Is there a such thing as too much ambition?

I'm concerned that you won't get any money from your crowdfunding. Crowdfunding projects must indeed be that - projects. I'm not sure if it's even within say, Kickstarter's rules to post essentially a company to be funded, rather than a project or series of projects.

I wonder how you're going to incentivise your projects/business.

What happens if you don't get any (or all) of the money?
 
Well, that went terribly. So, from the look of it, Kickstarter won't allow me to do the total of the projects. They want one finite project, so, it's time to get the heads together with the board and figure something out.
 
I actually forgot to address the crowdfunding part of your question in my earlier reply - it sounds like you've probably got everything else reasonably well thought out at this point.

I'm assuming you haven't done any crowdfunding in the past. There's a lot more to it than creating the campaign and putting it out there - in fact most of the work for a successful campaign comes long before the actual campaign starts. I don't know what your team's social networks look like, but unless you've got a direct reach of several hundred thousand people or more I think it's unlikely you'll hit your goal.

I'd say the more realistic approach would be to do the set of projects you've described as a way to build that network and lay the groundwork for a successful crowdfunding campaign in the future. Of course that'll mean you'll need to pay out of pocket for your equipment up front, but you should be able to start out pretty modestly and build on it as you go.
 
PhenomenalOnePictures said:
Well, that went terribly. So, from the look of it, Kickstarter won't allow me to do the total of the projects. They want one finite project, so, it's time to get the heads together with the board and figure something out.
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Didn't see that one coming?

Guess you didn't have a contingency plan for that?
 
Sweetie said:
Didn't see that one coming?

Guess you didn't have a contingency plan for that?
Click to expand...

That was probably the one thing we were mid-discussion on when we decided to pull the trigger anyway. So, what we've set forth is just to do the 6 Episodes of Writer's Block, and, in the midst of all the promotion we have to do, hope for the best.

If anyone's interested in taking a look, this is our Kickstarter.
 
Yikes.

I'm sorry, but there's no way that is going to be funded.

- No video
- Poorly made picture
- Bland, long, and boring
- No attention grabber
- The "who am I" gimmick doesn't work
- The I Live With People Who Don't Exist sticker is bland.

Put a video up. An attention grabber. An exciting, strange, bizarre attention grabber of high quality. Start by recognizing your fan-base. Watch as many trailers of that genre that you can. Steal from them, and work that into your trailer. Make it short and sweet as well. No one likes repetition and slow, boring scenes.

Have a shorter description. 2 sentence synopsis of the film, prizes and pie chart, then those involved in the film, and links to their past work. Oh, LINKS. Can you post a link to a channel, reviews of your plays, etc. etc. etc. Also, have you never made any short films or other video related projects? That could be of concern to people.

One of the things that bothers me most about Kickstarter is not Kickstarter itself, but the people who think they can make a page, and get a film off of the ground. You have to put effort into it. Financing and distribution are some of the most difficult areas of filmmaking, often overlooked by many. You can't throw someone out onto the internet, and get money and fame thrown back at you. There is technique and time that must go into successfully achieving goals, especially in the field of crowdfunding in the indie filmmaking world.

Think of it this way: Your film is a Christmas tree. If you've ever gone out to buy a Christmas tree, you'll notice that there's usually many to choose from. The ones that are chosen are the big, fancy ones that look appealing and strong. You need to be that above average tree to be chosen. That metaphor goes both for crowdfunding and distribution.

Best of luck though :(
 
"asking people for money is frowned upon, unless you do it on the internet" - from GTA V

But srly, your KS-page needs more work. This is meant as constructive criticism. At least shoot a trailer and make some better graphics. The current ones look like they have been made using MS paint. Also make it clear whether the 6.6k equipment budget is going to be rental fees or are you going to buy the equipment. People asking money to buy a 5d under the guise of a short film are a pet peeve of mine. GL with the project.
 
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PhenomenalOnePictures said:
I ask this because I'm looking to start a very tumultuous year. In an 11 month span starting December 1st, my team and I are planning to have a crowdfunding campaign up and running for $20,000. That $20,000 is going to cover 3 short films (one musical, one love story, one drama,) and the first 6 episodes of a web series that we hope goes beyond that.

Being the writer and creative force at P1P, I'm almost certain I'm gonna lose whatever sanity I may have had left, but do you think that, in the span of time we have, we may be getting in over our heads? (Keep in mind, we're 4 people but will be using, mostly, outside actors and a couple of free-lancers who, depending on the project, may or may not be paid with food in lieu of cash.)

I'd like to hear some opinions on this, what do you guys/gals/in between/daleks think?
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People go over their heads all the time, but, if you step back, see where you went wrong, and try again. You keep trying until you reach your potential, and that means, above all, learning from your mistakes.

Good luck. :)
 
Yeah, that's just not going to work. The whole 'thresholds' thing is a good idea - if you are 'unlocking' something people are eager to see. At this point though nobody knows enough about your project to care. The same goes for all of your perks - what value is a t-shirt or poster if you have no idea what it's for?

As I said before - I think you're going about this in the wrong order. You need to make the proposed web series first, as a way to build an audience that you can turn to for crowdfunding later.
 
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The feature film I acted in this year, might have been better if my friend, got some sort of crowdfunding or something like that, instead of just jumping right in, never producing or directing a movie before. But the film didn't get finished and she is trying to use scenes that are already shot to get additional funding to finish it. Was she too ambitious? Not sure.
 
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