Crowdfunding: a first-rate way to put your name and craft out there - and meet people!

You’ll never make a movie happen on your own. For beginning screenwriters, finding collaborators is essential - and crowdfunding offers every opportunity to do so.

As a fresh talent in film business it used to be tough to get seen, heard and read. Today there are many options - aside from the physical ones (student networks, writer circles, seminars, workshops, conferences) - there's the web in all its glory (and with all its time-sucking procrastinatory joys, too). Today building meaningful networks of people on the same level of experience, people you can grow with, is eminently doable. If you don't, that's your choice, but the days when you could say that “you would have if you could have,” are definitely history.

I’ve just looked at my IMDB account and found that, to my surprise, that I have supported fifteen different film projects over the years. Now, in my case it was simply about pitching in financially to help others bring their films to life. But as a side-effect I’ve built up a network that now includes all of the producers and directors I would not have met otherwise. When you have such connections, it’s easy to pass on a script you’ve written, or offer to collaborate on their next project. Quite often it’s just that, if you’re there, connected, you’re top of mind and that’ll invariably increase your chances.

Crowdfunding is where you often find people with the same level of experience - it’s thus a great way to form early and strong relationships - and grow together (such decades-long collaborations are Hollywood history). And guess what - one animated short I’ve supported was nearly Oscar nominated, another featured the voice of the one and only Derek Jacobi, another Bonnie Wright (Ginny of Harry Potter fame) and two others, as far as I know, are now being developed as feature films.

Crowdfunding, aside from getting the funds, is about passion, creativity and network. As a newbie you should write shorts, find people who are on the same page, equally passionate - and then try to bring those stories to life with the help of crowdfunding. You may not succeed at first - lots of projects don’t raise the money - but that just means the filmmakers didn’t reach their audience - they didn't bring their passion across - they didn't manage to engage. And that’s something you can and must learn. Here’s the example of the McKinnon Brothers - as part of their crowdfunding campaign they engaged a great deal and offered perks from artwork to jewelry related to their project. I just felt very special and made me want to help support it right away.

And here’s another fantastic option by Kenny Gee - who filmed himself being beaten by thugs because he owes them money. He then comes up with a scheme to give them their money … what a fantastically original crowdfunding pitch that was - I mean honestly, how could one not support it, right? And yes, lots and lots of people did!

Crowdfunding takes guts - you’re putting yourself out there in the open - with the risk of everyone seeing you fall flat. But that’s the same guts that you need to stand up and pitch, to fight for your characters in meetings, to stay in the game despite all the rejections. In the process of crowdfunding you learn a lot about social media, about networking, about collaborating, about marketing. All of these help us become not just screenwriters - but produced screenwriters. And that’s why we’re in this nutso business of ours, isn't it? Not to make screenplays happen, but to make films happen.

Again, we're screenwriters - we cannot make movies happen on our own. Being a recluse doesn't help - getting our asses out there does. So, if you’ve been in the business for ages like me - involve yourself because it brings new spice into your networks. And if you’re a newbie - get into crowdfunding because there has never been a better way for you to make your short story come to life.

That’s it - get out there. And if you put up a project of yours on Kickstarter or some such, let me know and I’ll gladly take a look.

PS: I’ve supported a few shorts by director Ruth Pickett. Here’s one example. It is about a constable informing an elderly woman that her husband has died. But here’s the thing - it’s a comedy, and it’s pretty funny. Enjoy.