IFH 080: FREE Crowdfunding Course & Why I Choose Seed & Spark.com

Alex Ferrari 0:00
Now, I wanted to talk a little bit about this because as filmmakers I want to ns as part of what I do with indie film, hustle, I want to give you guys as much information and as much advice and help as I can in your filmmaking journey so you guys can achieve the goals that you're setting out for yourself. And a lot of times, there's a lot of misinformation out there a lot of mixed messages out there. And I just want to give you my point of view of why I'm using seed and spark as opposed to the other two big boys. Now, before I start this episode, I want to let you guys know, seed and spark has not paid me a dime, and is not giving me anything. For me doing this podcast, I don't even know if they're even aware that I'm doing this podcast right now. I just want to do this from the heart because I love what they're doing, and how they're doing it. And I will show you hopefully a successful campaign at the end of this 30 day journey with this is mag, but a few reasons why I wanted to jump on seed and spark as opposed to the other guys their success rate, they have a 75% success rate, which is two times better than any other platform out there. Because they focus on filmmakers seed and spark is focused on filmmakers not the next fountain pen that transforms into a transformer or a robot that you know boils a cup of coffee for you. They focus specifically on filmmakers, and helping filmmakers get their stories funded. And also distributed which I'll get to in a minute, the average raise on the site is $17,000. So the average average raise of money is 17 grand, which is two and a half times more than any other platform out there. And they average the average fee that they take is 3% which is 40% less than any other platform out there. So those three are huge reasons. One of the three of the big reasons I chose them. But one of the other things I love about what Emily and Sina spark is doing is they are the first platform where a successful crowdfunding campaign means that you'll get distribution. So if you launch your campaign with them, and you get at least 500 followers, on your seed and spark page, you're guaranteed distribution through Netflix, iTunes, Hulu, Google Play Amazon, Instant Video Time Warner, Comcast, Cox, Verizon, FiOS, and VUDU all because you use their platform, Kickstarter and Indiegogo do not offer anything like that, you know, it is insane. They also provide a filmmaker gift box that contains over $8,000 in product services and festival waivers to help you on your filmmaking journey, I mean, and again, you have to get up to 500 followers to get that but it's pretty damn cool that there that's accessible to you where the other guys don't do it. Now, unlike Kickstarter, you don't need to reach your entire goal to get the money, you need to get at least 80% of your goal. And Indiegogo, you don't have to reach your goal, you get whatever you get. But I think the 80% rule is really, really cool. And there's no hard way of getting that and I'll explain to the explain to you in a minute why. The other really cool part of the platform is that unlike the other guys, you get to not only ask for money, but you can ask for wishlist items, kind of like a wedding registry or baby registry, where you ask for items that have a value associated with them. So if you want to, if you need a lens for your camera, well, if you're gonna go rent that lens or buy that lens, let's say it, let's say you're going to buy the lens and it's going to cost you 20 $500, or you're going to rent it, it's going to cost you 250 bucks to rent for the week. But you can ask to borrow that lens for the week from somebody who has it. And when somebody wants to support you, and they'll let you borrow it, that's $250 worth of value there. If you want to ask for someone to help you cook meals for the crew, get an offer. And also wish list crew members like a boom operator or a cinematographer, or a colorist or anything like that. They can offer their services for you if they really liked the project. So these are really quick ways to achieve your final goal. As opposed to just hard earned cash. The wishlist does have a value to it, as well. So I think that is so so cool. And so innovative for for filmmakers, because a lot of times filmmakers might not be able to give you cash, but they might have a house for a location that they'll let you use and that's also extremely valuable. So again, that's one of the other reasons and really fun reason why I wanted to use seed and spark as well as the crowdfunding platform for this is Meg. I have not crowdfunded before I have crowdfunded. Well, let me rephrase that. I did crowdfunding once before, and I used Indiegogo at that time, and this is going back probably about five years. And I put up an ad and I was asking for 2500 bucks to finish one of my short films. That was the animated short film read princess blues Genesis. And a day later, I got an email from somebody Who said, Hey, I'll just pay you everything. I just want to be a project associated with the project. And I was like, wow, okay, great. This is how crowdfunding works. And that was the only experience I ever had with crowdfunding. So ever since then it's there's a lot more information out here about crowdfunding, and it's an art, and there's a lot more noise out there. So I'm hoping that I provide I'm providing enough value for helping, you know, helping us to make this movie. And in turn by you helping us make this movie, you're able to see how we make this movie and learn from our mistakes, and from our victories on how we make this movie, how to make a micro budget movie in today's world, with today's technology, all the way through distribution. So those are a few short reasons why I absolutely love Emily and seed and spark and what they're doing. And they also have a free crowdfunding course that they have on their YouTube page that they just released a few weeks ago. And I told them, I wanted to promote the hell out of it, because it's something that everybody who's ever even thinking about crowdfunding. Regardless if you're going to go on seed and spark or not, I would say you should. But regardless of that, they are remarkable. It's a remarkable course it tells you everything from the very beginning, all the way to the very end. They also provide you a crowdfunding to build your independence Handbook, and education deck, which helps you build independence again, they're really about build you building your own independence as an artist and as a filmmaker and to make a living doing so. And that is a message that rings so true to my core principles and beliefs at indie film, hustle, and I think it was just a synergetic combination working with seed and spark on this is Meg. So if you want to go on the journey with me, and with that this is make family and see how we actually go through this whole crazy process of crowdfunding a micro budget film, head over to this is mag comm which will be live next week on June 21. And and if you want to check out the indie film syndicate, just head over to indie film syndicate Comm. And check that out as well. And you can kind of see what we go through with this whole process. And it is going to be a process without question. So and also on a side note, guys, I might be a little late like I am with this podcast. I know I usually release on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I might be a little late during this, this crowdfunding campaign. I'm running a lot of heads, I'm shooting a little bit of the movie, I'm putting the crowdfunding campaign together, I'm creating marketing elements. I'm also creating content for indie film, hustle, as well as doing podcasts, living a life having a family and so on. So bear with me, if the podcasts are a day or two late, they I'm hoping and I'm still aiming for two a week, at least for the next month. And then when the crowdfunding campaign is over, I might drop down to one a week, purely so I can focus on getting this as make done and also feeding the indie films and syndicate to make sure you guys are getting all the value that I can give you guys as well. But don't worry, I will continue to do two episodes a week. I know a lot of you guys need me on your long commutes to work and back or on your jog. And I really from the bottom of my heart guys thank you for all the outpouring of love and and support for this is Meg and the project and everything you guys are the reason I keep going sometimes, you know, I'm here killing myself trying to get this crowdfunding campaign going but I stopped for an hour so I can do this podcast and get it out for you guys because I know it's something you guys want and need. And I'm here for you guys. So thank you again so much. As always head over to filmmaking podcast calm and leave us an honest review guys, it really helps us out a lot. And moving forward head to this is mag comm for at least the next four to five weeks. And please help us out with the crowdfunding campaign and check out all the insane incentives one incentive that you guys might be interested in? Well, there's a few but then we're going to be doing incentives like an executive producer credit and associate producer credit with IMDb credits, accordingly, a post production workflow consulting phone call so I can kind of help you work through any of your workflow issues or actually help you create a workflow for your Feature or Short Film dinner with myself and Julie in LA. We do not pay for flight or our lodging sir, but we will pay for the meal and and a really cool one is I'm offering a few guest spots on the indie film hustle podcast. So if you want to come on board, and be a guest on the show and talk about yourself, your projects your company, promote your stuff as well as just talk shop talk filmmaking stuff. Questions whatever, you'd be a guest on the show and you'll be broadcast out to everybody. So it'd be a really great way for me to to talk with you guys and have you guys on the show and hopefully help out the campaign as well so it's a win win for everybody so I thought that would be a nice little incentive I kick out to everybody as well. And as you know, we have autographed this and you know, we've got tons of, you know, rare memorabilia from movies that the cast have done and so on and so forth. So really, really, really cool stuff so definitely check it out. This is mag.com and that'll be live again June 21. And you can check out everything I discussed in the show notes at indie film hustle.com forward slash 080 or zero 80 and you can check out the links to see the spark the campaigns and everything else we spoke about and seed and spark AC to spark calm guys, definitely check them out and I will be putting links to all of the videos in the online course because it is in sane really, really definitely check it out. As always guys keep that hustle going. Keep that dream alive, and I will talk to you soon.