CROWDFUNDING / FINANCING
"Crowdfunding is not about money ... It's about community."
~ Anonymous
A curation of articles, podcasts, videos, and courses to help with your crowdfunding and financing efforts.
What Kind of Financing Do You Need?
Crowdfunding • Investors • Loans
DOWNLOADS
A collection of FREE forms, templates, and questionnaires:
Launching crowdfunding campaigns prematurely continues to be the single biggest reason why projects fail. Krowdster offers a simple checklist to help you succeed.
IndieGoGo offers a comprehensive pre-launch guide to help you succeed at your crowdfunding campaign.
Little Might (dot) com has put together a Step-By-Step guide to launching a successful crowdfunding campaign on KickStarter.
Business and Legal Affairs Checklist
If you want to dive into the world of serious film financing, then this Business and Legal Affairs Checklist from Film Finance Attorney, John W. Cones, can be very helpful.
BOOKS
A collection of books on film financing and crowdfunding. (*These are affiliate links)
Filmmakers and Financing: Business Plans for Independents
Presented by the American Film Market (AFM), Louise Levison gives you easy-to-use steps for writing an investor-winning business plan for a feature film.
Bankroll is written for actors/producers and writer/producers to get their feature films made. It has many creative approaches and guidance by a successful Hollywood producer who has raised over $20 million dollars.
The Art of Film Funding is written for documentaries, shorts, and feature producers for funding via grants, individual investments/donations, online crowdfunding, and distribution through streaming video.
Crowdfunding for Filmmakers offers practical information, tips, and tactics for launching a successful film campaign by detailing traditional models of fundraising, utilizing today’s technological and social innovations, and augmenting each step with an added personal touch.
PLATFORMS
A collection of platforms to help with your crowdfunding efforts.
Kickstarter was originally created as a way to help filmmakers get initial seed money for their films. Thus the name, Kickstarter.
IndieGoGo was one of the first crowdfunding platforms to offer flexible fundraising. Where Kickstarter was all or nothing, IndieGoGo allowed filmmakers to keep whatever money was raised.
Seed and Spark has a high rate of successful campaigns being met. They focus heavily on education to make sure you have a successful campaign.
Slated takes a different approach to the film financing problem, by bringing people and projects together in hopes of matching you with the best team and investors.
PODCASTS
A collection of podcasts and podcast episodes that cover different aspects of crowdfunding and the film financing process.
Tips For A Successful Crowdfunding Campaign
In this Film Marketing Friday, we’ll talk with Jeremy Brunson, one of the producers for the film, Rosetta: Audio/Visual, as he shares with us how they were able to succeed with their crowdfunding campaign.
What is the Wedding Registry Approach to Crowdfunding?
In this episode of the Film Trooper podcast, I interview the Founder & CEO of Seed & Spark, Emily Best. Seed & Spark is much more than just a crowdfunding platform, it’s designed to be an ecosystem for independent filmmakers to build sustainable careers outside of the Hollywood system.
Angel Investors for Filmmakers
In this episode, I explore how a meeting with an Angel Investor might go for a filmmaker seeking investment funds with the Founder of the Producer Foundry, Ben Yennie.
Crowdfunding Your Finishing Funds
In this session, I explore strategies for building a crowdfunding campaign with guest filmmaker and fellow podcaster, Jamie Francis.
Based on her best-selling book, Carole Dean hosts a weekly show exploring alternative financing concepts for docs and features, from idea to distribution.
Jason Buff over at the Indie Film Academy has organized a series of film financing podcasts that are worth listening in on.
Alex Ferrari over at Indie Film Hustle is constantly adding amazing episodes that are invaluable for any filmmaker. Be sure to check out his episodes on crowdfunding and film financing.
On the Groovy Guide to Crowdfunding Films, they explore crowdfunding successes and failures, and see if together they can crack the code to successfully crowdfunding your next film or web series!
VIDEOS
A collection of videos that will help with your crowdfunding and film financing efforts.
Film Courage put together a 2-hour video compilation of some notable leaders talking about crowdfunding for your film.
The Film Finance Guide is a comprehensive support system from Tom Malloy and Jason Brubaker for directors, producers and virtually anyone that wants to create film finance.
Film Courage has given us another free video series on film financing and raising money for a movie.
The SAG Foundation's LifeRaft program is hosting a bicoastal producing series dedicated to providing actors with the tools and inspiration needed to make their dream project a reality.
Darius Britt discusses his Kickstarter campaign, tips for filmmakers and crowdfunding facts, lessons learned, and what to expect when running a fundraiser for a film. He discusses the 90.9.1 rule of social media and its effect on fundraising.
IndieGoGo's, John T. Trigonis, joins Film Courage to share the 6 big mistakes that filmmakers commit when crowdfunding.
Film Courage partnered with Emily Best, CEO of Seed and Spark, to share a master class in crowdfunding.
Paula Bernstein, in association with Craft Truck, held a Google Hangout Session with the 3 top crowdfunding platforms for filmmakers.
COURSES
A collection of online courses that you can take right now to help you succeed at crowdfunding and film financing. (*Affiliate links)
Course Description
This course covers the foundation and advanced hacks to pull off a six figure crowdfunding raise.
All lessons are taught via screen share and video. I literally show you all the tools I've used, include templates and scripts, and reveal a goldmine of secrets.
You can rip through the course in a day if you watch it end to end but I suggest doing it over the course of 3 to give the material time to digest.
The course can be broken down to 3 main objectives.
1. Research and Prelaunch
2. Building phase of pulling together content and creating digital assets
3. Launch- game time baby!
You should take this course if you don't want to waste weeks of your life trying to figure out what works. I've used this process on dozens of campaigns and others have used this same process (coached by me) to crowdfund their own ideas and products.
WERNER HERZOG - Teaches Filmmaking
When the legendary director Werner Herzog was 19, he stole a camera and made his first movie. 70 films and 50 awards later, Werner is teaching documentary and feature filmmaking. You’ll learn storytelling, cinematography, locations, SELF-FINANCING, documentary interview techniques, and how to bring your ideas to life. By the end, you’ll make uncompromising films.
- 26 hours of video lessons (including learning how to finance your film)
- 37-page workbook
- Office hours for select students
Film School $90,000 • MASTERCLASS $90
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In most cases, I may be an affiliate for products that I recommend within any of my blog posts, video blogs, and audio podcasts.
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