does anyone have info on funding site?

L

LittleEarthquakes

I've been running searches, looking for alternative ways of fundraising (other than the traditional go out and find investors route) and I came upon a site called IndieGoGo.

Does anyone know anything about this site? It's success rate of meeting funding goals, or anything else? How about other similar funding sites where people donate and you get the money they donated if your goal is met in the alotted time frame?

What are your thoughts on raising funds this way?
 
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My thoughts are if it works then it's a great way to raise money.

But you need to take off you "filmmaker" hat and put on your "regular person"
hat. How much money are YOU willing to donate to help fund a movie made by
someone you have never heard of and don't know? Then ask around to your friends
and family. Ask them how much money they are willing to donate on a website
to help fund a movie made by someone they don't know.

If you have donated a lot of money to other filmmakers through a web site or know
of several people who have, then you might see a trend.

Frankly, I don't think there are too many people out there who are looking to donate
money to indie filmmakers. People tend to donate to charities they know will help
people feed their children or find homes for dogs and cats, but not so people can make
movies.

Since the site doesn't list a single success story, I suspect they don't have any. But
it looks like a fun social network
 
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that's what I figured...I mean while I would be willing to make a donation to a filmmaker who was working on a project that really peaked my interest, I don't know how I would easily find enough people like that online. lol

I've just been trying to think of ways to raise money without having to go the investor route...I know I would hate the feeling of owing someone should my film not be as successful as I hope it will be...ya know?

I mean ideally I'd like to help someone else out should my film turn a profit...in kind of a pay it forward kind of way...ya know?
 
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I don't say this to be mean. But the reality is your film won't be as successful
as you hope it will be. Less than 1% of films made are as successful as the
filmmaker hopes. But it's that tiny percentage that attracts investors.

I don't understand why you would rather have a whole bunch of people donate
and (potentially) lose money than find an investor who goes in knowing there
is a risk but is willing to take the risk.

But as they say, "To each his own".

Are you going to try that site?
Are you going to donate to a film on that site?
How much do you need to make your movie?
 
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it's not that I don't want to look for an investor (i'm sure that is likely what will happen), I was just trying to investigate any possible option that may bring me funding without owing anything to anyone...now i'm not stupid and I know that rarely happens, but knowing myself I can't imagine the feeling of owing someone so much money, you know?

I doubt i'll try it...just thought i'd ask if anyone knew anything about it or had experience with it

I don't know...if I see a project that interests me enough I would but durring the searches I did I didn't find one that jumped out at me

I'm trying to figure that out now...my rough idea is 300,000 but I still have to investigate certain things and get down to a point where i'm crunching numbers before I will actually be able to come up with the budget needs
 
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I can see a couple of reasons for giving this site a go... but not if you're looking for investment.

The basic premise is that you slap up your project and then virally spread the word on it via social networking sites... which isn't a bad idea and is the similar to the approach being taken by movieset.
(link goes to my article about them)

As an audience building exercise, it's probably worth trying, especially if you already have a good social network on facebook and myspace... and the same for your cast and crew.

We're going to see a lot more of these kinds of schemes over the next year... there's a real push to break the traditional distribution model and at some point someone is going to crack it.

The main problem with this site, is the quality of the projects... I was immediately put off by the piss poor concepts and pitches... and my guy feeling was "do I want to be lumped in with these losers"

Thanks for bringing it to my attention though, I'm thinking of talking to them in terms of a possible 1000dollarfilm article
 
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LittleEarthquakes said:
now i'm not stupid and I know that rarely happens, but knowing myself I can't imagine the feeling of owing someone so much money, you know?
Click to expand...
I'm sure you are aware that money invested in your movie isn't a personal loan
to you. It's an investment made with the knowledge that the investor might
lose everything. You - the filmmaker - won't owe anyone money if the movie
doesn't see a profit.

Of course that's different if you tell people it's a loan.

I guess what I don't understand is why you would feel better if (for example)
300 people donated $1,000 each through a web site and all lost their
money, than if 3 people invested $100,000 each through a regulated
business plan and lost their money.

For me I'd rather 3 people who can afford to lose money on a film investment
lose money than 300 people I don't even know lose money by donating to
a film they actually believed in.

Not an argument - just curiosity. And different ways of looking at the way
movies are funded.

After looking over the site I came to the same conclusion as clive. There are
too many really terrible projects listed there. I wouldn't want my project to
be listed - guilty by association. I wonder if any project of over $50,000 has
been funded that way - through donations from a web site.
 
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that was really where my thoughts were going as far as the quality of story ideas that I found there...they don't really seem to scream great possabilities to me which left me feeling the same as Clive which is that I probably wouldn't want to be grouped with that crowed

however the reason it appeals to me directorik is because while I would imagine those who give money are hoping to one day see the film they gave money to listed in the paper as being at a local theater, or for sale at a local video store...they are not expecting anymore from their donation than what you tell them they get for donating x amount of money...so if you tell them that by donating $1000 they get a signed cast picture once you've gotten your cast together, then that's all they expect...they are not expecting to ever receive their donation back because in a sense it's like a gift that they've given you

Clive...as I understand it at the moment there's another site like this on the way (soon I guess?) called Film Riot...and from what I can tell they don't take money out of the donations like IndieGoGo...it sounds to me like they expect you to give money to another film on their site if the movie you found through their site makes a profit...which interests me because it leads me to think that if I found funding through their site and I made a profit I would in a sense be expected to pay it forward to someone's film I believed in
 
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Thanks. I understand a little better where you’re coming from.

If you would be more comfortable getting donations to finance a
movie than investors it looks like that site might be the perfect
match.
 
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