September 10, 2014 at 2:40PM

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You voted '-1'.

Make a successful IndieGoGo film crowdfunding?

Let's say we have an amazing indie feature film, with beautiful cinematography, truly wonderful, and great and very talented [but not yet popular] actors.
So this feature film is shooting the last two scenes, almost finished, but now they need some money to deploy the Promotion and Distribution strategy.
https://indiegogo.com/projects/the-hidden-feature-film/x/2510520
How to make a successful crowdfunding on IndieGoGo?

7 Comments

I looked at your indiegogo campaign and I think that your project looks great but the one thing that is going to make your indiegogo campaign hard is your perks. I have a few suggestions to modify your perks that might be able to help out.

1. Give people more value as they pledge more instead of more things. I felt that the more people pledge the more things they get but the value of that doesn't go up at all. I feel like Veronica Mars and Zach Braff's project was able to be successful with the types of perks you offer but that is because they already had a solid fan base that wanted those things. You're not a famous filmmaker (yet) so people won't be as interested in a PDF download of the script, a private e-book, or social media skins.

2. One of the perks should be getting the DVD/BlueRay. No one wants to pay $50 to get 50% off of their DVD/BlueRay. These people are supporting your film so you shouldn't reward them by having them pay you more money. I have seen people give away their film at reward levels anywhere between $5 (digital download usually) to $50. I feel that you should price it at around the cost they would expect to pay for it normally. Treat it like they are pre-ordering the movie from you.

3. Be more specific in your rewards. At $15 we will receive a private production e-book. Is that the book of notes you took or something else? You also say that we will be able to participate in other contests and win prizes. What contests and prizes will you be doing? If I knew more about it than I would be more willing to pledge.

4. We need to see a trailer of your film or at least a teaser or at least a scene. The more we can see of your film the more likely we are to pledge. It is hard to trust someone on the internet saying, "Trust me this will be awesome." However it is really easy to trust that person when they show you a sample and you think to yourself, "Man, this is awesome!"

I think that if you make those few changes you will be golden. You listed out what the money is going to be used for which is nice because people will know exactly where their pledge is going. Also you guys have a timeline which is great because it shows people you have a plan and you are sticking to it. Good luck - hope you guys make it!

2.

September 10, 2014 at 3:03PM, Edited September 10, 3:03PM

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Aaron Allsop
Producer
351

Thank you Sir! we appreciate you took some of your time to give us this great advice.

Diego Lope

September 10, 2014 at 4:03PM

Don't forget the old school classic way of going out to get funding from local businesses. Some local business's are secretly loaded and you may find someone who is willing to dish out a few grand for an 'Executive Producer' credit which they might think is the coolest thing ever. But means making phone calls and visits which can be nerve-wracking but sometimes worth the effort. Good luck though

September 14, 2014 at 9:11AM, Edited September 14, 9:11AM

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Jarrad Cody
Guy who likes film stuff
318

Thank you Sir!

Diego Lope

September 14, 2014 at 10:21PM

Hi

I have worked with different teams and projects for a total of $1.2 million through a small consulting practise http://seedingfactory.com/

A few comments :

1. You do not emphasize enough the uniqueness of the project. I would straight on go to the visual signature of the project. Include more screens, screens of the process, and not just portraits but maybe as well locations and environments. I would say currently you do not grab people's attention enough

2. You have to do outreach. This being on indiegogo is not enough. Prepare a well-crafted pitch based on your movie's main assets and contact filmmaking, visual arts, indie filmmaking blogs and ask if they can talk about it, through an interview, or maybe a guest post, or exclusive images that you will share with the blog. The community and press outreach is outmost importance and is just a numbers game. A few will not respond to emails or phone calls, others will be shy or not available, but some time to time, you will get the attention of a blogger out there. The more you contact, the more $ you will get. There are tactics such as browsing indiegogo or kickstarter and then just writing down in a spreadsheet all blogs or press that has covered similar film projects and then ptich them. Or you can do a google search

3. The rewards needs to be further optimized. What about downloads, screens? Have you checked out other crowdfunding campaigns? What about priority screenings? You need to give backers something they will not be capable of getting outside the campaign

4. Parallel to outreach, you should also talk to various institutions, organizations, companies that could partner. It can be also other movies that could share the campaign on their Facebook pages. The idea here is that they can share the campaign to their community, which might open up more easily. You can offer those institutions various levels of visibility. I have also seen other organizations who offer to match every $ to be listed as Executive Producer (or other name)

There are many other ideas - although I will need specifics of the movie. Hope you make it!

September 18, 2014 at 8:17AM, Edited September 18, 8:17AM

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Heri Rakotomalala
DP/Camera, Studio owner, Associate Producer
254

Yes, we need that can you specify more about the movie...

September 29, 2014 at 11:38PM

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Ragüel Cremades
Film producer and director
8302

Hey Guys we've got an IndieGogo campaign here https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/couch-dreams-short-film and would love any feedback you could give us. Thanks in advance>

November 17, 2014 at 1:29PM

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Shayne Metcalfe
Director
93

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