Day 26: Funding the Films

Today I am talking about funding for my 3 feature films. As I am in funding for my 4th feature film I think back to raising money for my 3 other films. So lets take a trip back and see how much we raised for each film.

Back in 2013 I made my first Kickstarter campaign for Mousetrap with a goal of $500. We ended up raising $655.

In 2014 for Mousetrap 2 we used Kickstarter again with a goal of $1500 and raised $1776.

In 2015 for Sundog we used Kickstarter again with a goal of $5000 and raised $5600.

And now for Cottonwood we are not using Kickstarter, but have a goal of $5000. You may ask why we aren't going for $10,000 or $15,000. I mean we tripled all of our goals from before. Well for this project I knew I could pull it off for a minimum of $5000. I was not going to ask for a huge budget just so I could have a ton of money to work with. If I can tell a great story for $5000 than I will tell a great story for $5000.

As our campaign comes to an end I think back on all of the previous backers and supporters. Some people have came through and supported every film while others have never supported me before and are helping with Cottonwood. Anyway you put it these people are donating their hard earned cash to a young film director and his crew to produce a film. That drives me to make the best possible film I can make.

What I learned: Money is not necessary to tell a great story, but it sure does come in handy.