Notes On A Crowdfunding Carcass
I’m not here to bleed people who have debt and kids, just people who have kids.
It was my response to a friend who apologised for not funding the campaign.
The crowdfunding results are in, the carcass picked over from 28 core days.
456 Indiegogo page views
40,000 twitter impressions
1,900 twitter profile views
$4,300 raised.
To the uninitiated those figures might look impressive, but all needed a zero added at the end, except the last one — in a perfect world it would be more than double. I’m not being too hard, I know the crowdfunding community is tapped out when it comes to short films, I have little social media presence — my twitter handle is sporadictwit after all — and I go gobs of time without being on Facebook. And when I do, it’s more about providing a cursory notion of existence, a like or two.
My expectation of strangers backing Glass Houses was zero. Make no mistake with crowdfunding, you’re naked in a bustling metropolis where no one notices you.
Facebook isn’t quite as evil as wicked. You learn how few of your posts are seen by people and are left no choice but to pay to maintain awareness amongst friends. You realize no one’s noticing you because everyone is naked.
28 days + 5 days of “beta” and there was one critical fundraising message I couldn’t do, the one I had to, the personal sell: The dreaded email message. Why this project is important to me.
Because it is.
Not just my love for it, but how it pertains to my future. I needed to create a separate email for each person I’m connected to, people I haven’t seen in months or years. Scrap that. Not even seen. But I couldn’t get over my embarrassment, nay, shame in asking for support.
My parents response to crowdfunding was, "Who's going to give you money, no one's going to give you money!"
You might guess, I'm not millennial.
Balloon, no air. Re-inflate. That is crowdfunding.
As much as I knew I was selling "me" and not the actual short film, I kept tripping up, associating asking with begging, and begging is the ultimate humiliation. The pit of my stomach churned. It wasn't creamery butter.
Make no mistake with crowdfunding, if you don’t have the next cool gadget, a future landfill item, or a flying carpet, you’re begging.
I went happy happy joy joy. Tried to keep it light, create a bit of excitement. Catch this train, my dream is yours, trying to go out in the world, to do something, to make something great with these lives that are all too short.
I made two selfie videos.
There were some successful tweets:
Some didn’t have anything to do with the film.
Now people who saw the follow up tweet, know a little bit about me. I like potatoes and hunt for spare change every week. Because I’m plastic.
I remained political. Went #ShakespeareinTrump long before it was a thing as I tried my hand at creating a twitter thread. Excuse the typo. It was a twenty-minute ditty on my phone at midnight.
Make no mistake with crowdfunding, at this level, you're friendfunding.
It isn't over. I extended the deadline, because I’ve learned from screenplay competitions, people don’t always get around to things on time.
Make no mistake with crowdfunding, you have no idea where people are at.
And for that, I am eternally grateful for everyone who has backed Glass Houses. I thank you again. I am touched.
David
You can like this post on Facebook using the share button below. I will have no idea who it is. And you can still back Glass Houses at https://igg.me/at/glasshouses69