Transcript 0:00 Getting funding for independent and original creative projects isn't easy, but it's not impossible. 0:05 When I reached out to Sharon and pitched doing a documentary short film with her, I knew I needed to have creative control of the project to grow and maintain trust with her. 0:16 After all, I was essentially asking to follow her around for three months. I applied for grants and pitched corporate sponsors, which didn't pan out, but I also wanted to try crowdfunding. I was super nervous about this. 0:30 What if no one supported the film? What if people didn't find the film interesting? What if we didn't get enough money to finish the film? But what if isn't a deep enough question. 0:42 I felt it was more important to ask, what can we learn from this? How can we test messaging and packaging an original creative project? 0:51 How can we provide an incredible experience for our audience, community, and supporters? And how can we get this film in front of as many people as possible? 1:02 So we moved forward with these goals in mind rather than the limitations of our fears. 1:07 After researching, talking with the folks at Seed&Spark, asking others who had done crowdfund campaigns, and my own experience, here's what I've learned from crowdfunding for a short film. 1:20 Direct one-to-one emails asking for donations and/or asking people to share the crowdfunding link with their network move the needle the most. 1:29 Have ten to fifteen people that you reach out to on the first day the crowdfund is live. People on social media want to see that your campaign is already getting traction. 1:40 Asking for a certain number of supporters rather than a dollar amount is really effective. 1:46 Whenever I ask for a specific number of supporters by the end of the day or the end of the weekend, we hit that number exactly like clockwork most of the time. 1:57 I didn't create this short film alone, so have- having my crew involved in sharing the main post to help it get traction was super helpful. 2:06 Whoever has the largest social following should really lead the charge on social media posting. In this case, it was me, and I was also the producer and director, so that worked out really well. 2:17 In terms of the types of things you should post, here are the types of visual content that moved the needle for us. Having a teaser trailer with me making a direct ask with the footage of the film. 2:29 That worked incredibly. I uploaded it to YouTube on an unlisted link, and I also had it on our Seed&Spark campaign page. 2:38 Having a graphic with all the names of the people who have supported the campaign, and I did more than one of these throughout the campaign as the list grew, was really powerful in visualizing the incredible support that we were receiving for other people. 2:52 Having a photo series depicting a scene from the film using behind-the-scenes action shots was super helpful, and me kind of laying out what people could expect in the film and give people kind of that peek behind the curtain of the filmmaking process. 3:06 Last but not least, having a direct-to-camera video from the cast and crew while the crowdfund is happening. 3:12 For us, we reached, uh, one hundred percent of our goal within two weeks, and myself and Jordan, the DP, did just a direct-to-camera cell phone video just thanking everyone for helping us reach that goal. 3:23 And encouraging people to continue to give, as we still had two weeks left on our crowdfund, was super helpful and impactful. 3:30 Some other good practices that don't have anything to g- do with sharing or getting out the word that you're crowdfunding was saying thank you via the crowdfunding platform, but also making a point to reach out to people one-to-one via DMs, email, text, et cetera, just to say thank you. 3:48 Thanking them for sharing, thanking them for donating, which is really helpful, and just creating those lasting relationships and really goes back to my desire to wanna create a one-to-one relationship with our audience at scale and really create a unique experience for them. 4:05 Some people you may know, some people you may not, so this is a chance for you to see and meet people that probably have been following your work for a while and just been looking for the right opportunity to support you. 4:15 Another good practice is just reiterating that no donation is too small. We did have tiers on Seed&Spark, and that's very common on, you know, Kickstarter or Indiegogo or anything like that. 4:25 But people can choose to give less. People can choose to give more. Our average donation amount was higher than the average or the expected amount. 4:34 The average donation for film projects, according to Seed&Spark, is twenty-five dollars for reference. Now, that's all the things that worked for us and I think really helped us be successful in our crowdfund. 4:47 Let's talk about some things that didn't really move the needle. 4:51 The first one was probably the most obvious one that people would likely do if they're sharing a crowdfund on social media, which is t- to tag the platform that you are campaigning on. 5:03 Tagging Seed&Spark on social media did exactly nothing. While they said they were active on social media in their launch email, that just wasn't the case for us. 5:13 They post about one time a week on LinkedIn, and they haven't been active on Twitter in over a year. On that, really active on Instagram, so I can't really speak to that either. 5:23 They commented and shared our post on LinkedIn, where we announced that we hit our goal, [laughs] but obviously, that wasn't very helpful in our pursuit of reaching that goal. 5:33 I honestly can't even say this is unique to Seed&Spark. I think it would've been the same experience if we hosted our campaign on Kickstarter or Indiegogo or any other platform. 5:45 There are so many people who are using these platforms. I could see how it would be hard to be engaged with them all at the same time. Though I may be giving them too much slack. I don't know. 5:55 Second thing that really didn't help was having large accounts post about the campaigns on platforms that I was not active on. 6:03 I had a large account in Durham share the video on Instagram, but I don't really think it moved the needle. I'm not active on Instagram, so I wasn't too surprised. 6:12 They tagged me as a collaborator so my followers could see it, but I don't post or engage with my followers on Instagram, so I think it was a nice to have, but not a necessity. 6:23 If you are thinking about crowdfunding for a creative project, here is a rough checklist to get you started in no particular order. 6:31 Make a list of 15 to 20 people who would be interested in supporting and/or sharing your project. Make a compelling trailer that's around 90 seconds. Have at least five to 10 photos to share. 6:44 If you have an edited film poster, that would also be great to share. But ultimately, the photos don't have to be, you know, high-end. 6:51 I just so happen to have a camera, you know, that we could have shot with, but they can be cell phone photos as long as they're meaningful and give people a peek behind the curtain. Those are really helpful. 7:01 Have a social media plan for the first seven days. Your goal should be to get to 50% of your target amount within the first week. 7:09 We reached ours within the first three days, [laughs] so we had to reiterate very, very quickly. Think critically about how to go above and beyond for your supporters. 7:17 No matter how much money you raise, crowdfund campaigns are an opportunity for you to connect with your existing audience on a deeper level, create new fans of your work, and turn casual fans into raving supporters. 7:31 Focus on creating a great experience for them from beginning to end. Think beyond just getting a project made and funded. 7:38 Create a marketing distribution plan for the project once it's finished because it will get finished. In hindsight, I probably would have budgeted more money towards marketing and distribution. 7:49 I hope these are helpful for you as you all grow your audience and community around your creative work. If you have any questions about crowdfunding that weren't answered above... No. 7:58 If you have any questions about crowdfunding that I didn't answer, drop a comment. I'm happy to help, and I cannot wait to see what you guys create. Happy creating, and I'll see you guys in the next video. 8:09 [upbeat music] If you've been getting value from Honey & Hustle, I need a quick favor. Would you take 30 seconds right now to leave a review? 8:19 Reviews help other people discover the show, and honestly, they help me know what's landing with you. Whether it's this episode or one from a few months ago that stuck with you, just share what made it worth your time. 8:32 You can leave a review wherever you're listening right now, and I appreciate it in advance. See you in the next episode. [upbeat music]
