Category Archives: Funding

Kickstarter comes to Canada!

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Leading crowd-funding platform Kickstarter is coming to Canada.

They say new projects will go live on September 9, 2013.

It’s taken three years but it looks like Canadian filmmakers and other creative folk have no more excuses. It used to be that you needed a bank account and address in the States to list on Kickstarter. Now Canada joins the US and the UK.

Need help with your campaign? See Kickstarter and crowd-funding advice from someone who work(s/ed) for one of their competitors.

My take: sure you can raise funds on Kickstarter but more valuable is the audience you’re building. In a sense, you’re pre-selling your film to hundreds, maybe thousands, of viewers. Just remember to budget enough time!

‘Additional Funding Guide for Documentary Film’ released

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The Canada Media Fund has released the second edition of the 170-page Additional Funding Guide for Documentary Film.

“…a practical tool enabling Canadian and European producers and filmmakers to identify the different resources available for their own productions or co-productions: private funds dedicated to audiovisual content, including broadcaster funds, awards, grants, financial guidance and calls for projects by festivals, independent production cooperatives, provincial arts councils, crowd-funding platforms, help with distribution, marketing and audience development….”

Download the free PDF.

My take: If you make docs, get this! You can’t argue with the price. Just don’t take all the info as gospel; I found numerous errors glancing through.

Harold Greenberg supports features with calling card shorts

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Astral’s Harold Greenberg Fund has got the right idea.

Their Shorts-to-Features program will fund three short films for $30K AND chip in another $10K to take the feature script to the next draft.

In other words, they’re condensing the “shorts are a stepping stone to features” journey into ONE project. Brilliant!

“An initiative of Astral’s Harold Greenberg Fund in association with Movie Central, and The Movie Network, the Shorts-to-Features program is designed to greenlight and finance the production of short films, in the amount of $30,000 each, from emerging Canadian filmmakers to use as a calling card for a feature film currently in development.”

The deadline is Wednesday, June 5, 2013 at midnight.

My take: If you have a feature script ready to go, for sure, apply!

Money for music videos

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Public Records and Telus are doling out an unspecified number of grants to BC and Alberta filmmakers to produce music videos of local artists for Optik TV.

“We’re giving away music video grants to artists in BC and Alberta. Each grant is worth up to $5,000. To be eligible for a grant you must be either a musician or a filmmaker. Grants will be awarded to collaborations between a musician (artist or band) and a filmmaker (individual or crew). Winners will receive funding to produce a music video.”

Optik Local supports Community Access Programming in the areas which it serves in BC and Alberta: Metro Vancouver (including Whistler), Victoria, Nanaimo, Prince George, Kelowna, Vernon, Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Penticton and Kamloops.

Grant applications open on May 31st and close on June 14th. The winners will be announced on June 21st and final music videos must be submitted by August 7th. See the full rules.

My take: music videos are fun! I’ll be collaborating with my favourite musician and renting gear from CineVic in Victoria.

Telefilm feature film development opens May 7, 2013

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Telefilm has announced that they will start accepting applications for feature film development beginning on May 7, 2013.

But don’t contact them directly.

Instead get your query letters ready and start contacting successful Canadian producers who have a track record.

If you can convince them, they will ‘mentor’ you and pocket a $25,000 fee.

By the way, Telefilm lawyers (but not executives apparently) insist that projects be squeaky clean. Projects may “not contain any element that is an offence under the Criminal Code, is libellous or in any other way unlawful.” This is much more broadly restrictive language than in the past.

My take: if you’ve got a feature script ready to go, start contacting the production companies. Which companies, you say? How about this easily searchable list?

Bite TV comedy web series deadline: April 15, 2013

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Toronto’s Bite TV is looking for the next hit web series and has launched the Bite TV Comedy Web Series Competition.

“If you are a comedy creator, digital content developer, producer or just someone with a great idea we want to hear from you! This is your chance to get a development deal to produce a comedy web series pilot for Bite.ca.”

Up to 100 lucky people can upload a 5-minute video pitch for their comedy web series idea. Three finalists will be invited to pitch in person in May.

Your pitch should answer these questions:

  • Who are you?
  • Who is your audience?
  • Have you already established an audience/fan base?
  • Where did the idea come from?
  • Why should Bite pick you?

The deadline is Monday, April 15, 2013. See Bite.ca for the application form.

My take: Here’s another example of the expanding mediascape. No longer are development deals only for movies and TV. If you’ve got a comedy thing happening, read the legal details and consider this.

Congratulations to the first finalists of Telefilm’s Micro-Budget Production Program

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Finally Telefilm is trying something new.

Recognizing that the current system is tilted against up-and-coming talent, last year they announced the Micro-Budget Production Program.

Each of 25 partners across the country nominated one of their recent students or new members for funding to produce their first features.

Eight finalists have just been announced.

“Telefilm will contribute $120,000 in funding per project. Finalists must use this contribution to produce, distribute and promote a feature-length film for release to the general public within 15 months of signature of the Telefilm contract, via one or more distribution platforms, with special emphasis on digital media.”

Congratulations to all and especially to Maureen Bradley of Victoria. In 2008, I worked with Maureen on an application to the NSI’s Features First program for her project Dry.

You can see all the winners here.

My take: I’m extremely excited by this development. I’m looking forward to at least one of these projects becoming a runaway success. Wouldn’t that upset the apple cart!

CineCoup goes public and why you should care

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CineCoup just went live and you should care.

I blogged about CineCoup.com last November and last week it opened to the public with 90 projects, each vying for $1,000,000 and guaranteed screenings at Cineplex.

CineCoup is applying the tech accelerator model to film-making in Canada. Over the next three months, they’ll be challenging the teams to complete a number of ‘missions’ which the public will then rate.

That’s right — you’ll decide the fate of the filmmakers.

This is a fresh model for film financing in Canada. Other than direct crowd-funding, I don’t know of anything else here that shifts the power from industry insiders to the general public. After all, why not ask the audience directly what it wants to see, rather than leaving that decision to committee after committee?

My take: Sign up! Visit CineCoup often. Watch and rate the trailers. Add projects to your watch lists. Follow along for the next few months. Get involved.

Disclosure: I’m providing some production management services to Transmission by Tyler Moore and Clay Bartel.

Seed&Spark: an innovative take on crowdfunding, audience building and dissemination

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Those New Yorkers continue to innovate!

Seed&Spark has put a couple of twists on crowd funding:

  1. Rather than pitching for a sum of money, they ask filmmakers to create a ‘gift registry’ of the things they need to make their movie; and then patrons can give cash OR lend the items.
  2. You get green lit at 80% of your goal.

This is a cool idea for towns that might be resource-rich but cash-poor. It also might get people more ‘invested’ in your project, helping to build your audience. They say:

“We started Seed&Spark because we want to make films but we wanted a healthier environment in which to make them. We believe that the art of storytelling is about expanding imagination, shining a light on the world inside and deepening empathy for the world outside. In the current political and economic climate where many consider the arts a luxury, we believe artists are responsible for teaching their audiences why they are essential. Films are not just art, they are business ventures. They require the seed of an idea and the sparks of human and capital investments to bring them to life.”

Seed&Spark is also an online film streaming site. Earn between 20 and 80 cents for each view of your short, three times that for features.

Between now and February 15, 2013, they’re selecting the next dozen projects to launch on the site.

See their video; read their guidelines.

My take: I love the concept and the curated aspect to this. It’s film specific which differentiates it from every other crowdfunding platform out there. The challenge will be to scale it up. The lending option seems to keep it local; can this work for projects in other cities or countries?

100 Million Dollars Crowdfunded to Indie Film

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In cased you missed it, Kickstarter has announced that over the last three years people have pledged over $100,000,000 to independent films on their platform.

60% of that in 2012!

I found the stats on the 8,600 successful film projects very interesting. 72% raised less than $10,000 and only 8% raised more than $100K.

Nevertheless, over 85% of film projects that raised more than 20% of their goal were successful.

See Kickstarter’s announcement.

My take: crowdfunding must be an integral component of most if not all independent films, whether to raise funds, build an audience or both.