11
Case Study #2
Many filmmakers looking to get a project off the ground via a crowdsourcing or crowdfunding campaign fail to plan beyond (or before) the launch phase. Instead of taking the project as a whole and implementing a strategy that involves all aspects of production and beyond, they just want to clear the starting gate. The mindset revolves around grinding the gears, getting some traction and letting positive momentum push them through pre-production, production, post and distribution. This is a troubled strategy that will invite peril and leave you chasing promises, killing morale and bankrupt in ideas and in your wallet.
The smart filmmaker takes a worldview approach. Each step of the process from concept to distribution to the afterlife of the project is thoroughly thought out before launching a campaign. Now, some may think this line of thinking to be somewhat Pollyannaish, irrationally optimistic, perhaps even egotistical or pompous. How can one even think about distribution at the concept stage? Well, that’s exactly when you should be thinking about such things. You may put together your film in phases, but those phases are part of a whole and to look at your project as anything but is doing you and your cast and crew—and ultimately, your supporters—a disservice. And while problems will most certainly occur and adaptability will be a reality you’ll always need to embrace (not to mention an inevitable part of the process), you’ll be able to face and acclimate to your troubles more effectively if you’ve planned out a road map ahead of time. Not only will the speed bumps you encounter be flatter to the surface, but you will more easily maintain control. You will not be viewed by your cast and crew as irrationally optimistic or egotistical, but instead will be seen as a prudent and confident leader. People will want to line up alongside you, do favors for you, make sacrifices for you, and give you their best effort. You will, in theory, and then in practice, be effectively crowdsourcing your own people. If you can encourage and motivate your cast and crew to the point where they see the project as more than just a gig, you will form an army of passionate, dedicated champions of your vision.
Screenwriter, director, producer, Marty Lang and his team took the world-view approach when setting out to shoot his debut film and, despite a few admitted missteps, ones you can certainly learn from, it paid off in spades.
This is the story of a team that didn’t let any obstacle stand in the way of making their feature film. It’s a story of identifying and accepting mistakes, minimizing damage and adapting on the fly. It’s a story of resourcefulness. It’s a story of innovation. It’s a story of community. Most of all, it’s a story of crowdsourcing ingenuity.
I love this story.
This is the story of Rising Star.
Origin Story
In the summer of 2009, Marty Lang was a few years removed from film school, residing in his home state of Connecticut and living a life dominated by work. Working as a video producer for an engineering company, Marty was making more money than ever before, but that doesn’t mean he was fulfilled. In addition to his long hours at the engineering company, Marty was also working part-time as a college professor, and every summer spent a bulk of time as the director of a month-long government-run workforce-training program for the film industry that he created called the Connecticut Film Industry Training Program (www.ctfilmworkforce.com). On the surface, everything seemed fantastic. Beneath the surface, Marty was anything but settled.
Prior to his video-producing gig, Marty had been laid off four times, falling victim to both the dot-com bust of 2000 and the economic meltdown of 2008. Additionally, the engineering company had begun making cuts and the fear of once again being out of a job hung over him like a black cloud. Marty made sure to have three jobs at all times just in case the worst occurred. All the personal activities Marty loved so much—playing basketball, shooting short films on the weekend, even spending recreational time with friends—went by the wayside.
His social life non-existent and the scales of his work/life balance heavily tilted, Marty did some reflecting and soul searching. He wondered if he was alone in experiencing the toll a weakened economy had taken on him. So he started talking with his friends. Candidly. What he found out was that he wasn’t alone. Not by a long shot. His friends had passions they had abandoned. Their work lives had become their default lives. They had lost a sense of self.
The tales inspired Marty to turn back to his biggest passion, film. For some time, he had thought about filming a feature, and now felt he had a subject that would be compelling. Says Marty:
To tackle making a full length film, I knew the story had to be something I was familiar with and passionate about. After listening to my friends explain their troubles I knew I had two things: A story I knew would resonate with people, and the beginnings of my audience.
One hell of a crowdsourcing starting point, no?
At this point, Marty began constructing what he called an “Artistic Statement.” This exercise served as a way to not only make the motivation and the promise of the film clear in his own mind—a North on the compass, if you will—but also to inspire others to take this journey with him.
Artistic Statement
As an American in my early 30s who’s been laid off four times, I’ve struggled with the question of whether I should live to work, or work to live. I know many others feel similarly, and questions about one’s identity often revolve around what someone “does.” I thought this would be an interesting issue to explore in a film, and I feel that setting the story in Hartford, Connecticut, the insurance capitol of the world, would only help to enhance the contrast between being a “company man” and being someone who works on their own terms.
I don’t think many recent films have touched on this topic from the point of view of younger people; many people my age are living through the current economic downturn as veterans of the dot-com implosion at the turn of the century. Our working lives have been marked by tragedy, but we have parents who have pensions from companies they’ve worked for their entire lives. We’ve gotten mixed signals every step of the way. We don’t know exactly what to do. I don’t know exactly what to do. But I hope this movie can at least show young people what their choices are, and help them to begin a dialogue about it. As we move into the future, the notion of employment in America will become something much different than anything it has ever been before. I hope RISING STAR will help people to discover what that new notion will be.
—Marty Lang,
Writer/Director/Producer—RISING STAR
Marty presented his “Artistic Statement” to people in his inner circle—a controlled focus group, if you will. Not only was it extremely well received, but many expressed interest in joining and/or supporting the project. Marty was encouraged to move forward.
Writing and Development
Now that Marty had his concept and his vision committed to paper and interest from various parties, he seized the momentum and quickly went about putting his team together. Marty’s job at the Connecticut Film Industry Training Program (FITP) was to run a month-long film training program designed to teach Connecticut residents to work in below the line positions on film and TV sets; production manager, assistant director, location scout, script supervisor, prop master, etc. Marty contacted and solicited professionals from the International Association of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE) and the Directors Guild of America (DGA) to work as instructors teaching classes on skills they actually employed in their dayto-day lives. In the final week of the program, the students worked within their discipline on a short film which, once completed, would be released for audience consumption.
At the end of this process, Marty asked his production manager teacher to point him to the top student in the class. He was led to Matthew Giovannucci, who happened to be an alumnus of the college at which Marty was a professor. Gary Ploski, an actor, instructional technologist and a friend of Marty’s from college, signed on not only to help produce, but to play the lead. Only now that Marty had his production team in place did he begin to seriously work on the content. That bears repeating. Regardless of the fact that he had not committed a single word of the script to paper, Marty had already found champions who were willing to follow him based on trust, leadership and his passion for the content.
Once Matthew and Gary came on board, I quickly began writing and working through the story conflict points and arcs. Since Hartford is the “Insurance Capitol of the World,” I would make Chris an insurance adjuster, a buttoned up conservative fellow who is a slave to his job. He would meet his polar opposite, Alyza, a free spirited woman who follows all her passions. They would be polar opposites on the work/life spectrum. Through their interactions, they would both become closer to finding a balance.
While wearing his screenwriting fedora, Marty also threw on his location scout cap, driving the city daily, looking for compelling places to shoot. His desire was to include cultural landmarks, so he visited the homes of renowned authors Harriett Beecher Stowe and Mark Twain. He also visited the grave of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Wallace Stevens, who was not only buried in Hartford, but was also the Vice President of The Hartford Insurance Company.
Shooting at landmarks is not always easy, but Marty’s scouting trips piqued the interest of the Hartford arts community. Whenever presented the opportunity, Marty would answer questions and speak passionately about the plight he and his friends faced and why the film was so important to him. Many not only found his story relatable, but were rapt by his enthusiasm for the project. This won him even more fans and supporters.
Soon, word of the pending production was spreading all over town. People were talking. There was a buzz. A great place to be considering Marty had yet to type “FADE OUT” on the first draft of the script or raise a single penny in financing.
Crowdfunding/Pre-Production
Marty, Matthew and Gary decided to use the Kickstarter platform for their crowdfunding campaign (www.kickstarter.com/projects/garyploski/rising-star-the-movie). This was in the early days of Kickstarter, so theirs was one of the first films on the platform looking to raise funds. The team wasn’t sure whether this would serve as an advantage or a handicap, but they proceeded methodically. Much went into the planning on how much money would be needed to bring this project across the finish line. They settled on a 45-day campaign with a $15,000 goal which was to commence on August 2nd, 2010 and end on September 15th, 2010. Production was slated to begin on October 4th, 2010, just a bit over two weeks after the completion of the campaign, a very short window. Keep in mind, Kickstarter’s terms state you must reach your goal in full or all donations are returned to the supporters. So if the campaign wasn’t fully funded, the producers would receive nothing and the film would be a no-go. All the cast and crew who had arranged their schedules and committed to the start date would be screwed. In retrospect, Marty recognized the lapse in judgment.
The first of our mistakes in this campaign was crowdfunding while we were, for all intents and purposes, in pre-production. We honestly had no idea how difficult it was to run a campaign and the challenges we would face along the way. And we were prepping the movie at the same time, a process fraught with challenges. If we were to do it over again, we would have put everything toward ensuring the success of the campaign by beginning to network and market well before the campaign launch, moving on to prep only once things had taken hold.
Overwhelmed and a bit out of their element, the principals soldiered on. They approached friends and family about the film, told them about the pending crowdfunding campaign and asked them to be the initial financial supporters, a very smart (and always recommended) first move. As for the campaign itself, they prepped 24 backer updates—videos and written updates about the project so those who supported would not only be engaged, but feel involved and invested in the progress. In a creative masterstroke, perk levels were tied to the story of the film. Since Rising Star was a story about unemployment, layoffs and the culture of the workplace, perk amounts were based on statistics dealing with unemployment in the United States. For example, at the time, the unemployment rate was 9.6%, thus a perk for backers of $9. Additionally, since 14.6 million people were out of work, the team listed a $14 perk. The fact that 28.6% of American households had at least one person unemployed led to a $28 perk being created. The use of this strategy might sound a little downbeat, but the team felt it helped illustrate the gravity of the issue. And they balanced things by adding some levity. In a nod to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, where the number 42 represents the answer to life, the universe and everything else, they added a $42 perk. Backers donating $42 or more received a personalized “Awesome Video,” starring producer Matt Giovannucci and actor Michael Barra telling that backer just how awesome they were. A cool idea in theory, but not one the team thought all the way through as it related to available time and resources.
“We made 17 of these videos,” says Marty.
We did fake commercials, celebrity spoofs, musical numbers, that kind of thing. Some had special effects or were graphic intensive. The pro was they made for excellent viral marketing pieces for the campaign. Once someone received a video, they were so pumped they would immediately share it on social media and other outlets, bringing more attention to the project. The con was the amount of time it took to produce each video. Each video ran about 2 to 3 minutes, but took much longer to compile and edit. At the start, we were able to churn out 2–3 a day which allowed us to deliver the perk in mostly timely fashion. But as our production ambitions increased, our free time became more limited, and the investment of time into making the videos, even though they were being shared, promoted and giving us exposure, was taking us away from what we needed to be concentrating on, namely moving the project along. If we were to do it again, we would still have personalized videos as there is definitely value in doing so, but we would have them be no longer than 10 seconds, with simple editing, no more than one camera shot and text.
Adds Gary,
When we ran the campaign, I was much more plugged into social media than I am now. Ideas were flowing fast and furious and I had as much fun creating videos for our campaign as I did on-set. Every time Marty and I were near each other we would make a point to record something to share with our backers and internet following. I certainly saw the value, but given the opportunity to do it again, we would probably tweak things slightly.
Of course, all the innovative marketing, attractive, incentivizing perks and creative communication don’t mean a thing if nobody knows they exist. A team running a crowdfunding campaign needs to not only sell people on donating, but to sharing and promoting the campaign to similarly interested parties. And they need to come up with other new and inventive ways to spread the word not only online, but offline as well. This is where the Rising Star team really shined.
First, they tackled the obvious and necessary, namely launching a website (www.risingstarmovie.com) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/risingstarmovie), Twitter (www.twitter.com/risingstarmovie) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/risingstarmovie) pages for the film. Then they shut down their computers, took to the streets and got innovative.
In an effort to fulfill their goal of endearing themselves to the City of Hartford—remember, they had already created buzz just through communicating their mission and answering questions during location scouting—they went to the Kinsella School for the Performing Arts and offered to give free filmmaking classes to 7th and 8th grade multimedia students, a brilliant idea the school’s hierarchy embraced immediately. Classes began shortly after the Kickstarter campaign launch and footage from the classes was added to the Rising Star pitch video. “Our hope was our educational focus would help attract backers,” says Marty.
They then again leaned on friends and colleagues informing them about the recent happenings surrounding the project and asking them to help carry word of the campaign to those who might be interested in contributing. Marty reached out to all 352 FITP graduates. Gary contacted his peers at Sarah Lawrence College, where he worked as Assistant Director of Research and Instructional Technologies. Matt and his family, active in the Italian community of Bristol, Connecticut, utilized the Unico organization. All three were very successful in bringing financial support to the cause.
Additionally, through contacts carefully cultivated through social media within the independent film community, spots were secured on a variety of film podcasts. These recordings were then promoted via Twitter, Facebook and other outlets, serving the double purpose of providing a steady stream of content for fans, followers and supporters of their Kickstarter campaign.
Most important, they communicated with other independent film fans, not by broadcasting, but communicating on social media, blogs, forums and other online outlets. They posted content, asked questions and kept things informative and engaging. Day by day, they were building a bigger fanbase, earning the trust of the community and finding more people willing to carry their message.
Then came a really creative, but potentially disruptive idea. One that would require open-minded thinking for a closed-minded goal: Gary thought it might be a good move to engage with a new online community, namely the vegan/vegetarian community.
“My idea was called The Alyza Challenge,” says Gary. “We would change our lead character, Alyza, into a vegetarian or vegan. This would make the film’s story eco-friendly, since eating those types of diets puts less strain on the environment. It would allow me to reach out to the online vegan community.”
Marty wasn’t convinced, but was open to taking a shot to allowing a character in the film be crowdsourced, a move that would give the crowd even more ownership and, in turn, more investment in the project than before. “I said if the fans decided she should change, I would do it.”
Emboldened, Gary asked fans of the project to tweet with the hashtags #VeganVegRS or #OmnivoreRS to the film’s Twitter feed, depending on what they wanted Alyza to eat. The campaign caught fire and was featured on eleven vegan/vegetarian and eco-friendly blogs and news sites.
“I called offthe challenge within a week,” deadpanned Marty. “I rewrote the character the next day.”
All this effort and innovative thinking paid offhandsomely. When the campaign ended on September 15th, 176 backers had supported the film, resulting in a raise of $15,211. Rising Star was a go.
Pre-Production
As mentioned, while the crowdfunding campaign was in full swing, Marty and company also had their focus on pre-production. Fifteen thousand dollars would not be a ton to work with, especially with so many prime public locations on the schedule. Marty believed they would have to crowdsource locations. For starters, they took a shot meeting with the City of Hartford’s Mayor’s Office.
“They immediately took to what we were doing and saw the vision,” says Marty. “So much so, we were granted permission to shoot on any city street or in any park for free, as long as we let the police know when and where we were planning on shooting.”
The City so bought into the mission of the film, they facilitated an introduction to the Mark Twain House and Museum. Marty had staged a pivotal scene at this location with the clear understanding that he might have to eliminate or move it should they be denied or the cost be prohibitive. They were offered a deal of $300 an hour. They estimated six hours for the shoot. Eighteen hundred dollars represented over 10% of the budget, a price they simply could not afford.
A choice needed to be made: Surrender, and likely dilute the impact of the film by finding an alternative location, or find an innovative way to satisfy the needs of both parties. The boys chose the latter.
“We needed that scene, that location. So we offered them a deal,” Marty recalls.
If they let us shoot in the house for $50 an hour, a $300 total cost, we would host a focus group screening of the film at the Twain Museum. They have a 200-seat theater on site. They would keep all revenues from the ticket sales. It would be a win-win. We’d be able to get feedback on the movie while it was being edited, and they’d have an event that would tie them into the local independent film community. They loved the idea and even more, they were impressed by our passion, creativity and our willingness to make the deal as much about them and their supporters as ours. So before you knew it, we were setting up shop at the Mark Twain House.
In addition to securing public locations for the shoot, the crew also used public locations to work. They prepped in coffee shops and Panera Bread stores. Inevitably, curiosity would get the best of people. When approached, the guys would hand out business cards and information about the project, including a link to the Kickstarter campaign. This not only brought more backers into the mix, but others who asked how else they could support the project, offering everything from time to locations.
So moved by the public support, Gary suggested creating a Google Document to be populated by a form on the film’s Facebook page so that fans who wanted to show support in means other than donating cash to the project could offer services or other benefits that might assist the production. Nearly 160 people responded.
Says Gary,
We found a still photographer in that group, as well as a family who allowed us to shoot in their house for free. We also received some offers that were so cool, we worked them into the film. One woman offered us a flock of sheep we could film. A classical violinist offered his services and ended up playing in the movie. A tradesman donated welding and excavation services. We were awed and humbled.
The Facebook promotion also landed the project a key location and another producer.
“When I wrote the script,” says Marty.
I set a key scene at Sully’s Pub, a famous bar and music venue in Hartford which, ironically, I had never been to. But I chose the location because it was the first place my lead actress, Emily Morse, had ever performed spoken-word poetry. And her character, Alyza, raps for the first time in a music venue. I thought it would be perfect for Emily to draw on that experience while performing in character. Amazingly, Darrell Sullivan, who owns Sully’s, saw our Kickstarter campaign and had gotten word of the progress of the film from around town. He loved the project and asked how he could help. I went to Sully’s to meet Darrell for the first time and we immediately hit it off. He offered his venue for free. I gave Darrell a small cameo in the film and an associate producer credit for all his help.
Production
The money in the bank, the locations, cast and crew set, it was now time for the cameras to roll on the set of Rising Star. Smartly, the producers understood that just because production had begun, the crowdsourcing efforts needed to continue. They took a divide and conquer approach, with each assuming specific roles designed to keep all aspects of the production functioning.
Marty, of course, was on set. His job simply defined: Get the movie made on time and within the budget. Gary, when he wasn’t acting, took over all the various campaigns, which included creating new support videos and social media updates for backers of the project. Just because the money had been raised didn’t mean that the supporters and fans could or should be neglected. To the contrary, they would be called upon again to carry the message when the film was about to be distributed. This strategy would not been able to be implemented without keeping the crowd engaged throughout.
Again, the videos proved to be time consuming. But, unlike when they were produced in the funding and pre-production phase, these videos were designed as straight marketing products for the backers and fans to carry forth. Content included location presentations, interviews with cast and crew and fun videos with Marty (taking his first ever shot of wheat grass at a health food restaurant set, for example). Stills taken by the on-set photographer (who had also donated her time) were immediately posted on Facebook and Twitter.
Also, to show their support to all those in the vegan/vegetarian community, the cast and crew participated in Meatless Mondays during each Monday of the shoot. This move endeared them further to that particular crowd.
The entire production lasted three weeks and, due to the massive amount of planning in pre-production, experienced very few challenges.
Post-Production
Editing of Rising Star began immediately after production, with a first cut ready for public consumption in January of 2011. Making good on the promise to the Mark Twain House, the focus group screening was planned with tickets made available on Facebook and Twitter. The 200 available tickets sold out quickly, and 75 seats were added in a second room converted into a theater. At $15 a ticket, the Mark Twain House actually earned twice as much as they would have for their original location fee request. Additionally, Marty and company received the input they desired, which greatly influenced their second cut of the film. A win-win, indeed.
In May of 2011, it was decided that two days of reshoots were needed. A scene cut short by inclement weather needed to be re-filmed. Also, during the editing process, Marty had conceived two new scenes he believed would add cohesion to the story. With time of the essence, again Marty turned to the crowd.
We approached one of our actors, Gary Craig, who is a local radio personality, and asked if he would broadcast our need for extras. The scene in question took place at a nightclub. We had limited time and we needed the place to look packed. We also had two crew members canvas the local community. Because of our endless outreach, many knew about the movie and were happy to be a part of it for free. Thanks to Gary and our crew, we ended up with more people than we needed.
Editing continued into the fall. In September of 2011, a new cut of Rising Star was chosen by Indiewire magazine (www.indiewire.com) as their Project of the Day. Energizing the crowd once again, the crew asked their supporters to vote for the film to be Project of the Month. The competition was stiff, with two VOD darlings, both of which had name actors in lead roles, standing in the path. In the end, Rising Star’s supporters came out en masse, casting well over 600 votes in 24 hours. The film was named Project of the Month and the producers were invited to consult with and send the film to one of the programmers for the Sundance Film Festival.
Sound work continued through winter 2011. In February 2012, the film was finalized at PostWorks in New York City, where a former student of Marty’s completed the film’s color correction.
Film Festivals
The producers designed a streamlined approach to submitting Rising Star to film festivals, researching and carefully choosing their targets. Using a combination of Withoutabox (www.withoutabox.com) and personal relationships, the producers entered the film for consideration at Sundance, South by Southwest and 12 midsized film festivals. The first to come knocking was the Seattle True Independent Film Festival (STIFF) in May of 2102. Marty and Gary hit town with Gary’s wife, Ali Berman, who also served as the film’s eco-sustainability planner, music supervisor Matt Willison and actor/soundtrack artist Klokwize, a Hartford based hip-hop artist. As a Seattle native, Matt was able to get many Seattleites interested in seeing the film before the rest of the team arrived. Klokwize was preparing to release his new record, Hood Hippie: The Album, and held a listening party to help promote the screening. Marty and Gary continued their social media outreach as well. All of this led to a sold out screening which marked the first time an out-of-town film had sold out at the fest. The success led STIFF to create a new award, Best Premiere, which Marty and Gary accepted while tweeting the news out to fans of the film.
In August 2012, the sold out Connecticut premiere of the film took place at the Connecticut Science Center. The producers also partnered with the City of Hartford Marketing, Events and Cultural Affairs Department for an outdoor screening of Rising Star at Bushnell Park, another location in the film. Klokwize and Emily Morse, lead actress and soundtrack artist, performed live before the show. Over 400 people showed.
Finally, the film played to a packed house at the Southeastern New England Film, Video and Music Festival, winning the award for Best Regional Film.
Distribution
After exploring their options, the producers settled on Film Marketing Services to assist in sending out Rising Star to distributors. They eventually signed with Content Film in 2013 on a worldwide deal which was covered on Deadline Hollywood (www.deadline.com). The film has screened in Australia, Africa, Malta, Mauritania, Estonia and throughout South America and the United States. Marty, Gary and Matthew continue to let their supporters know of each new deal where the film is playing via social media. They have received fan mail regarding the film from as far away as Klerksdorp, South Africa.
The film currently has a 6.7 of 10 rating on IMDB and a 3.2 of 5 rating on Amazon (www.risingstarmovie.com/amazon).
Coda
While there is no denying that Rising Star was a smashing success on every level, Marty and Gary took away many lessons. Marty has gone on to raise funds for a number of films and each project has had a crowdsourcing element not only on the funding side, but on the production side as well. Every time I speak with Marty, he is finding a new way or innovative way to engage and move an individual, group or organization, in service of either a new project or his personal brand. His inspiration and passion is contagious. He carries a spark that ignites the creative fire in others. And he has found another topic that elicits strong reactions from his friends—student loans. He is now developing a one-hour television pilot about the American student loan debt crisis.
As for Gary, after we had discussed Rising Star to the point where we had gone beyond the meat and reached the bone, I thought he would never want to discuss the project again. But as is the case with most brilliant creatives, reflection on the past is necessary to inform and cultivate the future. About a week after finishing our interviews on the project, I received the following email in my inbox, which Gary has graciously agreed to let me share with you.
Dear RB:
Taking on a feature film in any capacity was completely foreign to me in 2011. My experience with filmmaking was modest and nearly all of the projects I’d been a part of were independently funded. Rising Star would hold to that standard though I found that I needed to call on my experiences in project management from my day job to help wrap my mind around what we were undertaking.
I can say that in hindsight, if someone were to ask me what they should do to prepare when entering into a project would be the following:
- It’s the situation, not the person—This is nearly always going to be true. Tensions run high because of time, money, and for personal reasons. Wait 10 seconds and a reaction might be completely different.
- Stay the course—If you believe in the project do not let hiccups get in the way of the project.
- Solve problems instead of harping on them—So what if all the lighting equipment is locked up in a van and the crew member has driven off with it—Yes, this happened to us. Figure out a solution. Call friends and family and make it work.
- “It’ll cost $100” means plan for $200—Never ever imagine that your planned budget will match up with the actual cost of your project. If it does you’re in golden territory! Set those funds aside for another piece of the project. Ahem, Post-Production and beyond.
- Time is not your friend—Plan your schedule with padding every chance you can. Traffic happens. Equipment breaks. Name it, it’ll happen.
- Crowdfunding is its own production—That’s right. There is a preproduction, production, and post-production side of a Kickstarter campaign. Plan your schedule accordingly. Remember what I mentioned about time and budget?
We did a ton of things right with our crowdfunding campaign, but there are certainly things, in retrospect, we might have done different the second time around. If there was one thing I believe we missed the mark on when we were raising funds for Rising Star it was with our pitch video. I believe if we focused more on the struggle of work/life balance, I believe that we would have found more people outside our social circles.
That said, our social circles were vast. It was amazing that 85% of our backers knew us or gained knowledge of us through our pre-campaign efforts. I am still amazed that 15% of our backers were unknown to us because our video conveyed the individuals who made up the story more than the concept of work/life balance. Any time I told a new person I’d meet about the struggle of “Working to live versus living to work,” they’d immediately connect with the idea and ask me to tell them more about the film. There’s a lesson there.
As the lead actor and co-producer on Rising Star I did more work on-set than I imagined because I was running social media through my mind throughout the production. Figuring out how to balance both roles was interesting and wonderful.
What was probably the hardest balance to maintain was the non-production related pieces of my life. A sale of a home in NY, a purchase of a home in NY, and a 2 person 90 minute play that rehearsed during the Rising Star production in CT. Driving from place to place was exhausting and is something I will be much more cognizant about in the future. I should note that the play itself did not impair my performance in Rising Star. In fact, I believe it helped me to focus more because I was using my craft on-set and then on-stage almost 7 days a week for 3 weeks. The acting adrenaline high was amazing!
In closing, for all the daily project struggles I experienced, I can say I’m a better and more knowledgeable person and professional. Through the contacts made via crowdsourcing, I know how to speak and deal with people in a more professional and respectful way as well as know oodles more about shooting a feature film and what traditional distribution consists of. The entire ride was invaluable.
Yours,
Gary
Note
Personal communication, email dated _____