KickstarterForum.org

Hello Kickstarter Forum. Please check out my kickstarter page.
http://youtu.be/r0_HYMuuXkI
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/162 ... e-bollocks
"Never Mind the Bollocks" is a short film I wrote and wish to direct of August this year. I have attached two great actors to it, Gary Lewis - a great Scottish actor (Gangs of New York, Billy Elliot) and Scott Wolf (Party of Five, Go!, Everwood). It's an original story, not about The Sex Pistols, but it does feature a Sex Pistol's T-shirt. It is a dark comedy. I come out of NY theater and it's a well written piece with a clear beginning, middle and end - (not all short films have them.)
I put together a promotional video for the piece - but if I had shot scenes from the short, I might as well have shot the whole short and we need the money to do so. The actors are in LA and in Scotland. It is a highly character driven piece and the writing is unique. It deserves to be a surprise.
An issue I am facing is that some people feel if you've attached a celebrity (such as Scott in the US and Gary in the UK) that it will be easy to find funding so why go to a crowdfunding platform? Short films are not easy to fund for anyone. And I am not a rich celebrity. I attached the actors based on the merit of the script.
Any feedback you could give would be very helpful. Many thanks!
Becky Blasband

Hi Becky! I took a look at your campaign to see if I couldn't offer some assistance. I've been doing a lot of research about Kickstarter campaigns lately and I found a good template for projects looking to meet larger funding goals is "Kill Me, Deadly" (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1768614175/kill-me-deadly-a-film-noir-comedy). They have some names attached but seem to be in a similar situation where they weren't getting backing from studios or had easy access to backing. I watched while over the course of a week they managed to raise over $100,000! With that in mind, it seems you should have an easier time reaching your goal.

Here's just a few ideas I had in mind that may help with your campaign:
• Consider offering more tangible items and more tiers between the price ranges of $1-$50. I know it may seem low considering you need to raise 65K, but you'd be surprised at how it adds up. And the more people who know about your project the better. The research I've done says that the most picked tiers are $25, $50, and $100. Next to those tiers, $30 and $35 are the next highest grossing.
• Consider adding an update a day. Kickstarter backers like to feel involved in the process and taking the time to throw out a Thank You or a small behind-the-scenes update can really go a long way. I think the success of "Kill Me, Deadly" was a result of how involved they got their backers. The communication that they allowed between backers and the filmmakers got people excited enough that within that last week people just voluntarily were promoting the campaign because they wanted to see the filmmakers involved be able to make what they set out to make after seeing how hard they had promoted it themselves.
• As per your video, I personally liked it. I think you don't need to show clips of your film in order to get the idea across. You just need to have a feeling for what the end product would feel like and what the environment of the production crew is like (so, the personalities of the people involved). The only thing I would suggest would be to maybe remove the bit about Obama. Simply because it may alienate some viewers if they have a position on that kind of stuff. You want everyone who watches to feel accepted rather if they like the idea of the project or not. Just a suggestion.
• Promote, promote, promote! Let's face it, even if we have personal strong supporters of our work they have seen us to projects before and it's possible we've hit them up before to help fund a project. That means that those supporters, while they may donate, will take their time in backing. They may wait to see how much money you raise before they throw in their donation. So, the best solution is to get new people to your campaign. I've been looking at a site: http://www.crowdcrux.com/21-places-to-promote-your-kickstarter-campaign/. They suggest places to help promote your project, including Kicktraq.com which I noticed in the body of your campaign. If you can also reach out to your local newspaper, make postcards or flyers, radio... any place you can make people more aware of your project. I would stress the fact that you got named actors attached to the film solely on the script and that you are only able to fund it with the help of supporters like Average Joe Blow.

I hope this helps. If you're wondering, "Who is this chick?" My name is Diane Baldwin and I'm currently running a campaign for an indie horror film at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dbaldwin/long-shivering-an-independent-horror-thriller-film. Since my current project means a lot to me and my crew I have been doing the most I can to assure that we have a successful campaign. So, I've been doing a lot, a lot of research. Thanks!

Hey Diane,
Many thanks for your thorough and awesome reply. Thanks for looking it all over, very helpful to us!!

I went ahead and added more rewards in the 10 - 75 dollar range. I am checking out the link you sent as well as the model.
I also removed the offensive Obama image and added another kind of image in the video.

I am pushing it forward this week with crowdsourcing promotion through Ayudos as well as a TV/social media press agent.
I wish you the best of luck with your campaign. I;ll be watching out for you!

Best,
Becky

Thanks! Best of luck with your campaign!!!

Awesome feedback! Will check out your campaign Diane.

Wow! Thanks!! Really appreciate it