Here's Some Cash, Go Make a Film

6 MARCHING ORDERS TO SUCCESSFUL ONLINE FINANCING

The open source model for online micro financing is growing, and it presents some fascinating opportunities for raising cash. Kickstarter.com, Filmaka, and IndieGogo.com are some of the most prominent sites right now. They accept almost any type of submission, be it film-based, interactive, art, music or literary. Anyone can do it, but your pitching and new media expertise will be put to the test.

Be advised, you usually only have 90 days to reach your financial threshold. On most sites, if you fail to raise the desired cash in the allotted schedule, no money changes hands. Hence, it all boils down to web pitching. Yes, that's right, like the real world's thirsty but fickle taste for content, to succeed, your pitch must be sticky, original, demonstrate great craft and have the ability to impress any random audience. Here are 6 strategies that will guide you to success:

1) Research - Do some homework and study what's working and what's not. Focus on those bandwidth fund-raisers who have exceeded their number and are now going beyond into the dazzling lands known as budget surplus. Figure out what inspires the art in you. Go through whatever processes it is you need to get creative.

2) Strategize - To sell your idea and showcase your talents in a crowd-funding forum, you need to put together a fully cohesive web page of information. That means video, text, bio, web-links to your work, incentives and more. So you need to know the look and feel of your layout before you submit. You also need a timeline. For example, if your film is complete but you haven't budgeted for a full calendar of major festival submissions, then you haven't thought all of the elements through.

3) Entertain - Consumer generated content is a huge crap-shot. It can be a self-indulgent and amateurishly produced - a total waste of time. You need to create something fast, cheap and simple that friends and strangers alike will spend time with. It needs to be real, yet entertaining. Passionate, yet focused. Creative, but disciplined. Bottom line: if you don't have the skills to produce, edit and score enticing online content, find someone who does and see if they can help you out.

4) Invite - Huckleberry Finn famously got a group of kids to white wash a fence for him. He charmed, cajoled and inveigled them to join his cause. Through a handful of different incentives, whether it's a free t-shirt or shout-outs on IMDB, you want to enlist an army so that they feel like exclusive co-conspirators in your plans to take over the world.

5) Befriend - Even if you only have a single Internet friend, it's about building a network one pal at a time. The basic salad of Facebook, Linked In, Myspace, Twitter, Flickr and a host of others will help get you connected with those heavily endowed patrons of the arts. Friend of friends of friends, many of whom you've never met, will likely be your angels if you do this correctly. You'll find yourself becoming especially fond of doctors, lawyers, CEOs and dentists...

6) Converse - Update, update, update. Make backers and potential donators aware of major accomplishments in your project's incubation. So that means tending to your web page, changing out your video for a new one and giving back ten fold what you get. Answer all messages with a smile and a ton of energy. You can't just shill; it has to be a two way street.