IndieGoGo helps filmmakers get the funding they deserve

The Lilliput received funding on IndieGoGo

There was a time when only ruthless Hollywood producers had the power to bring cinematic visions to life. Now, it takes a village -- or, rather, a community. That's the idea behind IndieGoGo , the social network for funding independent film productions launched January 14 by Slava Rubin, Eric Schell and Danae Ringelmann. By allowing filmmakers to create profiles for their projects, build fans and get them to donate to the projects, IndieGoGo makes it possible to find an audience before a single frame is shot -- and allows them to get involved. "All you need is an idea in your head," explains Rubin, whose background in strategic planning combines with Schell's consulting experience and Ringelmann's industry work in the field of film and media finance. "We've all been passionate about independent film and helping artists," says Rubin, who works out of New York City while Schell and Ringelmann complete their MBAs at UC Berkeley.

The trio started tossing around the IndieGoGo concept in late 2006. Initially called Project Keiyaku, the operation began to gain serious traction the following year, when the team traveled the national film festival circuit, hitting up events at places like Sundance and South by Southwest to spread the word. They had a unique hook: Filmmakers can maintain accounts listing all the details of their films, and build attention with these placeholders. At times of their choosing, they can turn on the fundraising feature, and interested parties (offered VIP perks if the economic target is reached) can begin providing donations. At this point, a project has forty-five days to reach a pre-determined financial goal. If the proper amount is raised, IndieGoGo collects nine percent and the rest goes to the production. If not, the money goes back to the donors. "It's win-win," says Rubin.

Other forward-thinking members of the film community see it the same way. During their initial festival run, the founders managed to get some early media coverage in a trend piece about financing films over the internet, and connected with noted web-based filmmakers like Lance Weiler, Arin Crumley and M dot Strange. "They helped us locate our idea," Rubin recalls. "What we're doing is what we try to tell every filmmaker to do. You gotta get yourself involved, identify your audience and go after them."

Just like that, it started happening: IndieGoGo launched at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, sharing promotional efforts with the environmental documentary Flow: For the Love of Water, "a perfect example of a passion project on our site," as Rubin told MediaRights last month. At this point, six projects have landed varying amounts of funding through the site, and Rubin says they expect hundreds more posted by the end of the year. "We're on the front end of it all," Rubin says. "We want to empower filmmakers so they can engage their audiences."

Such powerful words would be meaningless without context, but, IndieGoGo has helped projects with strong social and cultural values. The first feature to reach its goal, a Polish documentary called The Lilliput, tracks the compelling true story of a Jewish dwarf named Abraham Kerber who survived the Holocaust by hiding in garbage cans. Director Minna Zielonka-Packer plans to shoot on 35mm film and reach a running time of ninety-minutes -- the sort of operation that can get costly. With IndieGoGo as her base, Zielonka-Packer scored a $25,000 grant, and Rubin says film festivals have already contacted them with commitments to show the final product. Several other projects have also benefited from the site. Both Changing the World on Vacation and Tapestries of Hope managed to reach their $10,000 goals, with Hope meeting the objective twice.



Rather than sitting back to watch the system work, Rubin and his co-workers have established several partnerships to expand the role of IndieGoGo in the independent film community. They have a presence at this week's documentary lab hosted by New York's Independent Feature Project, discussing the importance of promoting your movie in cyberspace, and will fill a similar role at the narrative workshop next month. In the fall, they'll have a presence at IFP Film Week. In the meantime, IndieGoGo has some educational plans of its own: a game plan they called DIWO University, a means of offering strategies for digitally-oriented filmmakers. It begins this summer, and a college tour follows soon afterward. "DIWO" stands for "do-it-with-others," which takes a corrective approach to the DIY logic that you only need yourself. "With tools today, like social networking, you have the ability to reach out quickly," says Rubin.

IndieGoGo's presence isn't limited to the classroom. In June, the site plans to participate in Internet Week New York, a conclave for New York's web industry. Midway through the gathering, on June 5, IndieGoGo and IFP plan to host an evening at the IFC Center in downtown Manhattan, screening films culled from YouTube and other online sources. On June 8, they host a panel at the Apple store in Soho, followed by a party at Chinatown Brasserie. "It's amazing how much high bandwidth has allowed video to proliferate," Rubin says, hinting at the theme of the upcoming conversations at these events.

Having firmly rooted themselves as an distinct resource in the progressive film scene, it's no surprise that the IndieGoGo team has been sought out by independent studios in need of advice. "I think it's definitely a process," Rubin says of working with veterans of the older industry models. "Plenty of people are old school in the way they think, but now's the right time to change that."

--Eric Kohn