Crowdfunding a Film Using Social Media
Filmmakers are creative people and we just want to be making films. I rarely meet filmmakers who are also enthusiastic about raising money. For good reason: funding a film via traditional methods is hard and involves a lot of time and work.
In fact, raising finances to shoot a film is almost like a job in itself. Hang on, it actually IS a job. Being a producer is just like any other full time skilled occupation: you have to treat it as a full time job to become a good one.
So, as filmmakers, we are of course keen to make friends with skilled film producers. Unfortunately (but understandably) they are quite rare and difficult to get in touch with (let alone persuade to get involved with your film).
So, Crowdfunding then
Around about 2012-2013, online crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter got filmmakers attention, after several high profile campaigns made the news, raising millions in funds. It was early 2013 when a contact suggested I try to use Kickstarter to raise money to help distribute my debut micro-budget feature.
Read the whole “making of” story, including crowdfunding, here.
Even though I had never run a crowdfunding campaign and had no social media presence to speak of, I decided to try to raise £15,000. I’d seen other people do it and had tips from 2 producers who raised £20,000 for distribution.
I had no idea how to proceed, but I threw myself into it and, after 56 days, eventually hit the target with only a few hours to spare. One feature of Kickstarter is that if you don’t reach the goal in the time set, you get nothing. So it turned into a bit of a white knuckle ride.
Since then, I have run many successful crowdfunding campaigns which I have used to shoot one web series and 3 short films (episodes of Silent Eye). I have also failed in one Kickstarter campaigner. As we know, failure sometimes teaches us more than success.
Since 2013, crowdfunding for films had become more difficult. The novelty has worn off and we rarely see filmmaker campaigns reach huge totals any more. I can’t think of one on the last 2 or 3 years.
If you need to raise serious sums of money, then you’ll need to look at traditional methods. Raising those kind of funds using crowdfunding is now almost impossible.
But this is what I learned
I assumed none of my friends were rich enough to see me to the total; I’d have to rely on social media. So, for this article, I’m going to focus on how to use social media to raise funds on crowdfunding platforms.
I had heard advice saying you needed at least 2000 Twitter followers. At the time, I had 600 and most of them seemed to ignore me. What could I do?
Preparation
Most campaigns I see failing show a lack of preparation.
When I started my campaign I had already been developing things like a trailer, graphics, a poster and so on for years. Even so, I redesigned my film’s website to improve my chances of crowdfunding success. I spent weeks working on the Kickstarter text, the rewards and – most importantly – the pitch video.
If you don’t prepare your materials and create a good, attractive-looking campaign page, potential backers will most likely feel you will approach your filmmaking the same way. On the other hand, an exciting well constructed page will inspire people to pledge.
But think of it this way: if you are serious about your film project, you will have to do most of this stuff anyway. Pitching a film to producers involves well-written inspiring text, images and packaging. So by investing time in your crowdfunding page you will be developing your film idea for yourself at the same time – win-win.
The preparation checklist
With crowdfunding being less appealing to film fans now, there is even more need for good preparation.
- What is your film about? Make sure to write an exciting premise likely to appeal to the fans of the genre
- Who are you? Let people know who you are and why they should back you – what’s your story?
- Why are you asking for money? Explain why this campaign is important to the world
- What is the goal? How much money do you need and why?
- What will you give back? Crowdfunding usually involves offering rewards in return for pledges
- Good graphics. Film is a visual medium, so it is especially important to provide inspiring images
- Great pitch video. Make sure you appear in it – film fans back the filmmaker more than the film
Make it personal
Question: What’s the difference between a crowdfunding campaign for a gadget or a video game and a film?
Answer: people backing the former are doing it to receive the item in the campaign for themselves. Those backing art projects are doing it mostly for generally unselfish reasons.
Gadget and product campaigns are really just glorified shopping sites. But most importantly, the backer is pledging selfishly.
Not so with your film project. A backer is looking to receive connection to you and your work as reward for backing you. That’s why, when crowdfunding your film, people are more likely to help you if they like you and empathise with your personal story (not just the story you are filming).
Target
If you are using Kickstarter, then you really need to pick your funding goal wisely. If you don’t reach the goal, you won’t get anything. Therefore, make sure the goal is reachable in the time you give yourself.
Of course, if you have never run a campaign before, how do you know what is achievable? I recommend looking at other campaigns to check out the kinds of goals they set.
Bear in mind, if a film stars or involves a well known film personality, that can really boost the pledges. So these projects often reach higher goals than those of us without those connects can.
Be realistic with your target.
However, platforms like IndieGoGo allow you to keep any funds, even if you don’t reach your goal. In this case, the target you set is much less important. But it still helps to set a goal close to what you think you can achieve.
Social media
If you don’t have rich friends and family, then how do you go about finding backers? My strategy has always been to use social media and my favourite platform is Twitter.
But it doesn’t really matter what platform you use – YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram (or a combination) and so on are all great places to connect with people.
If you have 100,000 followers or fans of your Facebook page, you might think you can set a high total. With all those followers, the pledges should roll in, right?
Wrong.
Engagement
Any social media guru will tell you followers and fans means nothing unless they are engaged. In other words, you need to just your social media reach by interactions.
You can do a simple test. If you have a Twitter account and/or a Facebook page, tweet or post a message about your film project (preferably add an engaging picture). Now see how many people react. If you get none or very few reactions, you can be sure you will get the same number of pledges.
Don’t expect people to back you
I had exactly that experience. With my 600 followers, I would tweet about my film and… *tumbleweed*.
But I had to raise £15,000, which equates to about 400-500 backers. How was I going to find that many people who were prepared to help me and my film with their hard-earned cash?
Well, how you do it is up to you. There are a number of great strategies for engaging followers and fans on social media. Different people prefer different platforms, too.
My general advice is this: make friends.
If people feel you just want their money for your own personal project, you will not get many backers. It’s essential when crowdfunding a film (or creative project) to bring people on board with you.
If your message is: “Hey, I’m an important filmmaker, you should back me” you won’t engage many people.
I always try to keep my message as “I’m a humble filmmaker, would you like to join me and be part of my project?”
Special thanks to
Here’s another tip: be thankful. I cannot stress enough how important this is.
We are all used to the long “special thanks to” lists at the end of films after they have received backing from the crowd. And there’s a good reason for that. People have given their time and money to your project.
I don’t know about you, but when that happens (no matter how small) I always feel genuinely humbled and grateful. There’s a ton of things out there for people to help and they chose mine. Wow. That’s very special to me and I always feel like I haven’t quite thanked everyone enough.
So, I’ll give you this tip: although I said you need to focus on you and your story, it’s not just about you. The people supporting you are the real heros of your campaign, so make sure they know you care.
Not just for backing you with money, but for everything anyone does to help your campaign. Thank people directly for every retweet, for every Facebook share, for every post on Instagram and so on. Whatever anyone does to help you out, acknowledging that act is key to bringing people on board your project.
By helping to let people know about your campaign, your supporters are in a small way producing your film. The more you welcome people into your project, the more they will feel this is their project too.
If you are well prepared and welcome people into your project, you will run a great crowdfunding campaign.
Read more: Film Funding Beginner’s Guide.
Read more: How to Create a Pitch Deck.
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