5,504 miles from Hollywood in Tampere, Finland, five “students and unemployed people” began reinventing moviemaking out of sheer necessity. Lacking the experience and resources to make STAR WRECK: IN THE PIRKINNING their ambitious sci-fi parody, they built a vibrant global community around the production, demonstrating the power of what they call “social filmmaking.”
Going far beyond the traditional model of face-to-face collaboration between handpicked cast and crew, director Timo Vuorensola and his four teammates were able to harness the creativity and expertise of people around the world they had never met. They developed a 3000-person community online, which yielded a writer, composer, and actors. Members of the community also translated the film into more than 30 languages and dialects.
The community created 50% of what ended up on screen. This includes spectacular special effects, 3D models, and digital environments, allowing this elaborate, effects-laden film to be made for only 15,000 Euros.
Their army of viral evangelists helped jumpstart the distribution of STAR WRECK when it was released in 2005. Timo and his team made the film freely available for download believing “you can double your income if you give something away for free.” Even though they didn’t have money for traditional marketing, the free availability of the film online created significant demand for the DVD. The filmmakers sold 10,000 DVDs (plus merchandise) directly from their website and also made retail DVD distribution deals in Scandinavia, the US, and the UK. Eight million free downloads later, they continue to sell DVDs in stores and online. The filmmakers have already earned 20 times what they spent making the film and revenues are still coming in.
A passionate advocate for social filmmaking, Timo developed wreckamovie.com, a new web platform that enables filmmakers to build online communities around their films and tap existing ones. Almost 100 projects--including features, documentaries, and shorts--have already signed up.
When I interviewed Timo at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, he was completing the financing of IRON SKY, his new sci-fi feature about Nazis on the moon. Timo and his team’s innovative use of social filmmaking on STAR WRECK helped them raise a substantial 4.2 million Euro budget from traditional financing sources for IRON SKY. Even with the luxury of an exponentially higher budget, Timo and his team are counting on the vital support of the IRON SKY community--already 1000 strong and growing--to collaborate creatively and tirelessly spread the word.
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In her quest to change the world, Franny Armstrong has already changed how films can be funded. She designed an innovative “crowd-funding” strategy that has raised over $1 million dollars--£590,000 for the production and distribution of her new feature THE AGE OF STUPID and £164,321 for the Not Stupid social action campaign. A documentary/fiction hybrid, THE AGE OF STUPID is set in the “devastated world of 2055,” where a lone archivist (played by Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite) views footage from 2008 and asks “why we didn’t stop climate change when we had the chance.”
Franny, producer Lizzie
Gillett, executive producer John Battsek, and the
“Stupid Team” developed and implemented a
brilliant fundraising plan. They raised all of the
money through contributions from individuals and
groups, rather than from the usual suspects: studios,
TV networks, distributors, and government agencies.
This approach guaranteed their creative freedom, and
gave them complete control of revenues and
distribution, enabling them “to distribute the
film as far and as wide as our imaginations
allow.”
They devised an unprecedented way to
give large contributors (who gave at least £2500) a
percentage of any profits. These contributions are
structured as loans that don’t need to be repaid,
avoiding the cumbersome regulations that apply to
traditional investments. The 228 large contributors
have also been an important ongoing source of
additional resources and support. Small contributors
who donate £20 or more receive “a warm and fuzzy
feeling,” screening tickets, and depending on the
amount, credit on the website or DVD. The first half of
the budget was raised offline during the 2 years before
and during production, when the film’s
provocative content was top secret. Franny and Lizzie
scored £87,500 at their first two pitch sessions with
potential contributors. The team raised the other half
of the budget after the wraps came off and the website
was launched.
The website for THE AGE OF
STUPID is
exemplary. Its vibrant and dynamic content has been
very effective generating awareness of the film and
its issues, raising money, and attracting visitors.
The website has its own persona, reflecting
Fanny’s. It’s passionate, persuasive,
and cheeky. It’s also open and generous,
sharing a wealth of information on the team’s
fundraising strategies, including a primer on
How to Crowd Fund Your
Film,
detailed Crowd-Funding FAQs, and the film's
fundraising
plan.
THE AGE OF STUPID will
have an eco-friendly People’s Premiere
on March 15, 2009 in
64 cinemas around England linked by a live satellite
hook-up (some tickets are still available). This
green carpet event will originate from a
solar-powered cinema tent in Leicester Square.
Distribution in the U.S. and around the world will
follow the UK launch. To facilitate widespread
grassroots screenings, the “Stupid Team”
has developed “Indie Screenings.” This
new software, which processes screening requests and
determines license fees, will be made available to
independent filmmakers.
25 million viewers
worldwide saw Franny’s documentary
McLibel. Her goal is to have 250 million
see THE AGE OF STUPID and turn them into climate
change activists through the Not Stupid campaign.
The campaign is designed to “rally serious
pressure on the decision makers” who will
participate in the United Nations Climate Change
Conference.
A new treaty, succeeding the Kyoto Protocol, is
expected to be signed at this summit (to be held in
Copenhagen December 2009).
Franny’s innovations are expanding the
possibilities for filmmakers. She has already had 20
serious inquiries from filmmakers hoping to follow in
THE AGE OF STUPID's fundraising footsteps. U.S.
filmmakers can explore which innovative arrangements
with contributors will comply with American
regulations. As traditional film financing has gotten
more difficult, “crowd-funding” offers a
new way to finance films, retain creative control, and
build a network of committed supporters. The
“Stupid Team” has already made independent
filmmakers smarter and will hopefully make global
citizens smarter as well.
Jill Sobule is as irresistible online as she is on stage. Her persona on the web is so distinctive and compelling that she’s been able to finance her new album with $85,000 in online contributions. Jill is a singer/songwriter whose music is a unique blend of the deeply personal, the socially conscious, and the slyly satirical. Her provocative 1995 hit single “I Kissed a Girl” was the first song with overtly gay content ever played on Top 40 radio, and the hit MTV music video is now a classic.
Jill did her time in the old school music business, making a series of record deals with two major labels and two indie labels (both of which crashed and burned). While record companies struggled to fend off the internet, Jill embraced it to take control of her career. She developed a strong online presence, which enabled her to build direct relationships with her fans and attract new ones. She blogged on Yahoo Music and The Huffington Post, was featured on the TED website singing a happy song about global warming to Al Gore and performing with Julia Sweeney, and appeared on the NPR website singing about an improbable tryst with the most-unlikely of celebrities.
Most importantly, she dreamed up and developed outstanding sites of her own. JillSobule.com is a great example of how to create an online persona. It features the Jill Story (with a fake bio made up of “filthy lies” and an official one), Jill’s Journal (her funny and engaging blog), Happytown (a discussion area for fans), Jill Store, and lots of free music downloads. Jill’s site is infused with the same humor, authenticity, and personality that define her music. Fans feel like they’re connecting with the real Jill, just like the fans of filmmakers Kevin Smith and David Lynch, who have also created distinctive persona-driven websites.
BusinessWeek posted an illuminating feature, “Indie Filmmakers Hit Their Target,” analyzing how independents are taking control of their own marketing and distribution. The article explores “the transformation of the film industry” and documents how filmmakers are “skipping [conventional] deals and using the Internet to get their stories in front of people who want to hear them.” The website also includes a useful slideshow with commentary. Read More...
Every independent filmmaker should be building and nurturing a core personal audience. The bigger and more loyal the audience, the greater the revenues and creative freedom for the filmmaker. Read More...
Filmmakers who control their distribution can be as creative bringing their films into the world as they are making them. Arin Crumley and Susan Buice are the poster couple for distribution as a creative act. Read More...
Aspiring to be a superstar? Trying to connect with your fans? Determined to build a core audience? Make it happen online. Create direct relationships with viewers around the world and turn them into loyal supporters of your work. Read More...
It’s not a secret weapon. It’s so powerful that sites ranging from Wikipedia to Ebay couldn’t exist without it. I emphasize its importance every time I do a presentation and talk about it with all of my clients. But “user contributed content” is hard to define and harder to understand. Read More...
I want to devote my first mailing to Digimart, the remarkable global summit that brought together digital distribution leaders from around the world. They came from China, South Africa, Australia, Peru, Brazil, as well as across Europe and North America, to share the lessons learned on the cutting edge of film and video distribution. Read More...