In which a presentation at the Tribeca Film Festival yields hard numbers and smart advice for how to make crowdfunding work for you.

The long-dormant OBM blog is back!  Kind of.  This remains a place of relative calm in the swirling web chat-os-phere, a place to share ideas as they come, let you know about evolving collaborations, and connect you to projects I admire and support.

Today, I dashed over to the Tribeca Film Festival’s lunchtime speaker series, where Elizabeth Holm, who heads Kickstarter’s film program, gave a very impressive presentation.  A primary reason I founded Old Bridge Media in 2007, and a central theme of this blog, is my general optimism about the changing media landscape. Elizabeth’s presentation was music to my ears.

So for all of you gathering support for your own projects, here’s a practical rundown of what Elizabeth had to say, in the hopes that you can use Kickstarter for your own benefit.  Here as always, “JH” denotes my own impression or context to the presentation.  Have a good one. —John

The Kickstarter landscape overall as of April 2012

            • 1.8 million backers have made $200 million in pledges for 21,000 successful projects.

            • 44 percent of all listed Kickstarter projects get funded.

Many of this year’s festival films have Kickstarter origins.

            • 12 films showing at Tribeca this year

            • About 10 percent (33 films) of South by Southwest’s programming

Documentaries are most popular.

            • The most thriving subcategory on the site (JH: and apparently growing).

 Film donor behavior

            • The average pledge is $71.

            • The most common pledge is $25.

Setting the right bar

            • The average goal of a successful Kickstarter project of any kind is $6,035.

• The average goal of a successful film project on Kickstarter is higher: $8,000.

            • The average number of backers is 85.

• Therefore, $6,035 is derived of: [avg. # of backers {85} x avg. amount {$71}]

Duration of campaigns

            • Recommended: 30 days.

Pattern of donations

            • Most come at beginning and end.

            • Big plateau in the middle.

The tipping point

            • If you can get to 30 percent funded, it’s statistically likely you’ll make it.

Ai Weiwei

“Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry,” a feature doc getting much attention this year, was held up as a model of how-to.  Its director raised $52,000; her goal was $20K. More:

                        • 793 backers

                        • 14 project updates

                        • Here as elsewhere, the director’s sweet spot was $25 donations

(JH: *Note that this wild success was aided in part by a very popular subject who also was featured in the news during the project’s filming.)

Rewards

They’re key to successful funding campaigns.  Elizabeth divides them into three categories: 1. A copy of the thing. 2. The creative experience. 3. The shared story. Examples:

            • Giving away the film itself

            • Collateral

            • Personal involvement (JH: signed picture, keepsake)

Percentage of budget

• People raise anywhere from 10 percent to 80 percent of their production funding on Kickstarter.

• Extra money is typically put to festival submissions, etc. (JH: But that flies in the face of others’ advice, who’ve told me: Don’t leave $ for submissions, travel to festivals to chance. Include it in your ask.)

That’s it! If you’re reading this Tuesday, April 24, I’m at “Searching for Sugar Man” tonight, and will drop by the festival a couple of other times this week.  If you’re in town, let me know: john@oldbridgemedia.com.