Does crowdfunding belong in your producing arsenal?
For sure.
Can you raise your whole budget?
Probably not. But maybe.
The Canada Media Fund has an excellent mini-site dedicated to crowdfunding in a Canadian context. From statistics and figures to best practices and an extensive directory, they’ve done the research for you.
My take: you owe it to yourself to spend some time here before you jump into your first crowdfunding venture.
Blue Ant Media, owners of Bite TV, and Mondo Media have teamed with YouTube to announce Bite on Mondo – an animated comedy shorts pitch for content targeted at teens and young adults.
“Combining Mondo’s sizable audience on YouTube as well as Blue Ant Media’s television and digital reach in Canada, the program is designed to discover breakout animated content using a unique pipeline to source, finance, test, and grow properties that will resonate both on and off YouTube.”
Bite on Mondo has created a rich pitch site with 11 Scribd slides spelling out exactly what they’re looking for.
The deadline is January 15, 2014.
My take: if you have a concept for some edgy, adult-oriented animation, you should check this out!
CineVic recently invited Maureen Bradley to speak about her micro-budget feature project, Two 4 One.
She’s cobbling the $250,000 budget together from a number of sources: the Telefilm Micro-Budget Program, the BC Arts Council, the Jim Murphy Filmmkakers Bursary, an IndieGoGo campaign and private sources, for a February 2014 shoot.
She’s blogging about the experience at microbudget.org where she gives a more detailed answer to one of my questions on Saturday.
Regarding this year’s Telefilm Micro-Budget Feature competiton, Maureen’s advice was: have a great story and really think through an innovative digital platform strategy.
My take: Thank you, Maureen, for sharing your knowledge and experience and — your insights! It occurs to me that Telefilm is in the business of making million-dollar movies, so they’re really taking a flyer with eight to ten projects for one million, and hoping that one breaks out. In the old model, a film’s profile was amassed through festival exposure, critical reviews and box office, to be augmented by media coverage as it worked its way through the standard windows. Today, a project’s profile starts with the first online exposure, carries on through the pre-production, crowd-funding, production and post-production stages and hopefully snowballs when more people can actually pay for it. The old model was mediated by distributors, whereas with the new model, the producer does it all. I foresee more creative cooperatives coming together: teams of producers, each specialized in different parts of the new paradigm — concept, marketing, social media, production, exploitation.
The big news around Victoria, BC, is that CineVic is now a recommending partner for Telefilm Canada’s 2013 Micro-Budget Production Program.
The co-op joins 27 others across Canada that will write one letter of recommendation for a local micro-budget first feature that will then compete for a share of $1,000,000.
“This program targets emerging Canadian talent, supporting them in the production and promotion of their first feature-length film, with an emphasis on the use of digital platforms for marketing, distribution and audience engagement. Telefilm will support between eight to ten projects through the main component, and up to three projects in the Aboriginal component. Support will be through a non-repayable financial contribution of up to $120,000 per project.”
Projects may be narrative, documentary or animation, with budgets of up to $250K.
Producers must not have previously produced and/or directed a feature film.
Producers of recommended projects must apply to Telefilm between January 6 and February 3, 2014. The films must be finished within a year.
Recommending partners will determine their own selection criteria and deadlines.
New this year: Telefilm is not requiring a script, only asking for a synopsis. (But of course, you better have a script or how else can you thoroughly break it down to make an accurate budget?)
My take: this is your golden opportunity! You’ve got a project and a team ready to go, so contact your local film school or co-op today!
Bell Media has created bravoFACTUAL, becoming a major source of funding for short documentaries in Canada.
The semi-annual competition promises up to $50,000 for 15-minute “micro-docs,” which must be completed within six months.
“Budgets must reflect the story’s complexity, specific production elements, any special production techniques, required archival footage and/or, music rights, E&O insurance and any other requirements which result from the creative materials.”
New filmmakers, take note:
“…preference will be given to emerging filmmakers with limited experience who are trying to enhance their skills and credentials”
The first deadline is Thursday, October 31, 2013.
My take: kudos to bravoFACT for stepping up to the plate and funding short docs in Canada. When the Harper Government spiked the Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund, they created a funding void. Now this program promises to replace the CIFVF.
The Canada Media Fund recently came to Victoria and met with a dozen people in a hotel meeting room.
The CMF picked our brains on how they’re doing and how their future direction might change.
The discussion was wide-ranging but got most traction on ‘Triggering Events’.
It was great to chat with Valerie Creighton before the presentation.
See a PDF of the deck.
See the remaining schedule.
My take: Definitely worth going to and speaking your piece. We’re talking about how to disseminate a quarter of a billion dollars of cable TV subscription money and tax dollars annually. Show up early for great access.
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) is about to launch a cross-country consultation tour.
“The CMF is a not-for-profit corporation that delivers $360.7 million in funding annually to support the Canadian television and digital media industries….”
Consultation Tour 2013 will help shape policy for the next two years and will spend time in 18 cities, towns and hamlets from coast to coast to coast from mid-September through mid-November.
My take: $360M is a lot of money! Why not get yourself invited to the table?
Leading crowd-funding platform Kickstarter is coming to Canada.
They say new projects will go live on September 9, 2013.
It’s taken three years but it looks like Canadian filmmakers and other creative folk have no more excuses. It used to be that you needed a bank account and address in the States to list on Kickstarter. Now Canada joins the US and the UK.
Need help with your campaign? See Kickstarter and crowd-funding advice from someone who work(s/ed) for one of their competitors.
My take: sure you can raise funds on Kickstarter but more valuable is the audience you’re building. In a sense, you’re pre-selling your film to hundreds, maybe thousands, of viewers. Just remember to budget enough time!
The Canada Media Fund has released the second edition of the 170-page Additional Funding Guide for Documentary Film.
“…a practical tool enabling Canadian and European producers and filmmakers to identify the different resources available for their own productions or co-productions: private funds dedicated to audiovisual content, including broadcaster funds, awards, grants, financial guidance and calls for projects by festivals, independent production cooperatives, provincial arts councils, crowd-funding platforms, help with distribution, marketing and audience development….”
Download the free PDF.
My take: If you make docs, get this! You can’t argue with the price. Just don’t take all the info as gospel; I found numerous errors glancing through.
Astral’s Harold Greenberg Fund has got the right idea.
Their Shorts-to-Features program will fund three short films for $30K AND chip in another $10K to take the feature script to the next draft.
In other words, they’re condensing the “shorts are a stepping stone to features” journey into ONE project. Brilliant!
“An initiative of Astral’s Harold Greenberg Fund in association with Movie Central, and The Movie Network, the Shorts-to-Features program is designed to greenlight and finance the production of short films, in the amount of $30,000 each, from emerging Canadian filmmakers to use as a calling card for a feature film currently in development.”
The deadline is Wednesday, June 5, 2013 at midnight.
My take: If you have a feature script ready to go, for sure, apply!