Last week, I moderated the panel on “How to Make Crowd-Funding Work for Filmmakers”- for the Winston-Baker’s 3rd annual Film Finance Forum West.
I would like to call special attention to it because I think the panel marked a seminal moment in the evolution (and convergence) of filmmaking and technology. That may sound slightly overstated, considering it was my own panel, but hear me out …
Backstory: If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of crowd-funding, let me explain. It’s basically using the internet to raise funds from the public (i.e. the masses, the crowd) for the purposes of financing a movie, an album, a start-up, or whatever it is you and your crowd want to finance.
Exactly one year ago, I wrote my first article on crowd-funding, in which I described myself as skeptical of it being a means for financing an entire film’s budget, yet was optimistic the model could be used to augment traditional film financing structures.
The question raised was how to generate a return on the crowd’s investment without violating federal and state securities laws.
The only viable workarounds at the time were IndieGoGo.com and Kickstarter.com, both providing platforms through which a filmmaker could solicit donations from the public in return for memorabilia, DVDs or other chotchkies. These models were limited, but pioneering -- though not as pioneering as the godfather of crowd-funding, Soupy Sales.
I may be a financier who works within the traditional film finance model, but I’m not traditional. In other words, I like disruption, and I’m open to change.
Fast-forward to last month’s article on the Democratization of Film, where I posted that very soon the three historic barriers-to-entry (financing, production and distribution) that independent filmmakers must routinely overcome will no longer be insurmountable.
It’s already happened to production (I can shoot an HD movie on my iPhone and edit it on my iMac), and finance and distribution are soon to follow.
How soon? About three weeks later, at the 3rd Annual Film Finance Forum West, through an inconspicuous crowd-funding panel, presented IndieGoGo, Audience Productions and Sokap, three new crowd-based companies that can topple the remaining barriers-to-entry, and fully democratize filmmaking.
We already discussed IndieGoGo (but will circle back to it).
Audience Productions is the first film company to be authorized by the SEC and 20-plus states to use both the internet and crowd-funding to sell shares in their films for the purpose of raising their financing.
George Brumder, the CFO, said it took them over two years of haggling with the SEC to finally win the approval. Just go to their site, pay $10, and you’ll own a piece of history with upside potential.
Boom!
Yep. That was the sound of the financing barrier falling down.
Sokap, on the other hand, has created a micro-licensing platform that allows filmmakers to raise money for their films by licensing their U.S.
