Getting Kickstarted via Kickstarter.com: A look at a few successful film campaigns

(Above, promotional artwork for The Red Robin, a feature film currently working with Kickstarter.com)

by Terry Keefe

I was immediately dubious when I first heard about Kickstarter.com, a website where creative and entrepreneurial types can look for funding for their projects via a limited-time appeal to the masses. I've come to hate the expression "in this economy," but in this economy, I just didn't see many folks ponying up even a few bucks for the effective development of a film, music recording, or invention. And having spent a significant portion of my life looking for financing for creative endeavors... let's just say that it's a challenging process.

But this hardened cynic will eat his predictions on this one.

Although I'm sure there are plenty of examples of projects that don't get funded at all through Kickstarter, and other similar "crowd-funding" sites, a number of filmmakers have been having some real success with it, including a few directors whose careers I have followed over the years.

Director Michael Z. Wechsler, whose next feature film, THE RED ROBIN, already has its primary production funding, has recently launched a Kickstarter campaign (which can be viewed here), looking for a relatively small amount of post-production funds. Interestingly enough, money hasn't always been the only motivating factor for a crowd-funding campaign. Says Wechsler, "Publicity, and the fanbase that can be built via crowd-funding, often are reason enough for using Kickstarter. This is a great way to create pre-production awareness of our project." Indeed, a fan who contributes even a dollar to a crowd-funding campaign is a likely future viewer of a film, as they are literally now personally invested in the project.

The cast of THE RED ROBIN includes the stellar talents of Dominic Monaghan (Lord of the Rings, "Lost"), the legendary Maximillian Schell (A Best Actor Oscar-winner for Judgment at Nuremberg), Jane Alexander (Oscar-nominated four times for All the President's Men, Kramer vs. Kramer, Testament, and The Great White Hope), Claire Forlani, and Hill Harper. The crew includes executive producer Jonathan Sanger (Oscar-nominated for The Elephant Man) and executive producer Rick Porras (Lord of the Rings trilogy).

Within a few weeks of posting their Kickstarter campaign, they had received some $8000 in pledges and there are still a few weeks to go. A lot of the effectiveness of Wechsler's campaign can certainly be attributed to the chilling trailer he created (embedded below).

Indeed, a Kickstarter campaign without a great promotional video to accompany it is all but begging for tumbleweeds to careen across its url. An example of a great video (embedded below) that helped to drive a very successful campaign was created by filmmaker Dan Mirvish, for his upcoming feature Between Us, based on the hit Off-Broadway play of the same name by Joe Hortua. The promotional video is fun, fast, and informative. You come away from it with the thought that giving this guy some money might not be a bad idea. And, in fact, the Kickstarter campaign for Between Us successfully raised some $14,000, and Mirvish, who previously directed the features Open House and Omaha: The Movie, in addition to co-founding the Slamdance Film Festival, plans to start principal photography this May. The film's website can be found here.

A FEW RELATED LINKS:

- Film finance expert Jeff Steele recently wrote an informative, and inspirational, article about crowd-funding for the Huffington Post.

- This month's Wired Magazine has a great article on the creation and on-going evolution of Kickstarter.