News of the week(ly)
Hey, check it out: The Las Vegas Weekly wrote a little blurb about our crowdfunding project (image above by Leila Navidi from that article). Cool, right? Seems appropriate, given Parkway of Broken Dreams is based on an article I wrote for that fine publication about 12 years ago.
We’re now four days into our crowdfunding campaign, and as of this writing, we’re at about 23% of our $15,000 goal. Which puts us right around what Seed&Spark considers “typical” progress.
In the meantime, we’re also exploring other funding options (what, you think we’d put all of our eggs in one basket?), including ScreenCraft’s Film Fund grant. As we’ve mentioned before, Parkway of Broken Dreams is going to get finished, one way or another. We have about two months of interviews lined up still, and thanks to the terrific community that was part of the scene documented in the film, we’re gathering more footage and archival materials everyday, as well as finding new fans along the way. But more funding makes it easier to do these things, and enables us to do it smarter, faster and better.
If you’re wondering where the $15,000 amount for the Seed&Spark campaign comes from, peep the Wishlist on the project page. This is actually a portion of our larger budget, which in the interest of transparency, includes:
- Legal fees (consultation, filing, contract reviews, etc.)
- Business set-up (LLC filing, licenses, taxes, etc.)
- Insurance (film production and “errors & omissions”)
- Travel (for interviews)
- Equipment/rentals (secondary camera, drones, etc.)
- Music licensing
- Editing/post-production hardware
And that’s just for production/post-production. Then there’s the sales/distribution phase, which includes:
- Film festival entry fees
- Duplication (DVDs, media kits)
- Distribution (marketplace registration, travel, etc.)
Our total operating budget is more like $30,000. And that’s not counting what’s already been spent over the last four months of production. So, yep, it takes a village … and a whole lot of greenbacks. But put into perspective, the $15,000 seems like nothing, right? Right…
Something else you’ll notice from that Wishlist is there’s an option to “loan” an item. Now, loaning DOES NOT reduce our funding goal at all. We still need to raise the overall funds. BUT. Let’s say you or someone you know is an attorney, maybe even one who specializes in small or creative businesses. And that person wanted to donate their time/services. That would offset other expenses that can’t be so easily donated (like airfare or insurance). Cool, right?
Also, we’re open to businesses (or well-moneyed individuals) who’d like to get a little exposure and goodwill by sponsoring a funding challenge, or by donating items/services to be used as new incentives. Own a restaurant or bakery? Why not donate a few gift certificates, and we’ll create a “Sweet Treat” incentive level (or a “Your Name Here” level). Fun, right?
As they say, there’s more than one way to skin a cat.*
*But, if you’re skinning cats, I want nothing to do with you, you sicko.