Groovy Guide to Crowdfunding Films

A clever modern screwball comedy about murder and mystery created in the classic style of 1930s Hollywood.  This week Brent speaks with Patrick Askin, creator of Nick and Nicky, to see how he's taking what he learned from his first campaign and putting it to work in his second. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/patrickaskin/nick-and-nicky?ref=nav_search

  The stop motion genius and creator of Western Spaghetti and Fresh Guacamole, PES, on this week’s podcast.  PES tells us about his upcoming film, Submarine Sandwich - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1842216772/submarine-sandwich-a-film-by-pes?ref=nav_search.  PES has amazing information and advice for anyone thinking of crowdfunding their own project.

  Getting your campaign fully funded takes planning, connections, and diligence.  This week Brent speaks with Ryan Smith, Writer and Director for H.P. Lovecraft’s The Terrible Old Man - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1470117221/hp-lovecrafts-the-terrible-old-man-short-film?ref=nav_search, and learns that sometimes strangers can be a powerful resource too.

  What do you get when you combine camera design from the 50s with digital technology from the 21st century?  Amazing pictures, that’s what!  This week Brent jumps across the pond to Mid Wales to speak with Greg Dash, Head of Cyclops Camera — http://cyclopscameras.com/ — to learn about his indiegogo campaign for the Digital Diana Camera — https://www.indiegogo.com/explore?utf8=%E2%9C%93&filter_title=diana — and how he’s already gotten 118% funded.

A young girl, a seedy motel on the edge of town, and the malcontents, prostitutes, and addicts who live there.  This week Brent speaks with Heidi Philipsen and the team from This Is Nowhere — http://www.seedandspark.com/studio/this-nowhere — to learn first hand from her team what it takes to run a crowdfunding campaign and why Seed and Spark is the best place to do it.

  If you think crowdfunding is a brutal world, you might want to check out the world of orphans in Thailand trying to make a better life for themselves by entering the world of Muy Thai.  This week Brent speaks with Grant Southwick, producer of Torn Cloth - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1399607791/torn-cloth, to learn how he’s trying to convert followers into funders to get this gritty story told.

The Arab Spring was a powerful, world-changing event in the Middle East.  This week Brent speaks with Aaron Ramzi, Producer and Actor in Before The Spring – www.seedandspark.com/studio/spring, about his plan to produce a feature-length, feature-quality film and why he chose Seed And Spark as his source for crowdfunding.

Crowdfunding is free money right?  Well, not exactly. This week Brent speaks with Larry Waks, Partner at Jackson Walker and Head of their Entertainment and Media Division, to explore the financial questions and implications filmmakers face when raising capital through online donations.

A single device that takes the misery out of shooting video on DSLR cameras—sounds impressive, right?  This week Brent speaks with Hannah Radcliff and Edward Calvey, co-creators of The Logger’s Lunchbox, to find out how they were able to combine battery and audio improvements into one slick little device.   https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hannahradcliff/loggers-lunchbox?ref=live 

There are a lot of different sites for crowdfunding your film.  This week Brent speaks with Emily Best, the Founder and CEO of Seed and Spark – www.seedandspark.com, to learn why she started a crowdfunding site specifically for filmmakers.  This is not your typical ‘give us money and we’ll give you a perk’ crowdfunding site.  Seed and Spark builds connections between audiences and filmmakers by using donations to cover specific expenses.  This helps foster a sense of involvement and ownership in your base.  If you’re seriously thinking about producing your own content, this is an episode you want to hear.

Putting together a crowdfunding campaign is a lot of work and a lot of continuing work.  This week Brent speaks to Nathan Williams, Director of If There’s A Hell Below - http://www.seedandspark.com/studio/if-theres-hell-below, to see what it takes to run a successful campaign and why what crowdfunding site you chose will have a big influence on your success.

If you’ve ever lived in an HOA, you know their rules can be absolutely absurd.  This week Brent speaks with Greg Dorchak, co-writer of Code Enforcer, a comedy about a man whose family has an extensive career in law enforcement.  But when he can’t get into law enforcement, code enforcement officer for a snooty gated community is the only job open to him.  If you’re thinking of starting your own crowdfunding campaign, Greg has great advice on how to do it, how to maintain your campaign and how to keep your momentum going.

If Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory meets partying and vice sparks your interest, you’d be a good contributor to Dustin Sutton’s kickstarter campaign for Mikey and the Mansion.  In this episode, Brent speaks with Dustin to learn where this story came from, why it won’t leave him alone and why you should contribute.

Got a creative idea but no money?  Then you might want to look into crowdfunding.  In our first crowdfunding podcast, Brent speaks with Angie Baggett, Producer/Director/Co-writer of “Forever Hollywood” to learn about her project and what it takes to start a campaign.

Most crowdfunders want to produce their own ideas and scripts.  On this week’s Groovy Guide To Crowdfunding Films Brent talks to Taylor Wideman to learn why he wanted to produce Kurt Vonnegut’s short story “2BR02B” and how determined he is.  Then, we check in with Angie Baggett and “Forever Hollywood” to see how her campaign ended.

Ultra competitiveness takes a turn for the worse as high school seniors kill to be class Valedictorian.  In this episode Brent speaks with Blake Lyons, writer and director of Valedeathorian, to learn how a funny play on words in a high school AV club became an NYU student’s film thesis and growing Kickstarter campaign.