Kickstarter - turning your dreams into charity

[Roderick Usher]

I hate kickstarter. I make no bones about it. In a world of digital piracy and shrinking revenue for films I find it intensly offensive that anyone would ask the audience to pay for something BEFORE IT IS CREATED.

Is it not enough that we ask the audience to go to the theater or by a DVD/Bluray? Asking the general public to fund your artistic endeavors instantly turns your dream project into a charity. I understand using crowdsourcing to fund a short film, because how else are you going to make a short film?

But I recieve requestst to help people fund their feature films constantly and I find it absurd. Investing in a film? Sure, that means there is a chance to recoup the money invested. Kickstarter (and indiegogo or any other crowdsourcing site) promises no such return and muddies the producorial rights to such a degree that if you somehow managed to make a good film this way, you could never land distribution because the chain of title is totally cocked-up.

If your feature idea doesn't land financing, maybe that's because the concept is not financially viable.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but crowd sourcing is not the answer. Creativity, both cinematic and financial is required to make a feature film, and paying dues is essential to weed out the fly-by-night wild-hair-up-the-ass filmmakers from those with skills.

And of these skills, being personable and empathetic is the most important one. Cultivate your empathy and people will flock to you because you will not only understand your actors, producers and audience, but you will also invest your characters with innate likability, which is far more important that originality.

[Fearonsarms]

Originally Posted by Roderick Usher

I hate kickstarter. I make no bones about it. In a world of digital piracy and shrinking revenue for films I find it intensly offensive that anyone would ask the audience to pay for something BEFORE IT IS CREATED.

Is it not enough that we ask the audience to go to the theater or by a DVD/Bluray? Asking the general public to fund your artistic endeavors instantly turns your dream project into a charity. I understand using crowdsourcing to fund a short film, because how else are you going to make a short film?

But I recieve requestst to help people fund their feature films constantly and I find it absurd. Investing in a film? Sure, that means there is a chance to recoup the money invested. Kickstarter (and indiegogo or any other crowdsourcing site) promises no such return and muddies the producorial rights to such a degree that if you somehow managed to make a good film this way, you could never land distribution because the chain of title is totally cocked-up.

If your feature idea doesn't land financing, maybe that's because the concept is not financially viable.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but crowd sourcing is not the answer. Creativity, both cinematic and financial is required to make a feature film, and paying dues is essential to weed out the fly-by-night wild-hair-up-the-ass filmmakers from those with skills.

And of these skills, being personable and empathetic is the most important one. Cultivate your empathy and people will flock to you because you will not only understand your actors, producers and audience, but you will also invest your characters with innate likability, which is far more important that originality.

THANK YOU! I got completely flamed for finding filmmakers begging and rinsing their fans for money offensive. I'm genuinely glad you see all the implications of it and I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said :)

[BigBadBilly]

The entire 'Donate to help with funds' thing is a catch 22. Money is needed even for the super creative to put together a decent project. And nobody wants to help... which is understandable. However, these same people who claim to love the independent project, don't want to help the 'Under dog'. They are also the same people who are increasingly negative about any project that does get finished with no funding. And it's a funny thing because it all starts with something like: "Get a better Camera", or "Fix your crap audio" or "Learn to edit".... All of this stuff requires cash. 90% of the time, even a finished project with a good story is never seen because of the technical or funding issues. Nobody gives it a chance. So with that in mind, how is someone supposed to make a decent project if everyone thinks the way you do?

I admit, I have donated to projects a few times and twice something very cool came of it. (The rest of the times.... not so much.) But my point is, without these 2 aspiring filmmakers asking for donations these 2 good projects would never have happened.

However, they also took your advice at the end. They had a KS campaign and an Indiegogo one and they were also very.... very personable and approachable.

Bottom line, in my opinion, there's nothing wrong with asking for funding if you believe in your project. Then, your job is to get others to believe in it. When you can start doing that why not ask for some help? And if nothing comes of it who cares?
For all those approached by people looking for help you need to ask yourself why you would donate in the first place. Is it to help forward the growing independent industry or were you just hoping to line your wallet? It's all a gamble. Never donate what you can't afford. And for any aspiring film makers out there.... we don't all think the same, and the old adage is true. You'll never get if you don't ask.