Raising Money for a Film the New Way
The old way of raising money to make a film consisted of one or a combination of all of the following:
- Use your credit cards, max them out, apply for more and max them out. repeat until deeply deeply depressingly in debt.
- Beg family members, close friends for money for you project.
- Lower everyone's expectations of getting paid, if they had any to begin with.
- Search for and pitch like crazy to investors. This requires connections to those with money.
- Apply for some art grants. This may be difficult unless you or your project fit into the requirements for the grant.
- Mortgage your home.
- Sell plasma at the blood bank.
Check out www.kickstarter.com. This site is an interesting new platform for artists to raise funds for their projects. It is based on a online pledge system, in which anyone can pledge a certain amount of money toward your goal. When your goal is reached (within the time frame), then the credit cards of all the donars gets charged and the money is wired to you. The site takes a small percentage (something like 3%), but otherwise the money is yours. These people giving you money are not investors and this money is not a loan, so you do not have to give it back once your film starts making money. No. Instead, much like a pledge drive on public television you give away gifts for each pledge as a reward for their help. You are welcome (and encouraged) to come up with better gift ideas than coffe mugs and tote bags, but that's the basic concept.