When I naively began a campaign to raise $7,500 for a no-budget feature film (GRAYPORT) I had no idea what to expect. As part of the indie film industry for years, I saw many Kickstarter projects, and pledged my support dozens of times, but nothing could prepare me for the realities of crowdfunding.
GRAYPORT is a unique situation, because the idea sprouted in Aberdeen WA, a small town hours away from Seattle where I usually worked, and where all my contacts in the film industry lived. The upside of Aberdeen was community support, an enthusiastic volunteer cast and crew, and incredible, donated locations. But what we were missing was the film equipment, and in a small town where there are no rental houses, no pros who can bring stuff, and commuting 4 hours back and forth to Seattle to pick something up was logistically impossible, that was a big problem.
Starting the project began with estimating costs for the film production. I began to think about the bare minimum I thought I would need and the kind of fundraising goal I would feel pretty good about. I then split the difference to account for contingencies and added in Kickstarter/Amazon payments fees. That’s where $7,500 came from.
Of course, working typically as a writer, director, editor, line producer and/or “helping hand” on small indie sets, I wasn’t aware of just how astronomical the prices of professional film equipment are. Up until the start of the campaign, I wasn’t the one to buy the equipment, bring it, or use it on set.
In a grunge-film culture of “DIY everything”, skateboard “dollys” and cheap DSLR camera bodies, it’s easy to forget that just one high quality lens will set you back $2500, and a proper carbon fiber boom is $1,000. Owning almost none of the gear required purchasing it, and soon after looking at prices online, $7500 seemed like nothing if my goal was to create a professional feature.
There are so many things that I wish someone would have told me and that I wish I would have known before the campaign began. I could write a very, very long essay about all of these things and my experience, but here is an abbreviated list:
1.) Plan ahead and have everything ready before the launch. Know your strategy. Write what you plan to email people or press releases before you need them.
I didn’t have that luxury because of the holiday deadline, and was always scrambling for time. It was late November before the idea of crowdfunding was considered for GRAYPORT. In order to end before Christmas and have anywhere near 30 days for the campaign, we had to make our video and build the page in a couple days time. When I managed that, I realized that the project couldn’t actually go live until Kickstarter employees reviewed it, and they don’t work weekends… so that set us back another couple days.
2.) You will be on an emotional roller coaster like never before. Not only are you under pressure with a do-or-die/all-or-nothing platform, but you are essentially put into a position to tell everyone you ever met about your campaign, and potentially fail in a very spectacular, and public way.
3.) The vast majority of the pledges will come from those close to the project, and those close to them. Get as many people on board as possible before you start. One outgoing person with a part in the film will do far more good for your campaign than a front page story in the newspaper.
4.) “Crowdfunding Marketing” agencies will circle you like sharks. Ignore them. No one can promote your project with the passion and determination that you can.
5.) Every dollar you collect is considered “income” by the IRS. When you are a starving artist who is raising 10 grand for a film that is not commercial, and the Kickstarter “income” bumps you up a tax bracket and makes you pay taxes on what you never really “earned”, it sucks. It’s possible to form a company for big projects, but also consider the cost of forming the company could be $1,000+ alone.
6.) It takes time to set the campaign up. Security-clearance for that potential big check can take a week, Kickstarter has to approve your project, which may be several days (and they don’t work weekends). Consider these things.
The “GRAYPORT” campaign ends at 8pm on December 21st. Google “GRAYPORT” or click this link to see the teaser trailer and learn more about our no-budget crime thriller. If you enjoyed this article and want to help out, just share the link! Two clicks makes a world of difference.
Best of luck with your project,
Aria – writer/director of GRAYPORT
What have you learned from running a crowdfunding campaign? Add a comment below.
