Crowdfunding Made Easy

Join crowdfunding expert Gerry Maravilla from Seed & Spark to learn how to create a successful campaign.To learn more about Carole Dean and From the Heart Productions please visit www.FromtheHeartProductions.com.    

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Love Talk Radio Hi and welcome to the Art of Film Funding. I'm your co-host, Claire Capan. Along with Carol Dean, author of the best-selling book, The Art of Film Funding. Carol is also the founder and president of From the Heart Productions and the host of this show. Jerry Maravilla is an LA-based filmmaker and the head of crowdfunding at Seed and Spark. Jerry has made several award-winning shorts, including Cross, which he funded on Seed and Spark, and went on to screen at the Newport Beach Film Festival, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, and many more. His work has been featured in press outlets such as Business Insider, Pitchfork, Rima's Cla, and more, many more places as well. Find Jerry on social media for the real scoop at Jerry Meravilla. And Carol from the Heart is a partner with Seed and Spark, and your fiscally sponsored filmmakers use them for crowdfunding as well, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:26

They do, Claire. Thank you very much. And we're honored to work with Seed and Spark because our filmmakers have had many successful campaigns with them. And we thank you for joining us today, Jerry.

SPEAKER_07 1:39

Oh, thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

Well, we want to cover creating a successful campaign and we want to focus on dispelling some myths that are out there about crowdfunding because we want to give our filmmakers statistics and personal stories so they understand the nuance and the energy and the whole attitude you need to take with you into the crowdfunding arena. Um and what I find about Seed and Spark is that you all seem to work together as a unit and that your company has a personality of care and concern for filmmakers. Uh is this intentional? Because this is what people feel and that's how they relate to you.

SPEAKER_07 2:28

Um yeah, I mean I'm really glad that that is the uh way that people feel about Ced and Spark. I think that really comes from the fact that uh so many of us who work at uh Ced and Spark are also filmmakers ourselves. Um that's honestly how my my I came uh to work with the company was that I was looking to crowdfund my own short film. And uh after not being able to find uh private investment or being told no many times, um I saw Emily Best, the founder and CEO, speak, and she shared her own personal story about trying to get her own film funded and the people that told her no or wanted her to make outrageous creative changes to it, um, and uh really resonated with that and was able to launch the campaign for my short cross. Um and uh really just felt taken care of by by the company and by the people that worked there by Emily, and at the time was Erica Anderson, one of the co-founders of the company. Um and so we're always looking at how we can do what's best for filmmakers because it also helps us because we continue to make work and and uh create ourselves.

SPEAKER_03 3:34

Well, now what is the mission statement and tell us what you do to achieve that?

SPEAKER_07 3:41

Yeah, I think that uh Emily put it really succinctly and really powerfully um when she said that you know, at C Dunspark, we want to change the world with storytelling when everyone can see themselves represented on screen, um, and that we can be part of empowering all people to take part in shaping how we see our past, our present, and and our future. Um and so that's I mean, it's a big uh mission statement, you know, trying to change the world through storytelling. But we really, you know, from all of our own experiences uh as a company, as people really feeling that film and stories, series have really made a profound impact on our lives and shaped the way we view things. Um and so if we can create a platform for filmmakers on the crowdfunding and on the streaming side as well, but uh that can help make and facilitate uh creators to make work that wouldn't otherwise have that opportunity or that window, we can start to see so many different perspectives, so many different backgrounds, so many different stories that wouldn't uh get the time or day uh or spotlight um in the traditional system.

SPEAKER_03 4:51

Well, that's important. Now uh talk to us about the owners of CD and Spark. You just mentioned our Emily Best is the founder, and Erica Anderson is the co-founder. Is that it?

SPEAKER_07 5:04

Uh yes, yes. And there's also um Matt Silverman and James Kalen uh as other co-founders for for the company. Um and uh yeah, they again they they met a few years ago um and Emily was working with uh Erica on trying to produce uh a f a feature film called Like the Water. That was about a group of friends, uh all women uh in Maine, and uh they were doing it independently and were struggling to try to find all the financing and resources that that they needed. Um and so uh Emily kind of created a website like that operated a bit like a wedding registry uh where they line listed all of the items that they needed in order to complete the film, and they were able to accept uh cash contributions as well as in-kind donations. So, you know, aside from money, they also got things like uh a house in Maine to shoot as uh donated to the production, as well as things things like bug spray, too.

SPEAKER_03 6:09

But this is so important. I tell filmmakers that, you know, it's not just money you need, you need someone to do the social networking for you, let them donate uh three hours uh a week. At the end of the year, that's just like putting in one month in a normal job and give them a social networking credit on your film for that because it's consistency that pays off, and having someone to do that for you, and you you need someone on your crew, you could use a driver, someone for food, millions of things you need. So you have to I say write it right on the same page, say we also need, and list it. Emily is right on top of it. That's exactly what you need to do.

SPEAKER_07 6:54

Yeah, I think it also helps create trust with the people who uh you're looking to receive funds or items from, you know, that the fact that they can see that you've thought about it and listed it out indicates that you've gone this extra step.

SPEAKER_03 7:09

Exactly. You know where you're going and exactly what you need. And that's a good producer. Now, do you does Seed and Spark only work with filmmakers?

SPEAKER_06 7:20

Uh yeah, that's a good question.

SPEAKER_07 7:21

Uh, we work with people, I guess the nice overarching umbrella term is uh moving picture creators because we also allow for people who are making series, um, people who um are also doing uh working in the VR space, um the virtual reality uh new technology. So we've had a couple of virtual reality campaigns, but um it is limited to those things. So, you know, feature films, uh short films, documentaries, uh narratives, and and VR. We don't really allow for um things like uh comic books or products to raise on the site, but we have had film festivals and production companies raise. So we're we're kind of open to film, film-related, you know, moving picture storytelling uh related uh campaign.

SPEAKER_03 8:09

Right. Well d well said. Well, you know, we had to redo our whole bylaws because of the change in the terminology because film is is part of my being. I can't help but say filmmakers and and uh and think of it as film when there is no film anymore, really. So we had to rewrite everything and make it media, media production. Ah so I understand and moving pictures.

SPEAKER_05 8:37

That works the the long form uh of the word movies, right?

SPEAKER_03 8:44

Yes, right on. So now tell us what Ced and Spark's three to five year goals are. Where are you guys going?

SPEAKER_07 8:52

Yeah, I think we really, you know, we're working really hard to be the uh destination for crowdfunding um for filmmakers, not only uh you know, not only for filmmakers who are starting out, but filmmakers who are uh further along in their career, because we've seen crowdfunding really be an instrumental tool in building your audience and communicating with them. Um and through other initiatives and partnerships that we have with film festivals and other you know production companies and and other people working in the film industry, really trying to create the CN Spark as a place where that's where you go when you want to grow your career as a creator. Um and then on the distribution side, distribution side as well, you know, we've started uh uh offering um a streaming platform uh that is more equitable and fair in terms of what we think in terms of the numbers breakdown for filmmakers. Um so really trying to create a place where filmmakers can grow their career and create um sustainable, sustainable career at that point, you know, where they can continue they can continue to make work um and also have a place to stay, you know, have places to live, be able to afford food and things like that. It's very unfortunate that so many people feel like they have to choose between um art or having any sort of normalcy in terms of uh finances. And so if we can be a voice of change in that economy, uh that's what we are striving to do and working towards um in the those three to five years.

SPEAKER_03 10:28

Perfect. Now you just mentioned something about a distribution setup, so tell us more about that.

SPEAKER_07 10:35

Yes, um, so we are a stream subscription streaming platform, so people can pay uh right now it's$6.99 per month, um, and you get access to a library of over um 200 uh shorts, features, and series. Uh and what we have is that with you know it's we're curated through our programming team uh and they look at different films from all over at festivals, from submissions. But what we offer that differently is that we do instead of paying you out right away with a big chunk, like say some of the bigger online distributors do, uh, every filmmaker is paid out quarterly by uh the minutes watched on their film, and it's a um shared revenue split between Stephen Spark and the filmmaker. Um and another important distinction is that the filmmakers get access to the data of who is watching, which we think is very important of knowing you know who is watching your films, where are they watching from, and you know, how long they're watching for. Uh, because that can be very uh essential information in learning how to better strategize for your next project or for your career overall.

SPEAKER_03 11:44

Absolutely. Uh where they're watching it, meaning on their cell phone or their iPad or their computer or on would they be able to stream it on their television sets?

SPEAKER_07 11:58

Yeah, yeah. So we are do have um access to C and Spark subscription through Roku and Apple TV devices as well, too. So that'll also be valuable learning. You know, I can imagine if if I was a filmmaker trying to create something and I learned that all of my audience have watched my last project on their phone, that might uh really affect my creative decisions in terms of what camera I use, you know, do I need to spend a bunch of money on a camera that shoots huge resolution kind of images if people are watching it on a smaller screen. So all of that intel can you know affect creative decisions, budgetary decisions, a lot of things that are very valuable um for having a career.

SPEAKER_03 12:41

Absolutely right. I was having lunch with the cinematographer yesterday, and uh he was talking about uh the uh it the numbers now. It's and he's uh he's talking about the new cameras and it is like 4K, right? And then it's six K, now it's up to eight K. But the interesting thing he shared with me, Jerry, is that the eye, the human eye cannot discern between it can't see any difference between four K, six K, or eight K. It can't. Once it 4K is all it can see. So if you are streaming like in a theater on a really big screen, that's when you really are interested in the larger 8K. That would be terrific. But when you're working with uh cell phones, people you can 4K is fine, right?

SPEAKER_07 13:40

Yes, exactly. I mean 4K is still beautiful and looks great and can give you some options in post-production of punching in on certain shots if you need to. So it's really, you know, all of this knowledge and all this information can uh very much influence uh the the best way to approach a project. And so it's we think it's really valuable for filmmakers to know how audiences are engaging with their work.

SPEAKER_03 14:06

Exactly. That is very important, and who's engaging, getting those names because that's what uh uh people say to me when they sell their film to Netflix, it's gone. It's like kissing goodbye, you'll never know who watched it, or uh you'll never know your audience, you never get any feedback from anybody. And the same with Amazon. When you uh work with Amazon, even as on a a profit sharing or shared revenue situation, they don't give you the names, is what I hear, right?

SPEAKER_07 14:36

Yeah, no, they don't really have access to data on those larger platforms. Um that's kind of the way that they operate, and so we wanted to try to create that an alternative for filmmakers so that they could have the information that they're not getting from those other places.

SPEAKER_03 14:52

Well, that's smart. And and also being able to stream this on Roku or Apple, uh this is really up to date. You guys are staying in the forefront here. Well done. Well Yeah. So now uh this is what you're calling the streaming side, the distribution streaming side, right?

SPEAKER_04 15:12

Yes. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 15:13

Okay. So anyone that wants to know more about that, they could contact you or someone at C and Spark. Ex uh tell us how they could reach someone.

SPEAKER_07 15:23

Yes, um, so I'm I'm available pretty easy. It's Jerry with a G at CdNSpark.com. But uh we also have on our homepage, you can kind of get a sense at just at CdNSpark.com, the different films we have um or projects that we have distributing. And then if you're interested in distribution, you can uh go to our uh for filmmakers section at the top bar, and there's a stream on C and Spark, Candspark.com slash distribution, and that kind of gives you a basic breakdown, and then there's also a form in which you can submit your work if you're interested in having it stream with us.

SPEAKER_03 15:58

Right. This is great. Okay. Now um I would love to know what your campaign success rate is because I hear uh filmmakers uh I'd have to say 90% of my filmmakers, I think 95%, have been have had successful campaigns. So from what I see, you're running higher than Indiegogo or Kickstarter. Do you have uh an a uh a percentage of your success rate?

SPEAKER_07 16:27

Yeah, so our success rate um across all campaigns has been 80%, which uh we feel very Yeah, so eighty um and I uh you know we feel very proud of that. Um and that really comes from the fact that uh every project that comes through CNN Spark gets personalized feedback from uh a member of the crowdfunding team, either myself or or Christina, who works with me on that side. And so we really try to uh look at your materials um and then study successful campaigns and trends and crowdfunding and share with filmmakers the information, uh, the things that they can do to improve the campaign, um, to better position it for success.

SPEAKER_03 17:11

Well, that's what will do it, the personal service. This is really important. And um uh the problem a lot of times is that filmmakers uh get their budget confused with how much they can raise. I mean, they it l sometimes they will come to us and say, you know, I have I have 500 names on Facebook and uh my budget is uh thirty-two thousand dollars. I want to raise that. And and then what do you say to someone who says that? I mean, how do you get them back to reality?

SPEAKER_07 17:48

I think it's really about sharing the numbers and data um and kind of just focus on what's the factual realities of what we've seen in crowdfunding, and that's where we do have a benefit from um seeing what everything that's been on our platform, but by also looking at other platforms, you know, and just the harvesting that knowledge and sharing it about, you know, like having there's traditionally like a 1% conversion rate from social media shares to campaign contributions. So having five or one percent.

SPEAKER_03 18:20

Oh, I'm so glad to hear you say that because I've been I pull that out of the ethers and I've been saying that because that's what I feel, but it's true, one percent from social media.

SPEAKER_07 18:31

Exactly. Social media is a great tool and it's very powerful, but there's a lot of misconception that, you know, oh, I have a lot of followers is gonna equate to a lot of money, and that's not uh necessarily true. What I we always try to get filmmakers to look at is the email list of they their own email list and the email list of their team members who are going to be actively working with them on the campaign, because there's about a 20 to 30 percent conversion rate when you reach out via email. Um and so that becomes a far more effective tool. Um and and then also that kind of helps you understand where you are in terms of what you're gonna be able to raise by looking at what your email list is.

SPEAKER_03 19:13

What you're saying tw a 20% conversion rate, because I tell filmmakers five percent, that they really have to consider that that would be a possibility. In other words, if they have a thousand names, uh 50 people will definitely donate. And uh and I usually say that there it's between 70 and 100 will be your average uh donation. And yeah, so that means$3,500 to$5,000 you could raise with a thousand emails. So where are you in those numbers?

SPEAKER_07 19:52

So we I we look at uh you know, t about 20% of an email list will contribute, but that's if the filmmaker is doing direct personalized outreach to that email list. So it's moving away from sending large email blasts because those are similar to a share on social media, they're impersonal. Um, and so they're much easier for people to overlook or not feel like you're talking to them specifically. Um if you do that direct email outreach, you'll have a higher conversion rate. And you're right, the average amount contributed is about$100, and the most common amount uh that's contributed is at the$25 tier. So often what I will tell filmmakers who are looking at those larger goals is to really take a look at their email list, and considering that the most common contribution is$25, and about 20 to 30% of that email list will contribute, does that get you how far away are you from your goal when you just crunch those hard numbers, which is never my favorite thing because you know I I I wanted to be a filmmaker. Um I love art, not math, but math can be very helpful um in helping just understand uh the reality of what what's possible.

SPEAKER_03 21:15

This is brilliant. Okay, so let's do do the 1,000 names again and say, okay, now we're talking about 200 names at uh$25 each, which is again$5,000. We're back to that number. That's interesting. Yeah, yeah, and and yes, it it works. When you can prove it, you know it's gonna work.

SPEAKER_07 21:41

Yeah, and and you know, people say, Well, what about appealing to people outside of my network? And that's really about doing the audience building and outreach, but also keeping in mind the perception of momentum that goes into crowdfunding campaigns. So you want to have that thirty percent of your goal coming in early because that will help. people you don't know or people you don't know as well that you're cultivating in your audience development um feel com more comfortable with contributing to your campaign uh because it's like you know if if a campaign's been up for three weeks and it's at five percent people feel like it's not going to happen. Versus if it's in its second week and it's at 60%, it's much more likely that someone wants to jump on board and help support you because it feels like it's going to be a sure thing.

SPEAKER_03 22:29

Everybody wants to work with a winner.

SPEAKER_07 22:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 22:33

That's very true. That's what it's true. So tell us how do you get to thirty percent in the first three or four days? What do you recommend?

SPEAKER_07 22:42

So that we really encourage filmmakers to reach out to their most dedicated supporters um and tell let them know early on about what they're planning that the campaign's going to launch on this day and that you know they really could use their help and can they count on their on their donation or contribution to come in. And having that pre-committed and having those confirmations come in. So then that way once you click that launch button you can follow up with those people and you know just remind them if they need to be so that they can help push you to that to that marker. And you know it's different who that most core bunch of supporters are going to be kind of varies from who you are as a filmmaker where and where you're at with your career. So a lot of the times you know for first-time filmmakers making a project with a larger budget that can be their for their friends and family or colleagues. Sometimes for a mid-career filmmaker it will be the people who really supported and loved their last project it can very much differ but it would be the people who you can reach out to and then doing that outreach early is what's really key.

SPEAKER_03 23:53

Doing the outreach early so all right let's start there how what do you recommend they do? Do you they send out emails saying I'm going to run a Seed and Spark campaign in a few weeks and I need your support. I hope you'll be part of my team or what?

SPEAKER_07 24:10

Yeah so that would be part of it is sending out an email to people and being like we're planning to launch a Seed and Spark campaign for this project. You can share a preview link of your campaign you know anything that you can do to further showcase um the potential of the film and and communicate why their support is is important in it. So you know we're making this film uh we've already you know we have this teaser or we shot this thing uh here you can take a look at our page and the way it's set up um in order for us to really make this happen we need to hit a certain marker uh can I count on your support when we launch on this day or you know as much information as you can give them and then you know really building in that time to allow them to respond I think a common mistake is that a lot of filmmakers want to launch the campaign and then start the work um when so much takes place before beforehand, just like a movie. You know like the longer you have in pre-production the better production is the same thing with a crowdfunding campaign. The more time you spend prepping the campaign the better the campaign will be.

SPEAKER_03 25:16

Oh I so agree. This is how I tell filmmakers that you might as well treat it just like a production. And it's the pre-production that makes you the money put your mind on it take your magnificent creativity and turn it into seed and spark fundraising campaign nothing more. Give that two or three months your total focus and you'll walk away with a good amount of money a decent amount of money to help you get started with your right yep that's total focus well all right let's get to one of the things that uh it that people find very confusing and that's the secret to setting your goal for the campaign. So we talked about the money about the numbers so um then you you go over that with them and do you recommend a goal for them or do you uh help them make a decision?

SPEAKER_07 26:15

Yeah I'll try to help them make the decision or just provide options for them. So if you know as we talked about getting that email list and calculating based off the average amount and where does that get you um if you know sometimes with certain projects it's like I need fifty thousand dollars to make this film um and but your network's not quite there so what we'll recommend is can you set a lower goal based off of um what your network numbers do show um that and then be just be clear about how it's moving the project forward in a meaningful way. So one of the things we do is we do allow camp uh filmmakers to raise in stages for a project. So you may not be able to raise that$50,000 right away but if you raise say$10 or$15,000 you could take a substantial step forward in and get everything in pre-production lined up if you had a larger scale production in which you needed to hire somebody like a line producer or a casting agent and all of these different elements. And as long as we found that audiences respond well as long as the filmmaker is clear into what the project what the campaign is communicating what it's going to accomplish and then it's about keeping your you know backers, your supporters updated as you're moving forward with those things. So there's different strategy points that might work for a filmmaker and so outside of trying to give them that information about how to reach those certain financial goals you know other different strategies or tactics they can take if they aren't able to get everything in one crowdfunding campaign.

SPEAKER_03 27:53

Oh absolutely agree multiple campaigns work I've just seen that happen so many times with the from with From the Heart where we've helped people with campaigns because just because you have a$100,000 budget doesn't mean you can raise that in one time. One woman I worked with raised over a hundred thousand but it it was through four campaigns over about uh sixteen months and her crowd stayed with her and grew every time because she would say this is for A B C I need this money to do these things and then she would go back and say thank you we did it here we are now we've done that we need to do this and they stayed with her. She kept raising money.

SPEAKER_07 28:40

Yeah yeah I think that definitely you know being clear about what you're raising for as well as every time if you do go back to CrowdFund again showing how you've made progress then you know then there's no there's really tend to not be as much of an issue there with people saying oh they they used my money well um and they're they're moving forward.

SPEAKER_03 29:01

And and staying in touch with those people uh I highly recommend that you consider them your database. They are your core financiers and you treat them with great respect and keep them updated every two or three months uh those CD and Spark donors should know where you are with your film. What do you suggest that?

SPEAKER_07 29:24

Absolutely I mean I think filmmakers shouldn't shouldn't make the mistake of of uh leaving those people in the dark uh these are a group of people who have paid for you to create and have paid to view your work. Um and that is what at the end of the day I think why you know filmmakers make things is they want to make stories and have people watch them and experience them. So you have a unique opportunity through crafting to have a direct pipeline or communication with those individuals. So don't don't take that for granted at all and be sure to communicate you know how things are moving along. If the movie's done how can they see it? What if you're playing at a festival, you know, let them know how they can get tickets, all of that information um because those will be the people that those are the people who believed in the project and believed in you as a creator at it at an earlier stage.

SPEAKER_03 30:16

And those people are the ones you're going to want to hold on to for as long as you can as long as you can yes take them keep them with you through your entire uh career. Well what we love about Seed and Spark is that you welcome films that are fiscally sponsored by nonprofits like From the Heart. So any special instructions or suggestions for people who are working with fiscally sponsored uh product where they have a 501c3 behind them.

SPEAKER_07 30:49

Anything special for them that you could recommend oh yeah I would just say you know we oh when you're building your page there's an element where you can specify that you're working with a fiscal sponsor. It would be about finding the right one for you that matches the project and then in terms of the logistics of setting up the page you want to make sure that you have communication with your fiscal sponsor because you'll need to make them an ad an administrator on your campaign page so that they can input account information and be able to view everything and so you have that shared collaborative process. The account information is important just because of the way the U.S. tax laws operate in that a fiscal sponsor has to be the entity that receives the funds for it to be considered under like the 501c3 tax deductible status. But you know we rarely we love working with fiscal sponsors. We've worked with very many appreciate all the projects that from the heart have sent over to to work with us as well. Honestly for some filmmakers it can be an asset to be with a fiscal sponsor because then those donations are tax deductible and that can be just much in terms of messaging or communicating or for whatever the tax needs of your particular project it can be more beneficial for for a filmmaker that way.

SPEAKER_03 32:12

Great thank you well I understand that you have to reach 80% of your goal in order to get the funds you've collected right? I mean tell us how that works.

SPEAKER_07 32:26

Yeah so since we're a a platform specifically for film and filmmakers we wanted to make our threshold one that helps get more work made and so all or nothing can be very uh can be kind of harsh you know if you're trying to raise$10,000 and you raise like$9,500 and you don't get to keep any of it, that's uh a real bummer and and you know thinking about the way independent film works is that you often have to be extremely resourceful um and uh hardworking in order to get something done and that we've seen that most filmmakers can make their project happen at 80% of their budget. We didn't want to go with the keep what you raise model because if you say I'm trying to raise$10,000 and you only raise a thousand, uh you're not going to be able necessarily be able to deliver on the promise of what you pitched to those audience supporters there. So it feels a little feels a little not right to keep that money if you're not going to be able to make the movie as you uh envisioned it. So 80% seems to be the the right number in terms of making sure that the project can happen um and happen at the way in which you envisioned it.

SPEAKER_03 33:42

Okay. So but they have like a a contact they have a representative from CNSpark with they w that they work with uh daily in other words let's say that you're at about 60% and you're panicking because you have maybe five or six days left um would they get a consultation with you or one of your employees to help them get through that crisis?

SPEAKER_07 34:08

Yeah so when you submit for feedback um you have one crowdfunding specialist that you work with you know throughout prepping the campaign and then you know we check in on you and you can definitely still reach out for campaign strategy questions or concerns and you know sometimes often you know like filmmakers have reached out and we provide you know some tips or tactics you know things or strategies things to take but I'll be honest a lot of the time it really just feels like talking talking down somebody from like the ledge like 60% with five days like it's still really good. You know like I think being just that voice of of positivity and focusing on what's working uh can just kind of maybe just shift the mentality of the team and then push them in that right direction. I don't really feel like we have any like magic answers or anything. It's just like here are some things to try and you're doing great like don't panic and that can be enough to bring a a film exactly right Jerry.

SPEAKER_03 35:07

You know they just are so focused and trying so hard and then they and then they go off the rails and they think oh my gosh I'm not gonna make it but they really all they need is a helping hand so I'm so glad you're there for them because I don't think the other platforms are. I mean we are and that's why we we love to work with filmmakers in campaigns because it's a key issue. You feel so alone out there. You must have experienced that feeling of I'm all on my own here when you ran your campaign.

SPEAKER_07 35:39

Oh yeah there's definitely extreme highs and lows that that come with it um and it can be a bit of a just an endurance test of having that but I you know was really thankful to have the support of Stephen Spark when I did my campaign and I had really good um producers that were also there to help me uh through those harder times but uh you know I think just keeping that positivity and keeping that momentum going you know they say that that's true of so many things in entertainment or in business but it I found it to be very true the more you can keep your head focused and you know just keep doing the work um the stronger and the more activity and the more support I saw come through. So it definitely there is a psychological element to it that is key. Yes yes there really is well um okay let me ask you about payment uh once the campaign is over how long is it before the money is uh put in the account yeah so typically we process payment as soon as we uh the campaign closes and it can take up to five to seven business days for all the money to come through usually it can happen a little bit faster um but there's different issues sometimes with banks different banks have different policies and stuff and not everyone who contributes your campaign has the same bank so we give ourselves a five to seven day business five to seven business day thing just to be kind of uh all-encompassing.

SPEAKER_03 37:09

Okay that's really fast uh that's great now um do you encourage people to keep their calendar free during the campaign?

SPEAKER_07 37:20

Oh yeah you want to definitely schedule again like you would a film so uh knowing what you're doing like I don't I you know if you do enough pre-planning you shouldn't be having to do everything on the campaign all the time and that is your only light. Um but if you have a good team you know we we say that it's important to have a team uh friends don't let friends crowdfund alone um so uh having a team and a schedule so everyone understands who's reaching out to who's posting what um where it's being posted the times and things like that that can be so helpful so that way you can devote as you know you've devoted a lot of time beforehand that you can devote the necessary time during the campaign but if um that prevents it from being an all-encompassing all consuming endeavor in which there's nothing else that you can do with your life.

SPEAKER_03 38:13

Right. Okay well how many people do you suggest they have on a team um that can some that can vary depending on the goal um for you know uh in terms of how much they are trying to raise so the more you're trying to raise the larger your team should be but when I did I did my campaign for 15000 and I had a team of about four people that were there and helping out in different capacities from uh producers and and and uh my lead actor as well you know and while I was kind of the main hub and orchestrator of the campaign I was communicating with these other uh key members at different points to to hit the goal and so um it can really depend or vary but uh even like even if it's just like one or two other people if you're trying to raise between like five to twenty uh that can just be helpful for the psychological thing we talked about of having uh uh yes a group of people to like lift each other to lift each other up during those harder times well yes and it's the same thing as making a film we're we're both agreeing on that it's the same thing as making a film you need a crew you need your crew there to help you and everybody jumps in they will so appreciate the money because they have worked to get it as a team you know so uh no it's it's getting their crowdfunding database what if somebody comes to you and says okay Jerry I want to run a campaign but I only have like a hundred emails um and my budget is uh thirty thousand so what should I do? How would you advise them?

SPEAKER_07 39:58

I would say that it might um we really encourage people to start doing the audience building again before the campaign so really thinking about who is this film for? Who is going to want to watch it and think and you know unless you have access to a multi-million dollar marketing campaign to think differently than like the demographics of the studios but just really who in like your community or people around you do you know who uh would like to see this project and how can you start to reach them and and communicate with them so that you can grow your contact list of away from uh the number that you had when you started. And it that I I personally did that as well for my campaign because even though you know 15,000 was still a lot of money for me to raise with what my network was. But by going out to different organizations and communities in the Asian American and Filipino American arts community here in Los Angeles, I found a lot of support and was able to grow my audience and make valuable connections with people. And I started doing that a couple months before I launched my campaign. And I was very grateful I took that time to develop and cultivate those relationships because not only did some of those people end up becoming crew members on my film um but uh I was able to uh get some media connections as well that helped promote the campaign and the film when it was accomplished or finished um and even uh festival connections that helped in terms of when it was going when it when the film was complete and where it was going to screen. So really doing that early audience cultivation, you know, if you don't know where the money is coming from then it you have to really think about well then who is the audience and how can you go out and and start talking to them.

SPEAKER_03 41:55

Well said now let me ask you did when you say go out and start talking to them, did you physically go to those places or did you chat with them online or just how did you make those connections?

SPEAKER_07 42:08

It was a bit of both uh I honestly it for me it started that you know the film I made cross is about a Filipino American kid who gets involved in backyard boxing in a Mexican American community. I knew that my lead character who's loosely based off my friend uh would be Filipino American so it really like one day I was just googling Filipino American actors that I remembered and the first one that came to mind was an actor named Dante Bosco who played Ruffio uh the leader of the Lost Boys in Steven Spielberg's hook back in 1991. I'd seen that film as a child really liked it I remembered that actor um and I saw that he was still very an active performer and actor doing voice acting and per appearing in other films but he was also going to be on a panel at uh UCLA here um uh that was free that was about Filipino American representation in media so that's kind of for me where I think like it it started initially was that I just went to that panel um and spoke with people there, you know, started following the people that I met there on social media, learning about other organizations and stuff from that, keeping track of you know commun continuing my communication with people on Facebook and Twitter and email as I then went out to these new places that Dante and other people in attendance told me about. So I ended up being a combination of of of both and really just started with something as easy simple as a Google search.

SPEAKER_03 43:38

Wonderful okay that's really good advice. Well now let me ask you does Cedon Smart Spark promote campaigns to their own mailing list? And if so uh how what do you have to do to get your film to their uh for them to mail it to their mailing

SPEAKER_07 44:01

Yeah, that's a very good question, and honestly one that we get uh asked a lot, you know. Um so we do have a mailing list of over 200,000 uh people for subscribers, and we feature two campaigns every week when we send that out, and then we have our fund page where we highlight different campaigns. Um and that's really we have different metrics, you know, for the fund page of like who's gotten the most followers. We do have statistics where we pick certain projects that we want to highlight, and that's just a conversation amongst the crowdfunding team. Um but these are like one thing we always want to or one of the myths I often want to dispel is that uh that will never make or break a campaign um on any platform, let alone Scene and Spark. Um you know, with crowdfunding for independent film and series projects that uh the traffic or contributions are always the direct result of the filmmakers. The platform has very little to do with driving that traffic. Um so even you know, even if you were a a staff pick on Feed and Spark or a staff pick on Kickstarter or a staff pick on Indiegogo, um the financial contributions that would come from that are like less than one percent. Um so it's really important for the filmmakers to do that outreach. What being a staff pick or featured in the newsletter can do is that it can give you as a as the creator and the campaign runner another element to promote and talk about to your existing community of hey, like check out this thing that like you know, we were featured here. Um it kind of acts as a additional like press thing to um to promote. Um but feeling that oh if I just get on that CN Spark featured in their newsletter, I'm gonna hit the green light is uh not not the right way to go into it.

SPEAKER_03 45:57

Exactly. That's so true. I totally agree with you. It doesn't matter. Um the y if you have two hundred thousand people out there looking at it, how many of those people are really gonna open that up and read everything and say, Oh, I've been waiting for this film? It it won't be many if it's any at all. So it's it's always back on the back of the filmmaker. You have to bring your crowd to the crowdfunding campaign.

SPEAKER_07 46:25

Exactly. It's not a like uh if you build it they will come and like no no no, you have to go and tell people that you're building this thing uh and tell them where to go.

SPEAKER_03 46:36

Right. And one of my filmmakers recently uh was really successful with a crowdfunding campaign because she got the subject of her film to s get on Facebook and start chatting, and she was driving everybody to Facebook and he's a music composer, and they were so thrilled to get to chat with him that that helped her raise a uh another ten thousand dollars just by sitting there talking ev every day. She that really pushed her to her goal.

SPEAKER_07 47:10

Ah, yeah. Using things like Facebook Live or just making yourself accessible to the audience can be really helpful. I had a friend who crowdfunded who would go on Facebook Live basically and just answer questions from people the last few days of his campaign just to, you know, like if there was anything that they had uh concerns about or were unclear of, he was just made himself available. And that's kind of it kind of makes sense. You're asking people to give money towards something, so if they have any sort of questions about why or how that money will be used, like you should make yourself available to answer those.

SPEAKER_03 47:49

Absolutely. This is a great idea, Facebook Live too. I hadn't thought of that. I like that. So um what are the things that you like the most about Seed and Spark?

SPEAKER_07 48:01

Um I think it's still the same stuff that connected with me when I saw Emily teach as just a filmmaker, which is um, you know, I no one in my family has worked in the film industry. Um even though I grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles, I often feel like the entertainment industry could have been on another planet because I had no idea that they were making movies on the other side of this uh in the city. Um and I really, you know, I went to college um and had a great education there, but I still didn't really quite understand like how am I going to be able to make projects myself. Like I don't really understand how this works. Uh I know how it works on the you know the artistry side. I have a lot of feelings and passions there, but on the nuts and bolts practical financing producing side. Um, and Seed and Spark it felt like they were a guide for me there. That was like, hey, here's the information that you've been looking for. This is how you do it. Um and these are different things to try. And these are also things that you don't have to have a a super rich uncle um who's privately financing your project. You don't have to come from uh a major city that these were things that um I could digest or break down in a way that really applied to me and what were my what was my reality and what were my resources. Um and so what I enjoy the most about CNSpark still is that I really think that's at the forefront of what of what we do through our education and through our feedback in terms of crowdfunding and our partnerships is just uh kind of demystifying uh the the the parts of the film industry that oh it seems like nobody ever wanted to talk about really. Um that's where I see the be be seeing the biggest value in it.

SPEAKER_03 49:57

Well, it's excellent. And you also uh give a lot of seminars where you talk to people about crowdfunding and C and Spark. So uh tell us about that.

SPEAKER_07 50:07

Yeah, so that's similar to uh, you know, like that's where I first, you know, encountered Emily was through a class at Film Independence. So we partner with film organizations, uh film festivals, and film schools, you know, you um and we teach uh a few different workshops um that kind of go more in depth into these things of how to approach. We have a a class on, you know, it's crowdfunding to build independence where we talk about you know everything that goes into mounting a successful campaign. We have a class on social media that we also teach that about best practices, you know, of like how often should you post and and the nitty-gritty information there, as well as one uh the other class we offer is on pitching. You know, pitching is such an important part of a creative career, getting people excited about your project, not only in crowdfunding, but in any space, whether it's a studio or an actor or a collaborator. Um so uh those are the three that we uh currently offer. And um we have an events page on C'Spark where you can kind of check out where we're going to be going next um if you want to attend an in-person class. Um but we also offer versions of our crowdfunding class um for free online as well. Under uh if you go to C Spark.com and look at the top bar for filmmakers, there's uh you know, there's filmmaker education there. So you can either come to a uh class in in in person or you can check us out online and it's still you know a lot of really great information to help kind of fill in those educational gaps or uh misconceptions about crowdfunding, social media, and and pitching.

SPEAKER_03 51:49

Excellent. Uh and let's have the uh website address and how they can reach you again, Jerry, please.

SPEAKER_07 51:56

Oh yes. Um seedandspark.com um is the basic website that I think filmmakers are interested in crowdfunding or distributing, going to that top four filmmakers section will be the best first place. And then um you I'm always reachable at Jerry at seedenspark.com.

SPEAKER_03 52:16

Jerry with the G. Got it. Oh, thank you so much. This has just been fantastic. I really appreciate your honesty and all the details you gave us. I know that you're gonna help a lot of people create better campaigns from this information.

SPEAKER_07 52:32

Oh yeah. Well, thank you so much for having me. Again, appreciate all the great projects we've had that have partnered with with from the heart, and I'm glad to know that our work to help filmmakers is getting out there more and resonating with more people.

SPEAKER_03 52:47

Oh, I'm sure your your company will grow leaps and bounds with this kind of personal service because filmmakers really appreciate it, Jerry. Thank you. Thanks for joining us. My pleasure. Claire, I'll turn it over to you. Thank you. Great.

SPEAKER_02 53:05

Thank you. And uh yes, Jerry, thank you so much for all the good you're doing out there. Uh there is a lot of I'm sure that there's gonna be a lot of uh questions that people come up with where they um, you know, will probably listen to this interview again and again. Uh it just kind of works out that way sometimes. Um so I I want to remind our listeners that you can listen to our archives anytime. And uh it it's all there on the on-demand episodes here on Blog Talk Radio. And uh thank you both. It's been a wonderful show. Looking forward to our next show and be well, everyone. Thank you.

SPEAKER_07 53:52

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 53:54

Now, in its second edition, Carol Dean's popular book, The Art of Film Funding, has 12 new chapters to cover all areas of film financing and how to avoid expensive pitfalls. Learn how to start with an idea and end with a trailer, how to make an ask for money, create your story structure and your trailer, legal advice, fair use, successful crowdfunding, how to ask for music rights, and what insurance you can't shoot without. Available on Amazon under Carol Dean and at FromTheHeartProductions.com. I want to remind our listeners that David Rakelin is a brilliant and talented award-winning musician who scores films and can compose music for a trio or for a full orchestra. David is a very good friend to the independent filmmaker and comes highly recommended by From the Heart Productions. If you need music to help tell your story, please contact him at davidwakeland.com. That's david r-a-i-k-l-n.com. And Carol and I want to thank you for tuning in to the Art of Film Funding. Please visit our website at FromTheHeartProduction.com. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter. Good luck with your films, everyone. We just want to thank you for joining us on the Art of Film Funding podcast. Carol and I love creating it and making the latest information from experts on film funding, filmmaking, and film marketing available to you. We don't sell ads. We rely on donations for all of our podcasts and all of the work that we do. So if you appreciate what we do and want to hear more podcasts, please consider making a donation to support us. From the Heart Productions is a 501profit, and donations are tax deductible. You can donate on our website. On our menu under blogs, you will find a link to the Art of Film Funding podcast. On there, you'll find all the latest episodes, and there you will have the opportunity to make donations. Thank you again, everyone.