Our IndieGoGo campaign came to an end last week, in which we reached a fantastic $8900 ($7500 was our target). The whole thing is a bit of a blur and I learnt so much about what it is really about to have a community of people supporting you, how much it is your responsibility to engage your backers, how much support you need from the crew and how much to trust the people you are working with.
Last Tuesday, we had our first read through of the film. This idea was recommended to me by fellow filmmaker Carlo Ortu, who has done this for a number of features he is developing. I was sceptical as to what this would give us as this is a) a short film and b) a short film with little dialogue but if there is one thing I have learnt from this process, it is to take ideas on and listen to the advice of people who care about your project so decided to give it a go. We arranged with the four actors Bill Thomas, Matthew Jure, Kiki Kendrick and Alex Walker to meet in "The Antelope" pub in Tooting so we could read it all through and despite an early hiccup of the door being locked so needing to be kicked down (!) it was a thoroughly productive and interesting evening.
As the script is very visual and with a lot of description, I came up with the idea that 'Bonzo' (Bill Thomas) would read all the directions so he could follow his journey. I wasn't sure whether this would work or not, but thought it would be a different way of doing a read through and was interesting to see Bill rephrase all to be in the first person. The script didn't feel 'flabby' or show any scenes to be surplus, but highlighted the amount of 'setup' we do to show Bonzo before he actually encounters any other characters. What I was most pleased about was that getting the four actors together (for the first time) and how engaged they were exchanging ideas and discussing the issues relating the film. We don't have any pics, but check out the video our making of crew did here: http://www.vimeo.com/28197179
After the read though, I went downstairs into the bar where Greer, Katherine, Blair and Markus were having a production meeting and was given an overview with where we are at with locations, release forms, schedules and everything else production-wise. At that stage of the IndieGoGo campaign, we had just hit $6000 with 48 hours left and I noticed there was a sense of apprehension amongst all that we may not hit it and how we would have to budget around if not.
Various ideas were brought up and for the first time I started to sense how much the campaign meant to everyone and the importance of hitting it, not just for the budget but also to build momentum into production and reward what everyone had put into it.
The next day I spoke to Graham Inman, who is one of the producers of the film and out of all of us, the most experienced and knowledgeable about crowd sourcing. His calmness and assurance surprised me, and yet (as a cynical and I think realistic person) I still doubted we would hit our target, indeed I think I said to him at around 5pm on Wednesday afternoon "I can see us hitting $7K but no more"...
Our conversation was cut short as I had to get back to work, and I said I would call him later that night to continue, or even the following morning. But I didn't. Not because I am rude, but by the time I thought about calling him we were near $7K with 40 hours to go. I awoke the following morning to see we had then got to $7300 and by early morning on Thursday we had hit our target.
It was a strangle and almost anti-climactic end to a campaign we have tried so hard to engage people with, I envisaged us with 10 minutes to go needing the last $50 but as Graham had advised on many occasions, the work we had put in and the genuine way we had done it would show in the end.
As I was being taxi'ed to an interview (with QPR manager Neil Warnock) my phone buzzed with not only congratulation emails and texts from those who had been following...but more contributions. We hit $8000 in the next few hours and then started to concentrate not on getting more funding in, but thanking those who had.
I will find time at some point to characterize our entire campaign, what we learnt and would pass on to other who want to do the same, but fully need to digest it first. We are doing a Q + A at "The Antelope" for the Sunday Screenings event on Sunday 4th from 7pm so please come and say hello if you can, where I will try and put something of use into words (we are also filming it so we can show those online).
For now, I'll just say thankyou to all that have backed us. From the cast and crew, to our backers ranging from complete strangers, to old Uni buddies, family, budding filmmakers and anyone else I don't know how to say anything else other than it wouldn't have been possible without you. I have added a new IndieGoGo video on our site www.indiegogo.com/clowningaroundfilm to sum it up but doesn't quite do it justice.
As a filmmaker who came up with an idea in 2004 and has kept going with it till now, it is incredible to feel the support and backing of so many people who want to see it made. A lot of people have asked me "how did you do it?" when they see our IndieGoGo campaign and the truth is I didn't. I surrounded myself with great people and a solid belief in what I was doing and that I don't like to disappoint people. I see my role as inspiring all these people to know they are part of something different and unique and their time and effort has been put on something that will further them.
So one last thing I will say is that I will ensure we are as engaging and interactive as we were during the campaign and if you feel we aren't...tell us.
We are now onto looking at locations, sorting equipment for the shoot, continuing our poster campaign and getting ready for the shoot dates we have set in October between 14th and 18th, where I hope you all feel we have done you justice in creating a fantastic short film.
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