Kickstarter just posted this clever sub-section of their site that highlights some of the more remarkable Kickstarter-related moments and campaigns from the last twelve months. Stick with it to see the DeLorean Hovercraft and the human-powered helicopter.
What's the power of a dollar on Kickstarter? More than you think.
Asking for money is an awkward thing. When the answer is "yes" it's great, but when it has to be "no," well, even saying "that's OK" gracefully can add to the uneasiness.
To avoid this, when I ask friends for contributions to a Kickstarter campaign (as I have been doing every day for the last two weeks), I make it clear that I'm only asking for a dollar. That's it. If they want to give more, great. We have some great rewards that anyone anywhere who loves film festivals will enjoy. But really, one dollar will make me really happy. Giddy even. A $1 request makes it really easy for the askee to say yes (almost everyone can pitch in a buck) and that $1 pledge carries way, way more weight than a simple tweet or a like.
Here's why.
Film Festival Secrets Podcast #16 - Get the choir singing: the foundations of indie film marketing
Filmmakers of Reddit: What are your festival experiences?
Most of the threads in the filmmakers section of Reddit are pretty blah – people talking gear, novices asking for help (and not getting it), poor souls in the middle of crowdfunding campaigns trolling for backers.
This thread, however, got my attention for actually getting some good responses quickly. Keep an eye on it, I think it might get interesting.
Film Festival Secrets Podcast #15 - Crowdfunding with Sundance Institute's Joe Beyer
Episode #15, in which Chris Holland talks crowdfunding with Joseph Beyer, Director of Digital Initiatives for the Sundance Film Festival & Institute. As one of the founders of Sundance's Artist Services program, Beyer has worked with Kickstarter on the successful funding of more than 90 crowdfunding campaigns, raising more than 2.8 million dollars since 2011. Joe now faces his biggest challenge in his first personal crowdfunding campaign — and because of the nature of the project, he can't use Kickstarter as his platform. Tune in for an informative and personal look at the technical, strategic, and emotional aspects of fundraising online.
Breckenridge woman charged with embezzling $200K from film festival
Jessica Smith, writing for the Summit Daily:
According to the affidavit, Foxx had been using film festival accounts from 2007 to 2012 for her personal use, in a manner not authorized by the board of directors. The affidavit stated that Foxx used fraudulent checks and credit cards for purchases of personal items, including clothing, rental cars, airline tickets, gambling and gardening supplies.
Gardening supplies? Their first clue that something was up should have been that a film festival employee had time for gardening.
Joking aside, the article goes on to say that the festival replaced its executive director and board of directors entirely in the wake of the previous administration's failure to detect that something was going on over a period of five years. It's remarkable that the festival was able to reboot in 2013 and is positioned to continue operating. Many festivals I know wouldn't be able to survive losses as large as the ones alleged here – which means they would be caught sooner, I suppose.
Film Festival Secrets Podcast #14 - Get ready to network
Film Festival Programming Is Like Cooking
Dan Brawley, executive director of the Cucalorus Film Festival, in an interview with MovieMaker Magazine:
I think people have the unfortunate perception that festival programmers are just taking the ‘good’ films. And that somehow if your film didn’t make the cut it means it isn’t very good, which is the farthest thing from the truth. The final decisions we make are entirely subjective. It’s kind of like putting a meal together, you know? Every course isn’t going to be blueberry cobbler.Now that I live in Atlanta I'm going to make time to get up to Wilmington, NC for Dan's festival. (Though sadly, I won't make it this year.) I've heard that it's amazing.
This year's Cucalorus Film Fest takes place November 13 - 17, 2013.
Why Do Film Festivals Reject Good Films?
How the International Random Film Festival selects films
Film Festival Secrets Podcast #13 - Will your short film make festival programmers happy?
Episode #13, featuring Charles Judson and Christina Humphrey, programmers I work with at the Atlanta Film Festival. Humphrey deals exclusively with short films and shares with us the emotional roller coaster of wading through thousands of submissions. If you've made a short film or you're just thinking about it, you want to listen.
Video Stores Explained To Modern Kids
Check out this video from BuzzFeed which explains what video stores were. I spent a lot of time in video stores in my 20s, and while I don't exactly miss the inconvenience, it's depressing to think of the conversations I'm not having about movies because these physical spaces are gone. I guess movie fans find each other online now, but that hardly seems like the same thing.
Stop Waiting on Sundance, 2013 edition
Ted Hope Departing as Head of San Francisco Film Society (EXCLUSIVE) | Variety
Attack of the Stealth Mountain!
Earlier this week I posted a minor rant about "sneak peaks" and why they drive me crazy. Imagine my delight to be researching a particular festival, only to discover a stealth mountain on their front page.
Film Festival Secrets Podcast #12 - 3 Questions To Ask Yourself As You Contemplate Your Film's Distribution
Episode #12, featuring Sheri Candler, Director of Digital Marketing Strategy for The Film Collaborative. Sheri shares the three questions that filmmakers should be asking themselves about their films – and usually don't – as they begin to contemplate that picture's distribution.
"Sneak peaks" and why they make me want to throw things.
3 Reasons Why You Should Make Your Short Film NOW...
Is now really the best time to make a short film? And, if you’re new to film, you’re not in film school and you don’t have industry connections… how do you even get started?
In this free webinar and discussion (and sneak preview to the Short Film 101 series starting Saturday, Oct 5), Kathy Cabrera will share the answers to these questions. She will address why now is the best time to make your short film; and three easy get-started tips that everyone novices to advanced filmmakers can use to jump into short filmmaking like a pro.
Film Festival Secrets Podcast #11 - Top 3 Mistakes Of Short Filmmaking
Episode 11, in which Atlanta Film Festival Artistic Director Charles Judson and I discuss common mistakes made by the makers of short films.
The Fiftieth Anniversary of the New York Film Festival
Fifty years ago, the New York Film Festival (which runs Sept. 27-Oct. 13) was launched at Lincoln Center as a noncompetitive “festival of festivals.” It was a time when the medium was still struggling to be taken seriously as an art form. Lincoln Center’s own chairman, John D. Rockefeller III, thought the event had no business being there, protesting, “Movies are like baseball.”
