A couple of months ago I mentioned that I had reached out to Ryan Koo, who runs the website NoFilmSchool, asking for an interview regarding his project 'Man-child' and more importantly how he successfully funded his project via the online Crowd sourcing website Kickstarter. Thankfully he has replied and agreed to be interviewed via email, so this post documents just that! Firstly, here's a little bit about Ryan (or Koo as he is preferred to be known as), taken from the biography section on his website.
When I started this site in 2005 I was unemployed and living with my parents in North Carolina. My goal was to get myself to New York and start a film career — without any connections, and without going to film school. And this site got me there. It’s a long story, but thanks to this blog I was able to lie my way into a job at MTV (and a three-year career as graphic designer). While working at MTV I set out to make an independent web series with my coworker Zack Lieberman.
Our no-budget, nights-and-weekends urban western The West Side — which the two of us wrote, directed, shot, edited, post-produced, and released ourselves — won the Webby Award for Best Drama Series, and we were selected as two of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Film.We got an agent, wrote a very ambitious interactive project, and took it to the studio world — where we ran face-first into a brick wall. After meeting with twenty studios I started feeling that getting something original made in the studio system was a Sisyphean task. As a result, I wrote The NoFilmSchool Manifesto, which rejects the studio model in favor of independently finding new funding and revenue streams in the digital world — allowing for far more creative freedoms in the process. As I say in the manifesto:"I’m sure some people are going to think, “you’re only going the DIY route because you can’t make it in Hollywood!” My goal with NoFilmSchool is to prove them wrong."
Now in my opinion, that's a pretty good distance to travel within the industry just by bending the truth! It was this attitude to how the film industry operates that I felt really represents some of the independent filmmakers out there, with their 'stick it to the man' attitude and the passion and determination to get their films made. Because of his drive, he was able to raise $125,100 ($10,100 more than he originally requested) to fund his new film 'Man-child'. Below is the interview conducted with Koo.
ME: So, before we start, can you explain to us as to what 'Man-child' is about?
KOO: 'Man-child' is an independently produced FICTION film that takes place in the high stakes world of basketball. The reason I'm emphasising FICTION is that a lot of people have already confused it with a documentary. It follows the story of 13 year old Terren 'TJ' Jackson after a video of him playing basketball hits the internet and turns his life upside down. Because of this, he finds himself in a wealth of fame, making him choose between his education, father figures and belief systems. It's a very personal story about how he has to face these choices that to anyone would be an ordeal to go through, let alone a 13 year old.
ME: And what inspired the storyline? Does it take inspiration from real life events?
KOO: I've played basketball all my life so I've always had a strong connection to the sport and now working with someone else I love, film, I felt it was an ideal opportunity to combine the two and hopefully make something that a vast audience will appreciate. It explores the world of sports, education, religion and sex and although it's entirely fiction, it's based upon a very real story of what goes on in the world today.
ME: What was the main reason behind wanting to crowd source the project?
KOO: Well, when I started within the industry I found that big studios want stories that are incredibly original, and if they're not, then it's incredibly difficult to try and get your project made. That's why I setup NoFilmSchool, to show people that you don't have to follow the system and typical models to get something created. If you're passionate enough and the project is right, then it's possible to get it made. This is where crowd sourcing comes into play. Right now on the internet we have access to a much larger world, all connected via screens and keyboards. It's because of this that I thought that via my site and the following I've accumulated from it, not to mention the service I've provided for years totally free, that I'd ask a favor in return that people donate towards the film to get it made. It makes it their own as well, in a way that whether you've donated $1 or $250, you've made that film possible.
ME: And do you feel that because of the success of your website you were able to reach your target amount due to the amount of people you were able to reach out to?
KOO: Absolutely, but at the same time I've found people then passing it on via word of mouth to friends and family members who genuinely felt connected to this project that they wanted to see it get made. The websites been a great help and at the start I had no intention of breaking any records when I set my goal of $115,000. For a day the film was one of the biggest funded narrative films that Kickstarter had hosted to date, but that was only for a day. It was (easily) overtaken by Save Blue Like Jazz, which was just re-categorized as a narrative film (a year after its campaign ended). But it wasn't a case of me just setting up the Kickstarter page, posting it on my site and letting it do it's thing. I clocked up some serious hours on the project. I used a piece of software called Freshbooks that allows you to manage and track your working hours efficiently and from collating the information from that, over the period of 6 weeks I clocked up 345 hours running the campaign, which roughly estimates to around 8 hours a day. This isn't taking into consideration the man hours however that was spent by myself, friends, family members, NFS readers etc etc that kindly posted, blogged, tweeted and facebooked the message of 'Man-child' across the net. It's to these people that I owe it the most.
ME: What advice could you give to me, a 'first time crowd sourcer' about setting up a pitch and hopefully making it become successful?
KOO: Well first of all you're project needs to be solid. You need to make sure your idea is fully formed (or at least to the extent that you won't go and change 80% of the film once it's been funded) and that you're confident you have the ability to pull off the final product. Confidence is the key, as well as thinking outside the box. It's almost crucial to have a video pitch now on any crowd sourcing site, something that lets you connect to the contributors and hopefully result in them donating. It has to be original and exciting, you have to give them reason to want to part with their hard earned cash! Think of it this way, if you were approached on the street by a stranger, asking for $5, you wouldn't hand it over, not unless they gave a very good reason as to why you should. For my pitch, I created something which I didn't feel entirely comfortable creating at first. It feature myself having a conversation with the voice inside my head, the same voice that's probably now saying to you "wow that guy must be crazy if he has a voice inside his head". That's the guy who convinces you not to follow your heart a lot of the time BUT I'm glad I ignored him and went along with it. The rewards system is also something that needs to be thought about and not just thrown in as a last minute thing. I came up with the idea that for each dollar donated, that person would receive an individual film frame from the final product. This meant I had 115,000 frames that will be given out to each and every contributor and the more you donate, the more frames you get. This has slightly altered though as I've now received more money than predicted frames, but that all depends on how much I shoot during production. Be creative with what you offer, but most importantly keep in contact with your contributors, even if it's via a blog that only they have access to. You need to make them feel they truly are with you every step of the way regardless of how much they've donated! It's because of this that they might then tell others to get involved and well, you get the idea!
Another crucial piece of advice is making sure you get the most out of Kickstarter. Don't make the same mistake that I did and get everything together on the site and launch it straight away. I launched mine last thing at night and when the clock ticked over to midnight it counted as one day gone. Collate everything you have into a document then first thing after midnight or in the morning, get your pitch live. You'll have more chance then at getting it noticed straight away, especially if you can set up an automated Twitter or Facebook post system that can give hourly links to your friends and family on your social networking sites. Manage your time well and the rest will follow.
It's easy to see projects like my own, or Jocelyn Towne raising $112,000 with her brilliant campaign video for I AM I, or Freddie Wong raising $75,000 in the first day of his campaign for Video Game High School, it’s easy to start seeing dollar signs. Just try not to lose sight of the face that 55% of Kickstarter campaigns fail to make their goal — and that includes a lot of campaigns that are many times smaller than any of these larger campaigns. Don't get lost in the flow of everything as Crowd sourcing is just the beginning!
Oh most importantly, best of luck!
So! There you have it. Words of wisdom from a successful, Kickstarter crowd sourced project leader. I can only wish him the best of luck as well as eternal thanks for the help and time he's given me for this interview! From the points raised, the one that's sticking out in my mind at the minute is the fact that only 45% of projects are successful on Kickstarter. Whether or not these statistics follow on to other sites such as IndieGoGo or Sponsume is another question!
You can view the 'Man-child' project on Kickstarter HERE!
For more information on Koo, NoFilmSchool and to keep up to date with how the project is going, click HERE!
___________________________________________________________
ME: So, before we start, can you explain to us as to what 'Man-child' is about?
KOO: 'Man-child' is an independently produced FICTION film that takes place in the high stakes world of basketball. The reason I'm emphasising FICTION is that a lot of people have already confused it with a documentary. It follows the story of 13 year old Terren 'TJ' Jackson after a video of him playing basketball hits the internet and turns his life upside down. Because of this, he finds himself in a wealth of fame, making him choose between his education, father figures and belief systems. It's a very personal story about how he has to face these choices that to anyone would be an ordeal to go through, let alone a 13 year old.
ME: And what inspired the storyline? Does it take inspiration from real life events?
KOO: I've played basketball all my life so I've always had a strong connection to the sport and now working with someone else I love, film, I felt it was an ideal opportunity to combine the two and hopefully make something that a vast audience will appreciate. It explores the world of sports, education, religion and sex and although it's entirely fiction, it's based upon a very real story of what goes on in the world today.
ME: What was the main reason behind wanting to crowd source the project?
KOO: Well, when I started within the industry I found that big studios want stories that are incredibly original, and if they're not, then it's incredibly difficult to try and get your project made. That's why I setup NoFilmSchool, to show people that you don't have to follow the system and typical models to get something created. If you're passionate enough and the project is right, then it's possible to get it made. This is where crowd sourcing comes into play. Right now on the internet we have access to a much larger world, all connected via screens and keyboards. It's because of this that I thought that via my site and the following I've accumulated from it, not to mention the service I've provided for years totally free, that I'd ask a favor in return that people donate towards the film to get it made. It makes it their own as well, in a way that whether you've donated $1 or $250, you've made that film possible.
ME: And do you feel that because of the success of your website you were able to reach your target amount due to the amount of people you were able to reach out to?
ME: What advice could you give to me, a 'first time crowd sourcer' about setting up a pitch and hopefully making it become successful?
KOO: Well first of all you're project needs to be solid. You need to make sure your idea is fully formed (or at least to the extent that you won't go and change 80% of the film once it's been funded) and that you're confident you have the ability to pull off the final product. Confidence is the key, as well as thinking outside the box. It's almost crucial to have a video pitch now on any crowd sourcing site, something that lets you connect to the contributors and hopefully result in them donating. It has to be original and exciting, you have to give them reason to want to part with their hard earned cash! Think of it this way, if you were approached on the street by a stranger, asking for $5, you wouldn't hand it over, not unless they gave a very good reason as to why you should. For my pitch, I created something which I didn't feel entirely comfortable creating at first. It feature myself having a conversation with the voice inside my head, the same voice that's probably now saying to you "wow that guy must be crazy if he has a voice inside his head". That's the guy who convinces you not to follow your heart a lot of the time BUT I'm glad I ignored him and went along with it. The rewards system is also something that needs to be thought about and not just thrown in as a last minute thing. I came up with the idea that for each dollar donated, that person would receive an individual film frame from the final product. This meant I had 115,000 frames that will be given out to each and every contributor and the more you donate, the more frames you get. This has slightly altered though as I've now received more money than predicted frames, but that all depends on how much I shoot during production. Be creative with what you offer, but most importantly keep in contact with your contributors, even if it's via a blog that only they have access to. You need to make them feel they truly are with you every step of the way regardless of how much they've donated! It's because of this that they might then tell others to get involved and well, you get the idea!
 |
| The pitch video for 'Man-child'. Click here to view the video. |
It's easy to see projects like my own, or Jocelyn Towne raising $112,000 with her brilliant campaign video for I AM I, or Freddie Wong raising $75,000 in the first day of his campaign for Video Game High School, it’s easy to start seeing dollar signs. Just try not to lose sight of the face that 55% of Kickstarter campaigns fail to make their goal — and that includes a lot of campaigns that are many times smaller than any of these larger campaigns. Don't get lost in the flow of everything as Crowd sourcing is just the beginning!
Oh most importantly, best of luck!
___________________________________________________________
So! There you have it. Words of wisdom from a successful, Kickstarter crowd sourced project leader. I can only wish him the best of luck as well as eternal thanks for the help and time he's given me for this interview! From the points raised, the one that's sticking out in my mind at the minute is the fact that only 45% of projects are successful on Kickstarter. Whether or not these statistics follow on to other sites such as IndieGoGo or Sponsume is another question!
You can view the 'Man-child' project on Kickstarter HERE!
For more information on Koo, NoFilmSchool and to keep up to date with how the project is going, click HERE!
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