ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

11 years, 4 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

I'd say for a web series, crowdfunding is pretty much the only model that will turn up any money. Grants are few and far between (unless you know different...in which case do tell!), investors need a return as you say. And the financial returns on web series are pretty negligible TBH, certainly not reliable enough for any sane investor to sink cash or any sane producer to risk their investment contacts. Crowdfunding spreads the risks between enthusiasts, they are buying into the creative project itself, not into the financial reward investors want to derive from the sale of said project.

11 years, 4 months ago - Marlom Tander

Your key problem - you want a Producer on board for a web series to be funded through crowdfunding. Any sensible Producer will think "time suck alert - major time investment for a project that probably won't get funded", so I suggest that you make it clear that :-

EITHER - you don't want the producer to do anything more than a couple of meetings and perhaps a days work until there are funds

OR - you have a plan of campaign that convinces them that you know what you are doing when it comes to running a successful crowd funding campaign, or why your project is likely to succeed in a crowd funding environment, and what exactly you need the producer to do to make that happen.

Good luck

11 years, 4 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Marlom is spot on here as usual. Producers/PM's like to produce (spend money) and don't like the grief of raising money to pay their own fees. Rather, if they have the will to invest time and effort into raising money, they'll already have their own projects they want to produce.

If you want someone to examine your budgets and put their name to your campaign but not do all the dealing with twitter, questions, trying to whip up investors, then make that clear. If you want someone to raise finances for the shoot (and their own fee), it's another thing altogether.

If the former, maybe offer a budgeting fee upfront (even £100 or so) to show the producers you're serious and have more sunk into the project than 'just' some creative ideas!

11 years, 4 months ago - Steven James

Hi Marlom and Paddy - really appreciate the advice! Just to be clear I am not looking for any up front assistance.

The Producer would only need to get involved once the funds have been raised. I only want to get someone in the mix before I start my campaign. I feel that looking for funding without any Producer on board might be a bad idea, although perhaps I am thinking too much into this.

Perhaps in my job postings I need to be more clear that I do not expect any work to be done before the money is raised..

Thanks for pointing this out :)

11 years, 4 months ago - Vasco de Sousa

If you ain't raising the money, why do you care how it's raised? Why does it have to be crowdfunding? There's your problem. A good, experienced, producer will be able to raise money through private investors.

If it's a friend who is connected to the film in other ways (key talent, for instance), then crowdfunding is an option. But, film finance is a risky business, and the potential reward needs to be high enough. It might actually be easier to raise money through grants and/or investors than through crowdfunding.

But, maybe you want a line producer? The problem here is committing time to something that may not happen. (A lot of producers do actually raise the money, or find investors and buyers. Read a book on production, or at least on film jobs before taking advice on the Internet from people who know less than you do.)

If you script is the best ever, then a producer might take the risk. Then again, so might a studio, or a commercial production company.

11 years, 4 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

I'm inclined to agree that being able to talk about your producers experience might reassure some kickstarter investors. Whoever signs up to produce should at least check and agree the budget before your campaign though - it's easy to underestimate costs.