Matthew Sherrington believes successful crowd-funding campaigns are all about winning.

Win-win — for both filmmakers and crowd-funders.

“A good fundraising story — and I mean your whole organisational story — needs to give the supporter the feeling they are the key to winning. You need to make supporters feel special. You need to help them know they make all the difference. You need them to know you can win, against all the odds, but that you need them on your team to do that.”

This is something to keep in mind when you pick your project, devise your pitch and design your perks.

My take: Sure, crowd-funding is about raising money. But more importantly, it’s about creating fans — fans who essentially buy tickets before your film is finished. Just as market research on titles and poster art drove Roger Corman’s decisions on what films to produce, your crowd-funders validate your project.