> My Crowdfunding Experience

rayw · Apr 26, 2012

Crowdfunding: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdfunding

I thought it might be a good idea to have a thread dedicated to discussing our individual KickStarter & IndieGoGo crowdfunding experiences (in as much excruciating depth as bearable) so that we may all better understand the resource's limitations.

(Click on images to goto sites)

Anyone care to share their stories?

- Overall expectations going into the "Yes/Pursue" decision
- Pre planning
- What you received advice and were warned about before or during the campaign
- Campaign architecture
- What you were trying to (and not to) convey in the campaign?
- Nuances in the donor premium/reward structure
- Financial and attitude observations of family, immediate friends, long distance extended e-friends, strangers
- Donation expectations and observations
- Take aways
- How did X-input correlate with Y-response?
- What did people seem to "miss"?
- Surprises, good and bad
- Next time what would you repeat and what would you do differently?
- Would you try crowdfunding again?
- Alternatives

Thank you.

8salacious9 · Oct 26, 2012

How much is too much to ask for? Is there a more realistic figure that's more likely to be hit? Like 2-3k?

rayw · Oct 27, 2012

8salacious9 said:
How much is too much to ask for? Is there a more realistic figure that's more likely to be hit? Like 2-3k?

More than the quality of the proposed piece looks like it warrants is too much.
Frankly, some projects look like ten dollar projects and I don't feel bad that's all the moolah they can shake outta the tree.
Other projects look like $200 projects asking for $2,000. THAT is asking too much.
Some $2,000 projects are presented like $200 projects. That is poor promotion or donation publicity.

A more realistic figure to ask for is what the project's target audience deems a value.
Action, adventure, scifi, and horror films with a fan base will warrant a larger donation potential than "Aunt Edna Goes Shopping for New Gardening Gloves."
Aunt Edna had better be one hot MILF if that project hopes to get more than $20 from her niece.

"Cardboard Death Squad Ninja Robots From Uranus", when properly marketed to an appropriate audience will probably bring in more than $20 just on general principle alone.

Premise + Presentation.

Just like dating: No amount of makeup is going to help some girls. B!tch: You ugly. Deal. :yes:

8,226

Understandable?

TanadrineStudios · Oct 27, 2012

I know when I finally feel ready to put the Delura project up for crowdfunding on kickstarter, people won't be donating to make the project possible (because there's already content out there) but to help catalyze a self-sustaining business model and greatly increase the speed/quality in which we can release content. Technology barriers are a big contributor to the sluggishness of releases.

Don't know if I already posted this here, but I consider this thread a goldmine of resources and greatly appreciate your efforts to post stuff here!

NickClapper · Oct 28, 2012

TanadrineStudios said:
I know when I finally feel ready to put the Delura project up for crowdfunding on kickstarter, people won't be donating to make the project possible (because there's already content out there) but to help catalyze a self-sustaining business model and greatly increase the speed/quality in which we can release content. Technology barriers are a big contributor to the sluggishness of releases.

I think this is actually a slight misconception. A lot of people who donate to crowdfunding projects do so because it gives them the opportunity to be involved in a project from the point where it's just a script and some ideas to the point where there's something to watch. I think everyone knows and accepts that there are pretty much no unique projects to crowdfund, yet people keep paying to help create something, from the ground up.

It's all very well to buy a cinema ticket to a film, but it's an amazing feeling to know you paid your $10 before a minute of the movie was filmed.

OzoneTheMovie · Oct 28, 2012

rayw said:
It's been a while since one of these recent projects hit their stated goal, although a couple of them have received "partial funding".
I divided between principle and practicality on this particular item.
I dunno. Wish I did.
Maybe some point-counter point would be good.

OZONE seems to has made a great push to get their project funded.
It looks interesting.

7,890
However, at only three posts to this forum I'm concerned we'll never again hear from the organizers.
Their experiences and process would be valued.

ask us anything you like, i will try to answer as quickly as i can!

Thank you guys for supporting us!

rayw · Oct 28, 2012

$110,000 by Monday Sep 3: Unfunded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lakestreetfilms/the-amber-project
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=42062

Clyde - The Webseries - seeking $8,000 by Thu Sep 06: In "draft" mode. ?? Presumably unfunded
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=41859

Brain Eaters - seeking $850 by Friday Sep 7: Unfunded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lovelydeadfilms/brain-eaters
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=42346

ODD - seeking $4,000 by Sat Sep 08: Received Partial Funding http://www.indiegogo.com/odd?c=home
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=42736

Trapped in Time 3D! - seeking $10,000 by Wednesday Sep 19 Unfunded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...-a-time-travel-adventure-film-in?ref=category
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=283437#post283437

Blew - seeking $4,000 by Saturday Sep 29 Unfunded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/703639991/blew
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=42785

Bimbo Zombie Killers - seeking $6,000 by Tue Oct 02: Unfunded http://www.indiegogo.com/BZK?c=home
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40686

The Dark Master: Battle in the Courtyard - seeking $250 by Saturday Oct 6 Self Cancelled
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=42886

Sam's Story - is seeking $20,000 by Sunday Oct 7: Funded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1759777461/sams-story-a-film-by-mae-catt
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=288808#post288808

The Anachronist | A Steampunk Short Film - seeking $17,000 Sunday Oct 7: Unfunded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/timdan/the-anachronist-a-steampunk-short-film
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43154

A LESSON IN TORTURE - seeking $20,000 by Thu Oct 11: Unfunded http://www.indiegogo.com/alitmovie?c=home
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43076

The Cornfield Massacre - seeking $7,000 by Sat Oct 13 Received Partial Funding http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/238347
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43563

Club Vamporama Website and Promotion - seeking $1,000 by Fri Oct 19: Received Partial Funding http://www.indiegogo.com/vamporama-promo
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43082

OZONE - is seeking $8,000 by Friday Oct 26: Funded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ozonproduction/ozone
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43486
>Report>> http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=293374#post293374

Women Under The Influence - is seeking $55,000 by Tuesday Oct 30: Unfunded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/272894683/women-under-the-influence-feature-film
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43582

Who's There? - is seeking $500 by Friday Nov 2: Unfunded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/677021775/whos-there-a-short-film-about-a-feeling-we-all-get
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=289498#post289498

Paul and the Hooker - seeking $10,000 by Nov 4: SELF CANCELED http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/59092787/paul-and-the-hooker-feature-length-romantic-comedy
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43323

Verona - seeking $7,000 in their Flexible Funding campaign by Tue Nov 06: Received Partial Funding http://www.indiegogo.com/verona-shortfilm
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43617

Finding Me - is seeking $50,000 in their Flexible Funding campaign by Mon Nov 12 >> Lowered goal to $20,000 << : Received Partial Funding http://www.indiegogo.com/finding-me
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43376

DRAG HIM OUT! seeking $10,000 by Wed Nov 14: Funded http://www.indiegogo.com/DragHimOut
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43709

* * * * * * * * E X P I R E D * * * * * * * * * *

Blood Brothers - is seeking $4,000 by Mon Nov 26
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43550

Word, the feature film - seeks $35,000 by Tue Nov 27
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43615

Chloe - a short film seeks $500 in their Flexible Funding campaign by Sat Dec 01
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43926

* * * * * * * * C U N C H - T I M E ! ! ** * * * * * * * * *

You Should Be So Lucky seeks $15,000 in their Flexible Funding campaign by Fri Dec 07
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43925

EVER AFTER Resurrection seeks $9,300 in their Flexible Funding campaign by Thu Dec 13
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=44215

Save Our Souls seeks $3,000 in their Flexible Funding campaign by Tue Dec 25
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=291276#post291276

Speed Bump seeks $5,000 in their Flexible Funding campaign by Sat Jan 19
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=44145

Curitiba Zombie City: a documentary about Zombie Walk seeks $4,500 in their Flexible Funding campaign by Sat Mar 02
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=209310#post209310

Wasp - seeking

$150,000 by Fri Jul 05, 2013
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=41474

A few of those have concluded or are about to.
Anyone care to share their experiences?

10/29 8,416
11/05 8,817
11/07 8,945
11/17 9,472

For those of you still running I hope this post brings another round of attention to your projects! GL! :yes:

rayw · Oct 29, 2012

SORRRY!!! for the bump, IT folks. I made a strategic boo-boo!

OzoneTheMovie said:
ask us anything you like, i will try to answer as quickly as i can!

- Overall expectations going into the "Yes/Pursue" decision
- Pre planning
- What advice you received and were warned about before or during the campaign
- Campaign architecture
- What you were trying to (and not to) convey in the campaign?
- Nuances in the donor premium/reward structure
- Financial and attitude observations of family, immediate friends, long distance extended e-friends, strangers
- Donation expectations and observations
- Take aways
- How did X-input correlate with Y-response?
- What did people seem to "miss"?
- Surprises, good and bad
- Next time what would you repeat and what would you do differently?
- Would you try crowdfunding again?
- Alternatives

OzoneTheMovie · Nov 1, 2012

rayw said:
- Overall expectations going into the "Yes/Pursue" decision
- Pre planning
- What advice you received and were warned about before or during the campaign
- Campaign architecture
- What you were trying to (and not to) convey in the campaign?
- Nuances in the donor premium/reward structure
- Financial and attitude observations of family, immediate friends, long distance extended e-friends, strangers
- Donation expectations and observations
- Take aways
- How did X-input correlate with Y-response?
- What did people seem to "miss"?
- Surprises, good and bad
- Next time what would you repeat and what would you do differently?
- Would you try crowdfunding again?
- Alternatives

Ok, so...
Well we would definitely do crowdfunding again.

Pre planning was couple of months long. When we could find time, we would talk about video for kick, strategies for spreading the word about the project, getting to the media mostly.And most important, what is the best time to launch the kick page. We did it in time when most of the people are back from holidays.
So when we had that all figured out, we started preparing video and potential rewards. Keep in mind that we did all of that while still working on the movie, so it was our spare time. You have to work on the project while working on the campagne, you dont want to lose any time you have. Time lost is money lost, and if you are going to kickstarter YOU NEED MONEY!
When we were satisfied with the kick video and the rewards, and finished all the paper fork that needed to be done (like in "Brazil"), created new trailer, and refreshed information on the website, created facebook page, facebook group, twitter, we basicly waited for the right moment to launch.

When the kick started, first thing you do is send email to everybody you know including your high school teacher and your first love from kindergarden! You never now what kind of people are in their lives outside what they have told you! And send them personal letters, with somethink they will reade and figure out that is not a group letter! Let every body know that you need help, and that they can contribute in every way they think it works, THAT EVERY THING COUNTS! Second let them know how the system functiones and that you will not get the money if you dont reach the goal! Most important KEAP IT SHORT! You dont want to be boaring to the person that is reading it!
Send mails in waves, dont spam people.

FACT: People don't like text, people like pictures and videos, but mostly pictures. Every post with pictures was viral.

I will continue my answer, i just don't have the time to write it all at once!

Thank you for understanding!

505MOV · Nov 1, 2012

Hello!

I already wrote a message in the "promote" section. We are trying to crowdfund our project 505.MOV, you can find all the information here http://www.indiegogo.com/505MOV?a=1687975

Cheers!

Big Bang Cinema · Nov 3, 2012

505MOV Nice locations.
Certainly crowdfunding helps a lot.
I'm starting one http://www.indiegogo.com/curitibazombiecity?a=1333309.
For a good campaign i guess the key is "viral" like OzoneTheMovie said, and a well done exploration of social networks.

505MOV · Nov 4, 2012

Big Bang Cinema said:
505MOV Nice locations.
Certainly crowdfunding helps a lot.
I'm starting one http://www.indiegogo.com/curitibazombiecity?a=1333309.
For a good campaign i guess the key is "viral" like OzoneTheMovie said, and a well done exploration of social networks.

It is indeed a nice location; we are really happy with it

threepeakproductions · Nov 8, 2012

Alright so I am going to start a campaign for a short film I am doing which requires a lot of gear and locations. Should I split it up into multiple campaigns that have a small goal or just make one with kind of a larger goal?

rayw · Nov 9, 2012

You should consider where you will exhibit your short: film festival, youtube, or other.
Will the expense of "a lot of gear and locations" be justified? Yes/No? Pass/Fail?

And likely, a single "large" goal is better than trying to get some magical new group of interested donors to donate to this yet-another-despite-not-finishing-the-last-time campaign.

Who is the audience for the final product?
Are they aware that your project even exists?

TrueCinema · Nov 9, 2012

I am actually in the process of my first crowdfunding experience and it's not going very well but honestly I didn't really expect much... Good learning experience though for future projects... I think the main reason it's not going so well is because I haven't put anything "out there" for people to see... Oh well here it is if you want to check it out. Let me know your thoughts!

indiegogo.com/speedbumpmovie

WalterB · Nov 11, 2012

Let me help Ray to rearrange the list so the expired once are at the bottom....
So he can copy/paste this list the next time ;-)

I believe this will make the list easier to read.

Just moving the list of current crowdfunding projects, arranged by maturity date, to the top of what I believe should be the eigth page:

(Please note the NEW links to thread contributors!! Karma, folks. Karma.)

* * * * * * * * C U N C H - T I M E ! ! ** * * * * * * * * *

Finding Me - is seeking $50,000 in their Flexible Funding campaign by Mon Nov 12 >> Lowered goal to $20,000 <<
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43376

DRAG HIM OUT! seeking $10,000 by Wed Nov 14
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43709

* * * * * * * * * * SEEKING FUNDING * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Blood Brothers - is seeking $4,000 by Mon Nov 26
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43550

Word, the feature film - seeks $35,000 by Tue Nov 27
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43615

Chloe - a short film seeks $500 in their Flexible Funding campaign by Sat Dec 01
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43926

You Should Be So Lucky seeks $15,000 in their Flexible Funding campaign by Fri Dec 07
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43925

EVER AFTER Resurrection seeks $9,300 in their Flexible Funding campaign by Thu Dec 13
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=44215

Save Our Souls seeks $3,000 in their Flexible Funding campaign by Tue Dec 25
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=291276#post291276

Speed Bump seeks $5,000 in their Flexible Funding campaign by Sat Jan 19
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=44145

Curitiba Zombie City: a documentary about Zombie Walk seeks $4,500 in their Flexible Funding campaign by Sat Mar 02
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=209310#post209310

Wasp - seeking

10/29 8,416
11/05 8,817
11/7 8,945

For those of you still running I hope this post brings another round of attention to your projects! GL! :yes:

rayw · Nov 11, 2012

Super.

This format works best as a practical news headline (likely more beneficial to the greatest number of users), whereas the previous format was data base centered (most beneficial to data wonks such as myself).

We'll give it an honest month or so in court and see if some other folks like it more betterer this way! :yes:

I just gotta relocate expired campaigns to the bottom of the expired list, right?
That's where the most recent expired campaigns will be.

FWIW, the reason I didn't do it this way to begin with is what was a small rolling window is now broken into two locations - but only if the reader was interested in a recently expired campaign.
No biggie to modify the info search pattern.

NickClapper · Nov 11, 2012

I know this is probably a bit of extra effort but it'd be great if all the active campaigns could have direct links to their Kickstarter/IndieGoGo page too (especially as they probably need visitors more than the expired ones).

rayw · Nov 11, 2012

No, it's NOT that it's extra effort that I don't do that for the active campaigns.

I started attaching the direct links AFTER the campaign expired out of respect for the IT member and their individual thread where they could actively discuss with IT members about what's going on in their campaign.

If YOU start a campaign the attention should go to you and your campaign.
Not to me and this thread.
I honestly DON'T WANT people blabbing about their campaign on this thread. :no:

By llinking directly to an active campaign's KS or IGG site I've created an all too easy way to circumvent the IT member (even though most of them are "pop posters" only in here for one or two posts) which denies them the ability to actively engage their peer group here at IT.
Or pseudo-peer group, if a person wants to be somewhat snarky, up or down.

HOWEVER...
If some of you feel that a bit overly accomodating then I could skip the IT thread links and just go staright to the campaign.
Frankly, there's rarely much discussion here about many of these and there's not much discussion at most of these KS/IGG pages either, so it may very well be a well intentioned effort on my behalf.

I'm certainly game for modifying the format.
I don't have to be so d@mned concerned about every little offense or denial. Pfft.
Deal, people.

Lucky Hardwood · Nov 12, 2012

I appreciate all of the effort that you've gone to, Rayw. I don't have anything to contribute either way at the moment.

sarah h · Nov 26, 2012

Just submitted a Kickstarter campaign yesterday for "approval" which got me to wondering...does anyone have any idea how likely it is to have a project rejected by Kickstarter? Has that ever happened to anyone here?

I assume it's not very likely if you've done your prep (which I have), but my project deals with mature content so I'm a little nervous.

Side question: about how long does it normally take for them to get back to you with their decision?