaign was successful and we raised $7,550 to make an awesome film. I’ve since written and spoken publicly about my experiences crowd-funding. We’ve garnished lots of wonderful feedback on “Feast of the Foolish” and we haven’t even gone to festivals yet. I’m currently working on completing the feature adaptation of this short film. However, I really wish I had done my research before launching the crowd-funding campaign, so I knew what I was getting into. If you’re contemplating a fundraising campaign for your next project, do your homework first. It’s extremely competitive and dedication is key. Over 20% of all campaigns never get passed $0! If you get over 50% funding, then you have a 90% of reaching your goal. Of those who were successful, every filmmaker was highly accessible in the social networking world. First and foremost, make sure this route is for you. It’s incredibly time consuming and tedious. It’s an endless ocean of updating and promoting. Don’t attempt a massive campaign unless you have a slew of people willing to help you consistently spread the word through their social networks too. I’d also suggest doing a crowd-funding campaign sooner than later. I’ve noticed that some people seem burned out or tapped out from crowd funding. Especially since indie filmmakers are competing against small businesses, non-profits, and pretty much anyone who needs a buck, I predict that crowd funding may become even more competitive in the near future.
All that being said, I truly love crowd-funding. It’s given me a very viable platform for which to fund my projects. My experience with “Feast of the Foolish” was very exciting and we found a lot of support in the indie film community, which is quite rare for short film. That alone was one of the main reasons we decided to crowd-fund the budget for Gwapa (Beautiful). Beyond that, it’s a documentary that’s dedicated to bringing awareness to the great issue of children born with cleft deformities in the Philippines. We’re hoping that the cause will create a viral buzz about the project. Ultimately, we hope this project will reach people who care about issues like this and who want to help change lives for many generations of Filipino kids to come. If you’re interested in participating in this project, please visit www.indiegogo.com/gwapa-film.