On one hand there’s the methods we use to develop scripts, and on the other there is the process. In the method we ask the questions, finding what works with the writer, director, and story. The process is what happens in between those questions and where the relationships are born.
What is it that we want to accomplish in the development process?
By Antonia Opiah
After the close of our 2011 run last year, we at the Beneath the Earth Film Festival asked ourselves, “What happens to all the films on the festival circuit once their run is over?”
We quickly came to the realization that if a filmmaker isn’t part of the lucky 1% that get distribution, once he’s off the circuit no one really sees his film again. We also realized that even those that get into festivals are likely not seen by a vast number of people. Filmmaker Tod Miro, for example, spent a year on the circuit and estimates his film was seen by about 1,500 people.
Consequently, we decided to make a big change in our submission requirements.
I joined the short films website iFilm.com in 1999 and stayed until 2006, after we sold to MTV. By then we’d also sold out our original vision, captured perfectly in this 1999 commercial. Since iFilm I’ve produced war-zone documentaries for the Annenberg Foundation, started a production company, and for the past year run humanitarian projects in Afghanistan and West Africa. But I often thought of that iFilm vision…and now, more than a decade later, I find myself the co-founder (with film composer Klaus Badelt) of a digital film startup with a similar mission. This is the first of a series of weekly guest posts as we bootstrap this new venture — ideally with a ton of critique and input from you.
This is our final excerpt from James Cooper’s eBook www.kickstarterforfilmmakers.com. Today James offers suggestions on how to structure your personal Kickstarter page.
by James Cooper
Campaign Body
The body text of your campaign page is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle, and should receive your full attention to detail when deciding what information to put in, and how to present it. This is where you pitch people on your film and sell them on why they want to be a part of it.
What is it about?
This is where knowing how to pitch comes in handy. You remember pitching, don’t you? The practice of distilling your story down to one or two sentences so you can quickly tell people what your film is about? I know you hate it, but it’s an essential skill, and one you’re going to have to put to good use here. For the purpose of your crowd funding campaign, a good pitch should read like the back of a DVD case, or like the description that comes up when you’re flipping through films On Demand. What’s most important is that the characters and story of the film are clear and easy to understand, as well as the genre. You’re selling your film to people who haven’t seen it yet, so you’d better be able to hook them!
Who is involved?
by Reid Rosefelt
Did you know that Facebook probably doesn’t show most of the posts you put up on your movie’s fan page?
According to a recent study, 84% of the fans on an average Facebook fan page don’t see any page posts in their news feed. Of course this is just an average; you may have a kick-ass page. Let’s check. You probably know the number of likes you have, but go to your page and look at the number of “People Talking About This.” This is a total of how many unique people interacted with your page during the last week. These are not people who merely “saw” a post but actually did something such as clicking “like,” commenting, or sharing. How did you do?
Here’s another excerpt from James Cooper’s eBook www.kickstarterforfilmmakers.com. This time James’ has some advice about how to manage your crowdfunding campaign and the rewards to offer.
by James Cooper
Campaigning as a Team
Up until this point, we’ve been under the assumption that you’re acting as a one person band for your film’s campaign, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Assuming you’re not the Writer/Producer/Director/Director of Photography/Editor/Actor, there should be others involved in the making of the film that have a vested interest in seeing the project come to life, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be combining your efforts to maximize the odds of success.
Successfully running a crowd funding campaign can become the equivalent of a second job, and spreading the responsibility around to multiple members of your team can take some of the weight and pressure off you to be on your game 24/7. You’ll all have to do your own social media posting, but alternate outreach can be divided up to help maximize efficiency and give you a few minutes to breath, which is a welcome opportunity when you’re in the trenches of a campaign.
The other great thing about campaigning as a team is
Julia Pott’s animated short “Belly” is a profoundly moving, visually stunning bit of cinema. So sad and lovely.
Hat tip to VHX.tv
