GoGoEric and I roadtripped it to Park City, UT this year for Sundance. Accompanying us throughout the long journey was Elizabeth Gilbert - and specifically her reading of her freak success 'Eat Pray Love' via book on tape.
Just a few weeks later, Elizabeth circled back into my world as a video of her recent talk at the TED Conference popped up in my email. I watched Elizabeth discuss a "Different Way to Think about Creative Genius," and immediately wanted to share her insights with all you IndieGoGo filmmakers just as your fans want to share your great work/videos/IndieGoGo profile with their communities.
Making film is an arduous adventure. If you've ever had a questioning moment as to why you've committed yourself, time, money, sweat and sometimes tears to the art of telling visual stories, perhaps Elizabeth's words can offer a bit of comfort, relief and kick. The world needs untold stories to be told... a reason why we started IndieGoGo! So take a moment to listen to Elizabeth as she goes into:
Why creativity and suffering have evolved to seem so inseparable
How just "showing up" day after day can be the key to managing the inherent and extreme emotional risks of creativity
And lastly how separating your "identity with" and "accountability for" your creative genius might actually bring some levity to your work and make "showing up" every day not so hard
Creativity and suffering DON'T have to go hand in hand. Take a break and a breath as Elizabeth shares a new way to think about your creative genius.
From $7 to $75,000: VIP Perks at every price point.
Credits... discounted merchandise, limited versions, invites to parties... characters named after contributors.... These are all great VIP perks to offer fans and provide incentive for contribution now versus purchases later.
The beauty of VIP Perks is that they can be ANYTHING you want them to be. Just think of all your project's assets (people you know / skills your team has / items that will be available when you're project is complete) and package them up in a cool way for fans to enjoy.
A perk can be a credit (film), a Free download or album (music), a signed copy of your book (writing), an invite to a launch party (venture), a customized recipe (food), a private lesson (art), etc. Don't limit your imagination, and ask your fans what they would want in return for a contribution if you're stumped.
Whether it's discount they get "if they buy now" or a signed limited edition version that won't be available later, give funders an incentive to contribute and "lock-in" a the perk now versus later.
The key is to have fun with them. Be creative. Your VIP perks are just another opportunity to engage fans and mobilize them into funders.
If you need inspiration, read Soundcheck's write-up on what Josh Freese (former drummer of Nine Inch Nails) is selling as limited edition items for his next solo album "Since 1972." There's no reason you can't start selling your limited edition items as VIP Perks on your IndieGoGo profile now to help finance your project too. In fact, you should be doing that.
Here's an excerpt from the Soundcheck article and a list of all the cool perks Josh is offering his fans for anywhere from $7 to $75,000.
"Now, nine years after his solo debut The Notorious One Man Orgy, he’s adding a sophomore title to his resume. Like its predecessor, Since 1972 once again finds Freese playing virtually everything. Unlike its predecessor, it will come in 11 different incarnations.
Digital downloads are available starting March 24 exclusively at Freese’s site, for $7. The $15 CD/DVD combo arrives in stores April 14.
And then there are all these crazy special editions … some of which are wisely limited to just one very wealthy purchaser … while others are kinda crazily conceived. For $250, in addition to the combo, a T-shirt and a signed drum head and drumsticks, 25 different buyers will get to have lunch with Freese at either PF Chang’s or The Cheesecake Factory.
And there seems to be no limit on how many people can buy a five-minute call.
Here’s the complete rundown:
$7
Digital download of Since 1972, including 3 videos
$15
CD/DVD double-disc set
Digital download
$50
CD/DVD double-disc set
T-shirt
“Thank you” phone call from Josh for buying Since 1972. You can tell him what you like about the record that you purchased, or what you thought sucked. Ask whatever you want, like “Is Maynard really THAT weird?” or “Which one of Sting’s mansions has the comfiest beds?” or “Are Devo really suburban robots that monitor reality or just a bunch of dads from Ohio?” or “Why don’t the Vandals play more stuff off the first record?” It’s your 5 minutes to yack it up. Talk about whatever you want.
$250 (limited edition of 25)
Signed CD/DVD and digital download
T-shirt
Signed drum head and drumsticks
Go on a lunch date with Josh to PF Changs or The Cheesecake Factory (whatever you’re into)
$500 (limited edition of 15)
Signed CD/DVD and digital download
T-shirt
Signed cymbal and sticks
Meet Josh in Venice, Calif., and go floating together in a sensory-deprivation tank (to be filmed and posted on YouTube)
Dinner at Sizzler (get your $8.99 steak and “all you can eat” shrimp on)
$1,000 (limited edition of 10)
Signed CD/DVD and digital download
T-shirt
Signed cymbal, drum head and drumsticks
Josh washes your car OR does your laundry … or you can wash his car
Have dinner with Josh aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Calif.
Get drunk and cut each other’s hair in the parking lot of the Long Beach courthouse (filmed and posted on YouTube, of course)
$2,500 (limited edition of 5)
Signed CD/DVD and digital download
Get a private drum lesson with Josh, or for all you non-drummers, have him give you a back and foot massage (couples welcome)
Pick any 1 member of the Vandals or Devo (subject to availability) to accompany you and Josh to either the Hollywood Wax Museum or the lunch buffet at the Spearmint Rhino
Signed DW snare drum
Take 3 items of your choice out of his closet (first come, first serve)
Change diapers and make bottles with him for an afternoon (after hitting the strip club)
$5,000 (limited edition of 3)
Signed CD/DVD and digital download
T-shirt
Josh writes a song about you and makes it available on iTunes
Co-direct a video with him for the song about you and throw it up on the YouTubes
Josh gives you and a friend a private tour of Disneyland
Get drunk together. If you don’t drink, we can go to my dad’s place and hang out under the “Tuba tree”
Stone Gossard from Pearl Jam will send you a letter telling you about his favorite song on Since 1972
$10,000 (limited edition of 1)
Signed CD/DVD and digital download
T-shirt
Signed DW snare drum from A Perfect Circle’s 2003 tour
Josh gives you a private drum lesson OR his and hers foot/back massage (couples welcome, discreet parking)
Twiggy from Marilyn Manson’s band and Josh take you and a guest to Roscoe’s Chicken ‘n’ Waffles in Long Beach for dinner
Josh takes you and a guest to Club 33 (the super-duper exclusive and private restaurant at Disneyland located above Pirates of the Caribbean) and then hit a couple rides afterward (preferably the Tiki Room, the Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror)
At the end of the day at Disneyland, drive away in Josh’s Volvo station wagon. It’s all yours … take it. Just drop him off on your way home, though, please.
$20,000 (limited edition of 1)
Signed CD/DVD and digital download
T-shirt
A signed drum from the 2008 Nine Inch Nails tour
Maynard James Keenan, Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo and Josh take you miniature golfing and then drop you off on the side of the freeway (all filmed and posted on YouTube)
Josh gives you a tour of Long Beach. See his first apartment, the coffee shop on 2nd Street where his buddy paid Dave Grohl $40 to rip up tile just weeks before joining Nirvana. See the old Vandals rehearsal spot, the liquor store he got busted at using a Fake ID when he was 17 (it was Dave from the Vandals’ old ID). Go check out Snoop Dogg’s high school. For an extra 50 bucks see where Tom and Adrian from No Doubt live. For another $25 he’ll show ya where Eric from NOFX and Brooks from Bad Religion get their hair cut.
Spend the night aboard the Queen Mary and take the “Ghosts and Legends” tour. (Separate rooms … no spooning.)
Josh writes 2 songs about you and both are made available on iTunes and appear on his next record (you can sing back up on ‘em, clap, play the drums, triangle, whatever)
Drum lesson OR foot and back massage (once again … couples welcome and discreet parking available)
Pick any 3 items out of Josh’s closet
$75,000 (limited edition of 1)
Signed CD/DVD and digital download
T-shirt
Go on tour with Josh for a few days
Have Josh write, record and release a 5-song EP about you and your life story
Take home any of his drum sets (only one, but you can choose which one)
Take shrooms and cruise Hollywood in Danny from Tool’s Lamborghini OR play quarters and then hop on the Ouija board for a while
Josh will join your band for a month … play shows, record, party with groupies, etc.
If you don’t have a band he’ll be your personal assistant for a month (4-day work weeks, 10 am to 4 pm)
Take a limo down to Tijuana and he’ll show you how it’s done (what that means exactly we can’t legally get into here)
If you don’t live in Southern California (but are a U.S. resident) he’ll come to you and be your personal assistant/cabana boy for 2 weeks
Take a flying trapeze lesson with Josh and Robin from NIN, go back to Robins place afterwards and his wife will make you raw lasagna
Have a new member on your project's team... or a cool new video blog to upload? Perhaps you want to add a new VIP perk or simply want to re-write your project's pitch or your personal bio? Time to edit your profiles! How do I edit my profiles? Login, go to your project or individual profile and click on the "EDIT" button in the upper right corner.
How to exit "EDIT" mode?
Done
editing? Make sure you save any sections you've updated, and then click on "DONE EDITING"
We've built IndieGoGo so that you can go in and out of edit mode with a click of the button. Hope you find this easy and efficient.
In 2006, An Inconvenient Truth , a documentary about global warming directed by David Guggenheim and presented by Al Gore, became the fourth-highest-grossing documentary film in the US to date, earning $49 million. The following year,The 11th Hour , another documentary film regarding the state of the environment, which was produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, was released. Unlike, An Inconvenient Truth, The 11th Hour grossed less than $1 million.
In my previous entry, Lessons from AFM: 3 Distribution Strategies Every Filmmaker Should Know, I discussed the benefits of niche marketing. According to Marianne Wilson, President of Global Event Source (www.globaleventsource.com), it was the lack of a suitable niche marketing component in The 11th Hour's marketing strategy that led to its disappointing box office performance. Rather than embracing new media centric and niche specific promotional strategies, The 11th Hour was marketed more traditionally and to the american audience in general.
However, the marketing strategy for An Inconvenient Truth took a different direction. In The Marketing of "An Inconvenient Truth", marketing specialist Rohit Bhargava highlights some of the key strategies used. Here are the major takeaways:
Partner Outreach: Information about the film was released to the stopglobalwarming.orgcommunity and other environmental groups. Rather than trying to build an audience from scratch, filmmakers took advantage of a niche market audience that already existed and was easy to communicate with. Find an organization in your niche market and figure out how to communicate with its members, pulling them to your IndieGoGo profile.
Call to action: Filmmakers asked visitors to the film's website to make an online pledge to see the film on opening weekend. By giving supporters a personal responsibility, filmmakers ensured they had an audience that was invested in the success of the film. Similarly, by supporting your film (funding, endorsing, rating, promoting, commenting or becoming a friend) on IndieGoGo, your audience becomes personally invested in the success of your film. The more involved you get them, the more their personal interest will build.
Inventive media: A wide array of new media downloads were used to promote the film. Everything from e-cards to IM buddy icons. Don't underestimate the potential draw of the media you post on your profile. Give your audience something extra for their interest. In addition to a great pitch clip, make sure you post additional videos, photos and links to add depth to your profile. For example, you could post "making of" videos and photos. Use creative media that lets your audience really connect with you.
High-impact online advertising: Filmmakers built buzz for the film by posting advertising all over the web. Luckily, you have a GoGoWidget at your immediate disposal! Post it on every blog, social networking site and personal website you control. Additionally, there is a whole slew of additional tools for you to use to make sure your film is being advertised everywhere possible. Here are a few previous blog entries explaining some of the IndieGoGo tools at your disposal:
We live in the Recommendation Age. We watch videos our friends email us, attend events our friends invite us to, and read news our friends share with us. We pay attention to what our friends think and do because we care about our friends and because we trust them. There's no advertisement or piece of press that is more powerful than a friend's "hey, check this out."
To all projects:
Turn on your recommendation engine, and let your projects be shared. Let the influence of friends work on your behalf!
To all fans & funders:
Use your influence to make a difference in the life of a project you care about. You want to see a project made? Share it with your friends.
How? Use the tools we've given all projects on IndieGoGo
We've added NEW share tools beyond GoGoWidgets, Facebook posts, and MySpace messages. Now you can send a one-off email OR email a whole bunch of your Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo! contacts at once. You can also share projects on Twitter,Digg and Yahoo! Buzztoo.
What is DIGG? Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere
on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure
blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by Digg's. You won’t
find editors at Digg — it's a place where people can
collectively determine the value of content.
What is Yahoo! Buzz?Yahoo! Buzz is an extension of Yahoo! that uncovers the most remarkable and timely content from websites across the Internet. Yahoo! Buzz gives viewers the chance to be an editor by voting (“buzzing”) stories and content up or down, submitting them to Buzz in the first place, and having a conversation around them via commenting. For each story that you see on Yahoo! Buzz, Yahoo! develops a ranking. That story’s ranking is based on things like the number of votes it receives on Buzz, the number of comments it receives on Buzz, the popularity of related search terms on Yahoo! Search, and the number of times that content is shared with friends over email from Buzz. Higher ranked stories are featured more prominently on the homepage of Buzz and within our category pages. The highest ranked Buzz story might be featured on the Yahoo! homepage, the Web’s most popular starting point.
Want us to add more SHARE tools? Let us know which ones and we'll get on it!
Women 2.0 - an organization that supports and promotes women entrepreneurs and their ventures - selected my co-founder GoGoDanae for their latest installment of 'In Conversation: a podcast interview series.'
Learn about the origins of IndieGoGo, the lessons Danae has learned in building a business to help filmmakers and democratize film finance, and what keeps Danae 'gogo-ing' every day!
You can listen to the 5 minute interview mp3 here, or on the Women 2.0 site!
Cheers to the hundreds who joined us at Sundance for our One Year Annivesary!
In picture: IndieGoGo Family
Where Internet & Film Collide - Park City
Thanks to SnagFilms/indieWIRE, IndieGoGo filmmaker Ondi Timoner and the DIRT! The Movie team for joining us in hosting "Where Internet & Film Collide - Park City".
In picture: Rick Allen (CEO of SnagFilms/indieWIRE), Ondi Timoner (Director of We Live in Public), Bill Benenson (Producer, DIRT! The Movie), Slava Rubin (Co-Founder, IndieGoGo)
Robert Redford Joins the Fun!
Robert Redford's surprise visit to Where Internet & Film Collide was also special treat! Check out the mention in Variety and indieWIRE.
In picture: Joe Canfora (Actor), Robert Redford (Director, Founder of Sundance), Slava Rubin (Co-Founder of IndieGoGo)
Chats with Influencers about Fan Funding
One influencer, Steven Soderbergh, thinks the idea of fans funding films is interesting and would like to see if it can really work. Let's keep showing him that it can, folks.
In picture: Steven Soderbergh (Director) and Danae Ringelmann (Co-Founder of IndieGoGo)
Queer Lounge Panel
Check out the Key Take-Aways from "Short Films - Yes, There is a Market" - a panel the Queer Lounge (aka The Absolut Lounge) hosted just before Where Internet & Film Collide.
In picture: Roberta Marie Munroe (author, How NOT To Make a Short Film: Secrets From a Sundance Programmer), Maria Lynn (Wolfe Video), Joe Wilson (Prod/Co-Dir., Out in the Silence), Tiffany Shlain (Director, The
Tribe), and Slava Rubin
(Co-Founder, IndieGoGo).
Ondi Timoner Wins Sundance Award!
Congrats to IndieGoGo Filmmaker Ondi Timoner whose film We Live in Public took home the festival's Documentary Grand Jury Prize.
Check out Ondi's latest film "Join Us" on IndieGoGo and take action!
Slammin' Slamdance Sponsorship
We were proud to be one of Slamdance's sponsors this year. Read the write-up!Highlights include two great panels:
Alternate Distribition for Fun and Profit
DIY Marketing and Distribution for Independents
Meeting the Brains & Heart behind IMDB Brilliance
Chatting with IMDB Founder Col Needham and his wife Karen was quite a treat, especially since it was Karen's first Sundance ever! Can you believe it? To learn the history of IMDB was fascinating and show great things come from great people with a true passion to make the world better.
In picture: : Eric Schell (Co-Founder of IndieGoGo), Col Needham (Founder of IMDB), Danae Ringelmann (Co-Founder of IndieGoGo), Karen Needham (Col's wife), Emily Goligoski (IndieGoGo Evangelist)
Chris MannMeet-Up
Check out our latest 6Q with Chris Mann. Chris is a musician on the rise. Sony is releasing his first album at the end of the summer. However, it took years of fine-tuning his music and building a fanbase to get to where he is today.
Watch, learn, and laugh as he answers IndieGoGo's 6Q.
Currently recording his debut album, Chris Mann didn't sign with Sony BMG out of nowhere. He got himself noticed by generaging buzz with his authentic songs, captivating live performances and creative online audience-engagement.
Once again, Chris is shaking things up a bit and sharing IndieGoGo's 6Q this month via video. He recorded the interview twice, as the first was too large to upload to YouTube. Oops. So what you see is a fun clip Chris created during a commercial break while watching the Grammies... Who said audience engagement had to be another full-time job?
We met Chris at Sundance (yes, over a drink or two as he kindly mentions). He was in town to perform a few gigs at the festival and of course to continue building his fanbase. Although he's a musician, his DIWO tactics are "artform-agnostic"... i.e. great for filmmakers too!
Here are the questions he answered in - what else! - his own special style. Watch, listen, learn, and laugh... and on Chris' behalf: pardon the french :) 1. What are your goals as a musician? 2. How are you identifying, reaching and building your audience? 3. What role does the Internet and social media play in your DIWO (Do-It-With-Others) fundraising or promotion? How does your online/social media effort complement your label's (Sony's) efforts? 4. Can you recommend resources and other tactics for fundraising and promotion? 5. What other social media tools do you use? 6. What is next on your radar?
This Tuesday, I join another group of talented Hollywood veterans and entrepreneurs on the Hollywood 2.0 panel the UGCX Conference. We will discuss how Hollywood could and (possibly) should be taking advantage of The Internet. Big topic? Yep, but I'll have a lot to say about everything our filmmakers are doing on and off IndieGoGo!
Hollywood 2.0
What used to come free has turned into the primary source of revenue in
user-generated content. Discover how to license UGC (and stay out of
trouble) from leaders who have made it work for their businesses.
Moderator:Sunil Rajamaran, Partner, Scripped.com Speakers:Aaron Lubin, Producer, Purple Violets, Zak Freer, VP Industry Relations, Scripped.com, Danae Ringelmann, Co-Founder, IndieGoGo, Sanjay Sood, Associate Professor of Marketing & Faculty Director, Entertainment and Media Management Institute, UCLA Anderson School of Management
This Monday (2/9) at 7:30 pm the San Francisco Film Society will be holding a Film Arts Forum on Online Distribution. While GoGoSlava flys off to Berlin to give a workshop at the Berlin International Film Festival, I will be staying put to share IndieGoGo's perspective along side some visionaries and veterans: Tiffany Shlain, George Rush and Larry Daressa. I hope to see all our Bay Area filmmakers there!
SFFS Film Arts Forum: ONLINE DISTRIBUTION
It’s no secret that online distribution is changing the shape of the film industry. From giants like YouTube, iTunes and Netflix to emerging, intriguing sites like Jaman, Crackle and Funny or Die, filmmakers are faced with a distribution landscape that’s evolving daily. The latest Film Arts Forum—the Film Society’s bimonthly information-sharing, discussion, networking, professional-development jamboree—will assemble a panel to debate, demystify, and debunk online distribution in all its varying forms. Panelists include Larry Daressa, codirector of California Newsreel; Danae Ringelman, cofounder of IndieGoGo; attorney George Rush; and filmmaker Tiffany Shlain. Noted Bay Area film journalist Michael Fox will moderate. Also attending the event will be representatives from YouTube, Landmark Theatres, Wholphin, Caachi and more, all of whom will be available after the panel to continue the conversation.
