By Sometimes a particularly scathing review is met with some version of “Oh yeah? Let’s see you do better.” While I don’t think it’s a valid non-argument, it’s an interesting thought. But if you have ever felt that way after reading any of my reviews, I’m giving you the chance to call my bluff.
You see, I’m making a short film called Reel. It’s a martial arts film that I’m co-writing/directing with actor/writer/friend Gerard Chamberlain, and we’re both exceedingly excited about the project. We think it’s going to be pretty much the best thing since sliced bread, which is why we’ve set up a Kickstarter.
Kickstarter is a great platform. It’s one we’ve written about dozens (possibly hundreds) of times. I’ve backed a bunch of things, and I actually spent a semester studying the platform in school. I have a pretty good conceptual understanding of it, but I’m about to see how that can be put into practice. (And yes, I’m totally aware of the direct comparison to conceptual criticism versus practical application of filmmaking you may or may not be making right now.)
Regardless, I want to share this experience with all of you who have been on Flixist with me for the past three-plus years.
Backer updates are all well and good, but there’s more to it than that. For the next month, I’ll be discussing the process of actually getting a project onto Kickstarter at all. I’ll be talking about everything from writing the pitch to figuring out the goal. A lot of work goes into setting up a Kickstarter, and the next month is probably going to take a few years off my life. But I hope you can learn something from that. Whether we raise our funds or not, our successes and failures could be a template for you if you decide to crowdfund in the future.
So let’s freaking do this everybody. If there’s anything else about the process that you want to hear about, let me know in the comments.
[Alec is doing a Kickstarter. You can (and should) back it here. Through the project’s duration, he will be writing a series of articles about the process. More about that here. Check out the other entries here.]