CrowdFunding

Invested.In

Ever wanted to get some capital for your creative projects. If you are like me and my team then then answer is a resounding yes. Getting capital for projects has to be one of the most difficulty and laborious processes known to man. What filmmaker wants to go around and raise money when they could be on set making movies. While Invested.In doesn’t promise a rags to riches story for you, it can and does streamline the process of raising capital in the new digital age. Aren’t a filmmaker? DOn’t worry – the beauty of Investin.In is that it can help with just about any endeavor. I am thrilled to share with you my interview with founding member, Alon Goren.

Watch Alon get all worked up while giving his 5 tips for a successful crowdfunding campaign.

To someone who knows nothing about Invested.In what would you tell them?

Apparently, we haven’t met!  :-)  Invested.in is a place to help you raise money and awareness for your cause, business, idea, endeavor or in your case, film project.  We help you manage your whole campaign from A to Z.

So how does it work exactly, I am like a fifth grader here?

Basically, we have a “project wizard” that guides you through the whole process and makes it extremely simple.  You explain your goal, you define and explain what you are willing to give in return (usually products or services), you customize the ‘look and feel’ of your project page and then you publish it.  Once published, you can use our Facebook application, Twitter application or any of our other sharing tools to share your project amongst your friends, family and supporters.  They “invest” in your project.  Once you reach your goal, we also give you the tools to export your details to help you return what you’ve promised and add all of your supporters to your address book or email list.

How does one leverage their social media to build awareness and how does the integration work with facebook, twitter, etc?

A great Invested.in project, paired up with our sharing tools can definitely spread the word about your film and help you gain a following.  When you link your account with Twitter, all of your project activities are automatically tweeted for you.  When you receive an investment, all of your followers will find out.  It helps people feel a part of your project and compels them to follow your path to success.  Our Facebook application lets anyone add your project to their Facebook page.  We’ve also integrated Facebook’s “Like” functionality witch allows Facebook users to “Like” your project.  When they do this, all of THEIR friends see it and it helps spread the word about your project.  We also have all of the normal sharing tools to allow you to e-mail your friends and post “one-off” messages to MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc…  We also give you the tools to manage your daily statistics and directly see the outcome of your sharing.

Have there been any success stories you can share with us?

We created the first successful project on the site.  We decided to launch at a big tech startup conference called DEMO.  Our only problem was that we, like most people starting up, didn’t have the cash on hand to pay for it.  So what we did, was convince them to let us pay in installments, and our on stage demo at the conference, was me, creating a project on Invested.in to pay for it!  The project lasted one month and we raised over $10,000.

Besides our project, there have been a bunch of other successes in the last few months.  You can witness, and maybe even be inspired to help some of our most successful projects, as they reach their goals here.

Why do you think this business model will last?

I believe that as long as people are innovative and forward-thinking, models like ours will continue to grow and expand.

Think about the types of films you’re passionate about.  Some of those types of films are nowhere near the mainstream.  Going to a studio, bank or investor to help you create a film like that would probably prove to be fruitless.  You might personally know a small group of people in your town that are into those types of films as well, but together you might not have the dough to produce the film of your dreams.  Utilizing our product, and the power of the internet, you can essentially “bridge the gap” and spread the word and find pockets of supporters all over the globe that are into your genre, idea, etc…  What might have been a dream could easily become reality because all pooled together, your fringe interest group has now become a unified market.

Why is this website exciting for filmmakers and how can filmmakers best use the site?

Filmmakers are loving the site because filmmakers need a few basic things that we help them acquire.  Filmmakers need an audience and filmmakers need production money.  If if they find a way to create their film for next to nothing, they still need to find a way to distribute, pay for duplication, equipment, festival submissions, etc…  Most filmmakers are on their own these days, and we give them the tools to create their own destiny.

Do some offers work better then others? Any tips on bettering the chances of getting funding?

Every project is different, and some things work better for different audiences.  As a “project owner”, the best thing you can do is create a project that explains all of the details of your film, includes pictures, video, and is extremely genuine.  Sell yourself.  Don’t pretend to be something you are not, and don’t ask for things you wouldn’t be willing to do for someone else.  You might give $100 to your best friend for a DVD of their film, but you won’t do that for a stranger.  Be realistic, be optimistic, and be persistent.  Some of the best projects with the coolest rewards don’t go far because they are not regularly shared by their project owners.  I recently created a video called “5 tips for a successful crowdfunding campaign.”  Check out that video, I get all worked up and (hopefully) give some good advice!  :-)

Anything else you can tell us?

Thank you so much for reading this and giving me the chance to talk about Invested.in.  As you can probably tell, I am really excited about the site and I hope it can help some of you reach your goals and dreams.  If you have ANY questions at all, or would like specific advice for your campaign, contact me.  I’d love to help.

Watch Alon get all worked up while giving his 5 tips for a successful crowdfunding campaign.

………
Award winning director and owner of Blank Stage Productions, Brent Brooks has served as a director and a producer in the film and television industry for well over 12 years.

‘Art of Suicide’, winner of the “Best Underground Film” award at last year’s Indie Fest, is Brooks’ second independent feature film and showcases his talent as an “actor’s director”. Brent and the Blank Stage teamed just wrapped production on “Between Love & A Hard Place” a faith -based film that features Thelma from the his TV show Good Times, Irone Singleton the villain from ‘The Blind Side’ and R&B Gosbel singer, Canton Jones. Brooks was also honored with a “Telly Award” by the International Academy of the Visual Arts for his documentary “The Artisan Resource Center: A Creative Enterprise”.

Brooks has pioneered a new film brainstorming technique called “ImprovAstorm,” manages “The Blank Page” screenwriting meetings and created “Under Budget,” the filmmaker accelerator course. Brent and a team of filmmakers are currently in-development of several exciting projects.

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