Category Archives: Funding

UPDATE: Lazer Team still breaking records!

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With less than a week to go, Rooster Teeth’s Lazer Team Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign continues to smash records.

They are closing in on $2,000,000 and 300% of their original goal.

This represents over 28,000 backers and an average contribution of approximately $68.

Of note, RT has raised over $142K from 23 people who have earned various producer credits in return.

My take: Rooster Teeth initially decided to make this a Flexible Funding campaign (9% fees,) rather than the riskier Fixed Funding gamble (0%.) No matter, now that they’ve surpassed their goal, the fee for both models is 4%, and Indiegogo stands to make $80K!

Rooster Teeth breaks crowd-funding records!

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Rooster Teeth, the creative team behind Red vs Blue, has just set crowd-funding history.

Here’s the scenario:

“In the late 1970’s, the Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence project received a one time signal from outer space. It looked exactly as theorists thought a communication from an alien civilization would — unfortunately it has never been decoded. Or so we were told. Unbeknownst to the general public the signal was translated and told us two things: 1. We are not alone. 2. The galaxy is a dangerous place. Our story is live action sci-fi comedy that takes place decades later in the aftermath of this event.”

Not bowled over? Well, these numbers certainly are impressive:

The ask: $650K. The project: a theatrical feature production.

The results:

  • $1,000,000 in two days.
  • Over 25,000 contributors.
  • $123,000 from 20 backers, rewarded with producer credits.
  • To date, over $1.7 million with more than 10 days to go!

See their campaign on Indiegogo.

My take: a popular franchise appeals to their fans to finance a very different product, with wildly successful results. Of course, it helps to have over 7.5 million subscribers on your Youtube channel.

California: a new studio and renewed tax credits

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Two new developments out of California recently:

As reported by Variety, the state Assembly has renewed the film and television tax credit scheme. No work yet on how much money will be allocated but big-budget features and TV series will now qualify.

“California’s current incentive program provides $100 million per year for tax credits, but that money is well short of demand. Proponents of expanding the program have often pointed to the need to at least be competitive with New York, which offers about $420 million per year in its program.”

As reported by Backstage, a new studio plans to make a dozen million dollar pictures each year.

“Thunder [Funder] plans to accept 500 submissions — which should consist of a sizzle reel, script, treatment, and, if possible, budget — per six-month period, of which 12 will be shortlisted. The studio’s lofty goal is to produce 12 of its 24 shortlisted projects each year. To put that in context, Disney released a dozen films in 2013.”

My take: California wants to keep more production in the state. Interestingly, these developments are at either end of the spectrum.

Crowdfunding campaign design tips

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Indiegogo has released a 30-page resource called ‘Crowdfunding for Film Handbook.’

Sections include:

Preparing your campaign
Creating your campaign
Launching your campaign – and keeping momentum
Wrapping it up
Dos and Don’ts

The insights are invaluable. For instance, have a $25 perk because that’s the most popular level. Also, consider your overall strategy:

“A key thing to remember is that you can always overfund, and many do! In fact, 89% of campaigns on Indiegogo do just that, and by an average of 30%. The philosophy is simple: “Shoot low, aim high” – set a goal at an achievable amount, look to hit that number in half the time, and then “aim high” and surpass it by the time the campaign closes.”

My take: download this and study it. The takeaways will save you time and money. And the price is right!

Lightning strikes twice in Victoria!

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Telefilm Canada has just released the results of their Micro-Budget Production Program competition for this year.

And the staggering news is that lightning has struck twice in Victoria, BC! (Three times if you include Maureen Bradley from last year.)

Congratulations to these winning teams:

  • The Devout, by Connor Gaston (director) and Daniel Hogg (producer)
  • Shadow in the Woods, by Jeremy Lutter (director and producer) and Robin Chan (producer)

Along with the other 13 winning teams, these filmmakers will share $1.5 million to produce their first features. That’s approximately $100K each.

My take: when CineVic was overlooked as one of the recommending partners last year, we lobbied to be included. So I feel very gratified now that Victoria has been so fortunate. You’re welcome, guys! (Disclosure: I sit on the CineVic Board of Directors.)

How to build a rabid crowd-funding audience

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Matthew Sherrington believes successful crowd-funding campaigns are all about winning.

Win-win — for both filmmakers and crowd-funders.

“A good fundraising story — and I mean your whole organisational story — needs to give the supporter the feeling they are the key to winning. You need to make supporters feel special. You need to help them know they make all the difference. You need them to know you can win, against all the odds, but that you need them on your team to do that.”

This is something to keep in mind when you pick your project, devise your pitch and design your perks.

My take: Sure, crowd-funding is about raising money. But more importantly, it’s about creating fans — fans who essentially buy tickets before your film is finished. Just as market research on titles and poster art drove Roger Corman’s decisions on what films to produce, your crowd-funders validate your project.

Women are bankable

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A recent study refutes the common belief in Hollywood that women are not bankable.

By cross-referencing box office numbers with the Bechdel Test, Walt Hickey at FiveThirtyEight has proven that films with two women that talk to each other about something other than men make more money than those that don’t.

“The total median gross return on investment for a film that passed the Bechdel test was $2.68 for each dollar spent. The total median gross return on investment for films that failed was only $2.45 for each dollar spent. And while this might be a side effect of films with lower budgets tending to have higher returns on investment than films with higher budgets, it’s still a strong indicator that films with women in somewhat prominent roles are performing well.”

Although the article is long, it makes very interesting reading.

My take: Why consistently ignore half your audience?

How to parlay $100K into $3 Million

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Just before the 2014 Academy Awards, producer Cassian Elwes blogged about raising the money for ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ at TheWrap.

It makes fascinating reading. An excerpt:

“A year later in New Orleans, while we were doing “The Butler,” a young agent from CAA named Laura Lewis called me and was upset:

“You can’t believe what just happened. All that Canadian money for the ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ fell through. Matthew has already lost 35 pounds (of the eventual 47) and he has to do ‘True Detective’ right afterwards in January. He can’t put the weight back on and lose it again; it would be too dangerous his doctors say. You’ve been in this position before – what do you do?” she asked.

“When’s the film supposed to start shooting?”  I said.

“Seven weeks from now, in mid-October.”

A few minutes later I got a call from Robbie who said very simply: “Save the movie please. You always wanted to do it now is your chance. Please just do it.”

“How much time do we have?”

“Today’s Tuesday and realistically we have to be in prep on Monday so I guess three days and the weekend.”

“Three days?”

“Yes.”

I hung up the phone. There was simply no time to do the presales and a bank loan – the usual indie arrangements.  No, this was going to have to be something special and if I didn’t do it now I knew the movie would go back into hibernation and I would probably never get another shot at it.

I stared at the ceiling in my office for twenty minutes. I kept thinking: Who really, really owes me in the business?”

Read his full post.

My take: what a Hollywood ending!

One reason to choose Indiegogo: Outpost

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Indiegogo has recently broadened the crowd-funding landscape by promising to allow producers to host their campaigns on their own websites.

It’s called Indiegogo Outpost.

You’ll be able to mirror your campaign in two places: on Indiegogo and on your own website.

Here’s a high-profile example: Matthew Arnold and Freddie Wong’s Video Game High School Season 3 on Indiegogo and at Rocket Jump.

My take: if you have a well-trafficked website, it makes sense to appeal directly to your audience, rather than to first send them over to Indiegogo. One more way to increase the power of your brand.

The new 10 commandments of low budget filmmaking

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Elliot Grove and the Raindance Film Festival have issued ten new commandments of low (no) budget filmmaking.

They are:

  1. Thou shalt have a fantastic screenplay.
  2. Thou shalt understand keywords and SEO tools.
  3. Thou shalt secure some development finance.
  4. Thou shalt spend proper time in pre-production.
  5. Thou shalt understand the shoot and exploit it to maximum advantage.
  6. Thou shalt not fix it in Post-Production.
  7. Thou shalt clear all music in your film.
  8. Thou shalt prepare professional publicity and marketing materials.
  9. Thou shalt use film festivals to launch your film.
  10. Thou shalt create a distribution strategy.

See the annotated version.

My take: I can get behind all of these except number nine. Seems to me that’s really part of number 10. Not having much, if any success, at film festivals, I’m not convinced. I guess what I really need is a paid-for-performance film festival agent. Any suggestions?