KickstarterForum.org

[AleishaGore]

Advice sought about where and how to start my campaign.

Chocolate is Not Better than Sex is my first feature film that I'm producing. I've produced several shorts, music videos, skits, etc. I've been cast, crew, done 48 hour film fests, but best of all, I've experienced what we all, who seek to find love, experience: laughter, horrible blind dates from hell, romance, heartbreak and the aftermath of a chocolate hangover. This film is a very real romantic comedy, fun and hilarious because we recognize ourselves in the characters, unlike Bridesmaids or other comedies which make very crude unrealistic characters for shock value only. I am the sort dedicated to a more fun classic comedy, witty dialog, true almost crazy incidents and a film dedicated to loving life and all its foibles.

Short Synopsis:

When single mom, Monica Robinson, dares to plunge back in the dating game, she turns to her
friends, Ally, the pickup artist, Dori, the professional match-maker, Jeanie, the mousy and petite
latch-on with a penchant for bad boys, Hedda, the budding wine connoisseur, and her own mother,
a former Misses America, for advice.

Monica feels destined to kiss toads and nibble chocolate her whole life as she falls victim to a
slew of horrible blind dates. After a whirlwind cougar-cub office romance, she finds there is no
one suitable for her. She and her friends realize that women are too serious and they divulge their
innermost and hilarious secrets while high on chocolate cake. Monica discovers the way to Mr.
Right’s heart is by trusting her own.

chocolate.jpg.jpg (220.61 KiB) Viewed 3138 times

In 2007, I wrote this script and it's gone through 11 drafts since then. I know this is the right one. In 2010, I got laid off from my job at a small magazine publisher and decided I was going to produce this full throttle. I never knew how hard it would be to get money.

I created my own website, http://www.chocolateisnotbetterthansex.com I shot a no-budget teaser trailer. I created car magnets and drive around with them everywhere. I get thumbs up from everyone who sees them, or calls out from cars, "I want to see that!" So, I know it will work. Anyone that gets my card wants immediately to see the movie or says, 'Wow, I love it. I'd see that!" I also created a 20+ page information pdf document with marketing plans, statistics, etc...I am incredibly organized. Sony pictures even had interest in the script. But, with super heroes, horror flicks, and action movies being the big draw, studios don't seem to want to take chances on Indie Rom Coms.

Over the years I've met with a lot of people who've given me false hope and promises of big money or wanted to change the script in a very detrimental way.

I have 2 other dedicated producers involved, with more seeming to want to take part every day (and have their cut, of course), I have some talent attached, and a small sum in the bank from prior & current campaigns totaling about 7K. It's hardly enough to shoot yet. But we plan on shooting in December. (I say we, I am putting it out there, I'm sure the others are nervous.) The show must go on. I am on http://www.kapipal.com/chocolate which is a different kind of fundraising site. It doesn't take the fees that kickstarter takes but it's not as well known or public as KS is. I'm a bit torn.

I have these ideas:

Separate my needs and run them on different platforms:
i.e.
Funds for crew on KS
Funds for cast on Indiegogo
etc...
OR
Put EVERYTHING on KS. Meaning the TOP SHEET of the BUDGET (or at least a good snippet of it). Be real, show people it costs money to make a film. BUT, will they honestly look at that?

What do you think about these things? I would love some honest feedback.

I, honestly, get scared putting up a number on KS and saying it's towards a "skeleton crew" or something. Maybe people will be turned off by a small amount (10K for example) for a small crew (really, it'd only pay for about 4 people). I want to be realistic, I want to have the chance to get seen by people who don't know me or my project and kickstarter seems to function well that way. Notoriety, news, making it big, reaching name actors, etc...it all "seems" like it would be possible on KS, whereas with kapipal, I don't see that happening at all and although, I did do an Indiegogo campaign in 2011 when I was less known (still not widely known) I only secured 1100.

July 31, I held a live red carpet fundraiser which was really fun and helped but didn't make what I'd hoped it would (I doubled what I spent.) You can see in these, 2 minute clips, I really put in a lot to that event (just like I will for the film). http://chocolateisnotbetterthansex.blogspot.com/2014/08/great-videos-here-red-carpet-interviews.html We plan on doing a speed dating fundraiser/dinner in November-but that's awfully close to my shoot date of Dec 1.

Would appreciate input, ideas, referrals, etc... I haven't started the KS campaign yet as I thought it best to ask you your advice.

Aleisha Gore
Writer, Director, Producer
[img]aleishagore1.jpg[/img]

[Charles]

I think that the title is wonderful!

I have wondered why comic book creators don't break the creation of their products up into multiple stages, for crowd-funding purposes. One caution that I would throw out for you to consider, Aleisha, is that running just one crowd-funding campaign can be a heavy demand on your time. If you try to run multiple campaigns simultaneously, it might get to be a bit much.

Chocolate, sex, romance, and comedy. That's a good basic recipe for success, I think.

[AleishaGore]

Thank you!!

You're absolutely right Charles. It took a month and a half to (plus time for designing promotion, doing PR, designing and ordering banners) to set up, invite people, get bands and dancers, for the live event. So multiple campaigns doesn't sound fun to me. If I had a year to go, I would build up more fans and maybe separate it but keep it on the same website and at different times, pre-prod, prod, post...marketing...maybe.

Should I bother being on kapipal? Have you taken a look at it? What do you think would be a smart fundraising goal on kickstarter? They say list everything you need, be honest about what you need...hell, I need a half or million dollars but I don't have Jennifer Garner attached. So, how do I communicate that and get heard?

What's your advice for the setup? Do more people contribute after the video or after reading? Any thoughts?

[Charles]

How do you communicate that you need a half a million dollars and get heard?

Well, I'm pretty sure that I don't have the answer for that stuffed into my pocket. In fact, you probably would come closer to knowing the answer to that than I would. If you're scared of asking for a half a million dollars, then that denotes a lack of confidence on your part.

The very worst that happens is that your project doesn't get funded.

It's a romantic comedy, so women should be a major target, here. I haven't watched your video, yet, but it strikes me as a chick flick. So, don't shy away from that. It will haunt you, if you do. Embrace it.

Because you are asking for a lot of money, don't rush into it. You want to present a refined package. If you rush it, then you will end up half-assing it.

You need more than one person involved. Once you launch it, you don't want to let up. You will need to sleep and rest and eat. Pursuit of the big money typically doesn't allow such luxuries. For one person, it might be overload.

One thing that always sells is quality. So, your project needs to be quality personified. Not excess, just quality.

The world is full of money. It's everywhere. People part with it every single day. Kickstarter is a big player, these days. Big enough to handle your project.

You're making a film (as if I know anything about making a film). But, you're seeking money from people, from human beings. Your project has a story to it. You need to present that story to the world. The solution to problems is always in the details. The devil is in the details, as they say.

Your project page has to wow them. It's not an issue of whether people will give you more than one chance, or not. Rather, you need to make certain that you only need one chance. If you fail, then you can simply relaunch a new project, and it can be identical or similar to the old one.

But, you don't want to fail. Then don't.

You need a LOT of people involved. You want a big initial movement on the money meter. You want an even bigger initial movement on the backer meter. The more important of the two is the backer number. Get that number big enough, and the money will follow. You want to be heard, so that requires awareness. More people equates to greater awareness. Ideally, you want your funding to exceed your goal, the more the merrier. You're going to need people, to make that happen.

You have some great talking points - chocolate, sex, romance, and comedy. You want people to showcase your project, by sharing it. So, how better to do that than by showcasing them. Each person is a story. Each connection to your project is a story. Again, I know nothing about making films. But, you're not just making a film. You're engaging and interacting with people. Do you want them fully engaged, or partially engaged?

You want them to invest a part of themselves into your project. It's not just their money that you're after. You want them to share, to become advocates, to become champions for this film.

If you can't interest a large crowd of supporters with chocolate, sex, romance, and the laughter of comedy, then you're in pretty bad shape. That's about as perfect a set of core concepts as one can build a project around. People love all four of those things.

I haven't tried Kaipapal. I've never heard of it, in fact - but, again, I'm somewhat new to digging into it all.

Build up a big tribe of people, supporters, before you launch. You want the project to be in motion, with momentum, before you hit the launch button on your Kickstarter to start the countdown clock. Otherwise, much like a rocket, you have to lift off from a dead stop. Ever watch a shuttle or rocket launch? They move slow, at first. They get faster, later. Be moving fast, before you hit the ignition button.

[AleishaGore]

Thank you so much for that. I'm learning. This helps. I've been checking out the tips section as well.

[Charles]

The thing that initially caught my eye about your project in another thread was the photo of the four women. It made for good visual eye-candy. To catch the eye of men who visit your project page, having lots of visual eye-candy on display will help noticeably, I think.

For that much money, though, your page is going to have to have substance to it, and not just ornaments on it.

[AleishaGore]

Understood. And thanks for that. I was one of the four. And yes, I've been looking at some interesting campaigns and they do have great info. I could take some of my pdf infopack with stats, comparisons, etc, and post that. Thoughts?

[Thadeciagre86]

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