In September 2010, I taught a short course on 'Sustaining Independent Filmmaking through the Internet' at Tampere University of Applied Science.
This is lecture 2: Funding
Ecosystem Interactions Class Discussion Presentation in Blue Green Lined Styl...
Sustain Independent Filmmaking: Funding
1. Using the World Wide Web
to Sustain
Independent Filmmaking
- Funding -
2. The Age of Stupid (2009)
Raised £884,338
£450,000 Film Budget
£180,000 UK Premiere
£100,000 Global Premiere
Global Premiere in New York
Biggest live film event ever
Live to 700 cinemas in 50+ countries
Free Internet Screenings
UK Premiere
Simultaneous at 62 UK screens
1463 private screenings since May 2009
(through Indie Screenings)
3. The Age of Stupid (2009)
McLibel (1997, 2005), Drowned Out (2002)
In Inconvenient Truth (2006), The 11th Hour
(2007), Crude (2009)
Indian Ocean Tsunami (2004), Hurricane
Katrina (2005), Floods in South Asia (2007)
Copenhagen Climate Conference 2009
6. Advantages of Crowd-Funding
Editorial Freedom
Input and feedback from a lot of people
Additional and unexpected help
Audience building starts early
Free help with marketing
Scott Kirsner (2009).
Fans, Friends & Followers.
9. Other Funding Options
Government Funding, Tax Incentives; Funding for the Arts
TV Commission
Pre-Sales
Sponsoring
Donations
Subsidiaries
Make it Cheaply / Own Money
10. Funding
AUDIENCES Personal Collaboratorsʼ Genre Topic
Funding People or
People or
Organisations
Sponsoring Organisations
interested in
interested in my
Who do the Genre of my film
Investment Who do I (or my
people working (horror, zombies,
topic (global
personal warming, racism,
with me on the rom-com,
Donations contacts) know? history, skiing,
film know? documentary,
french fries, 15th
Subsidiaries music video,
century silver
travel diaries,
necklaces, etc.).
Pre-Sales thriller, sci-fi).
Editor's Notes
A few attempts to put the success of The Age of Stupid into perspective:
1. Franny Armstrongs 3rd documentary, people knew her style and trusted her with their investment.
2. Really huge topic with lots of successful documentaries.
3. Natural disasters brought Media Attention (news factors: negativity/death, scale)
4. Climate Change is a big political topic
Get a lot of people to invest a little and share the profits.
Be creative in what you offer.
Indiegogo says: Funding Ratio of 1:5 ($10k on indiegogo means you make $50k from others).
There are other options like Kickstarter, myProducer, Donation buttons (‘Buy me a beer’, ‘Buy me a coffee’, ‘Buy me a Dinner’ etc.) or brand integration (PlaceVine, XLNTads and Zadby offer to help with this) to help finance your film.
All 6 funding options could be attempted across the 4 different audiences.
