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Crowdfunding a Sci Fi Short Film – Project Fusebox !!

Crowdfunding happens to be a pretty much unexplored concept in India. And more so in the film and television space. Barring a couple of odd experiments, film makers have still not taken to this route here, whereas outside of India, even seasoned film makers are trying their hands at crowdfunding.

My friend and an ace film maker Ankur Kapoor (https://www.facebook.com/ankurkapoor86?fref=ts) has just embarked upon a unique crowdfunding project of his own.

He intends to make a 15 minute science fiction short film. This short film would be self contained and would spark a world which can be propagated further in a feature project at a later stage. I had the privilege of working with Ankur as a mentor in 2009-10 on a sci-fi project which got shelved due to lack of proper funding. We managed to pull off a teaser on a tiny budget working with a team of 3 students. This teaser can be seen on the project’s Indiegogo page (link below). Ankur has won several awards at various indie festivals and events over the past 6-7 years. 

I request Rodinhooders to support and help us promote this unique project by going to https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/project-fusebox-sci-fi-short-film . You can also contribute in Indian Rupees by going to https://www.getfbpay.in/projectfusebox 

To promote this project on Facebook, please like us on https://www.facebook.com/qfilms

We would also appreciate any kind of inputs/feedback on how we should promote this crowdfunding campaign. Any kind of additional help/support is most welcome and appreciated as well. 

There are also two questions which we have regarding the process of crowdfunding and I feel The Rodinhoods is the best place for getting the right answers.

Q1. What are the tax implications for the funds that are received via a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter or Indiegogo for instance ? Are there any key points one should be aware of.

Q2. What are the best strategies for promoting a campaign such as this one ?

Thanks in advance. And don’t forget to share the campaign link with your friends and family as well 🙂

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8 Comments

  1. “Crowdfunding happens to be a pretty much unexplored concept in India.”

    We had a very Live example of crowdfunding in Action, In Delhi AAP ne dhyaan nahin diya ?

    Good Luck to your Friend for the crowdfunded option do check out the various other posts and information in the comments too with this regards if that helps as well too.

    Talking about Crowdfunding Here with the various other ways its already being localized and used in the INDIAN context

    And here again  : Crowd-sourcing travel itineraries @ Tripoto

    Recently in the News : India’s Sochi dream gets a B’wood push

    With just two months to go before the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia , Shiva Keshavan found himself without a sled. The initiative has helped raise Rs 10 lakh to enable him buy a top-notch sled.

    It is being run on https://ketto.org/ 

    Also Try out  https://fundlined.com as Listed by  Alex J V on November 29, 2013 at 5:33am On his post for Tangle “

    My experience with crowd funding

    Cheers!!!

  2. Thanks for sharing those great links and for your earlier posts on the topic as well. We’ve been through all posts here on Crowdfunding and they’ve been of great help. 

    I won’t compare AAP’s crowd-funding to funding for a film or a commercial project. They’re very different from an investor’s standpoint. And hence, promotional strategies would also be different. There is a lot of sentiment involved in the case of AAP.

    What should we do for our film project ?

  3. Would suggest your Friend Ankur Kapoor  to also Interact and participate on the Post. 🙂 Who looks like the Initiator as well for the Project!

    Crowd Funding may or may not have Commercial Reasons like you said rightly, since it is something which is done for the part where MONEY is linked though as the end result!!

    Was simply trying to highlight the ways crowd funding is used for various other purposes too, since you already have gone through the related posts here are a few more that you can explore as well to similarly to take it to the next step since you have now landed on the platform, and if the members would be interacting for the Contributions as well as Intended. 

    Saw there were Various Categories listed for the same Amount of the contribution for the project, is it really required ? $10, $50 etc specifically for the perks. It is actually Diluting the options value than providing an OPTion rather.

    Maybe a few Questions answered would get you to also think on a wider base, just listing a few I came upon with not much data on my end for the purpose.

    • Why not try to connect with some Studios and ask them to become a part of this project as well, from the same industry in local or other states and cities too ?
    • If Setup for the studio, shooting, models. equipment, location, site etc etc is something you are looking to invest in from the amount so collected, What is the hurdle ?
    • How do you think this would get monetized or another project after this is exhausted in line ?
    • Where if not Delhi are you looking to get this started once the Aim of reaching the goal is completed ?

    For the Various RH’s here into Films and the way how this could be taken forward, I would leave it upto them to take things further how they feel right, a few Names who can possibly shed some more light from their Fields of experience likewise related to the same would be Which to explore possibilities or get directions as well too if not from your own individual network as well.

    Mukul Sharma from koimoi.com,

    Sagar Yadav, already venturing into the online Food industry now after the Stint in the Film space,

    Kamal Kalra, working on the online Film related portal from Delhi again, 

    The Mango Man Rockstar post, Sumant Jha again from Delhi exploring new ways in the Old Wine and Bottle tussle in the Film based industry too is a Right candidate as well to interact.

    You can Check Some of the Rockstars who are also into the making of Video Explainers and I guess you can also do justice by Making some for the Members here which would be another way of making some contribution in your (Ankur’s) field of specialization and make some interesting connections which may also lead to sponsorship options in other ways not possible if they are not directly interested to Add to the Project as a contributor too, it is just a suggestion the modalities can be worked out within your group if you think fit too.

    More over something like this can also be used in the Travel industry do check this post here and read the comments for more Insight

    What if we spin them and give you free offers! Kindly give your sug… – Posted by amir raza on July 23, 2013 at 3:36pm in Ideas

    Moreover I feel these few posts listed below would be Ideal to make use and promote your Project too and also make you more on the Next step as suggested in the Teaser too for Humans!! (You can use existing 2D Pictures or some old videos too edited and incorporated as well and make it into an animated movie) for the purpose if not exactly the way it is shown for the CAT. This could be commercialized on the time taken for something like this if possible to be made too and if the Founders of the sites and the members there agree as well too as a facility extended for the same purpose.

    A new address of our ancestors… Shradhanjali.com – Posted by Vivek Vyas on July 23, 2013 at 11:36am in Your Story

    facebook for “Dead People” – Posted by Rahul Suri on August 19, 2012 at 12:39pm in Startup

    Just Thinking aloud after you asked – What should we do for our film project ?

    Complete it, I Guess!!! 🙂 Cheers!! Good Luck! 

  4. Also Mentioning to open up more options in the thought process could not add due to timeout in the same comment!!

    A new way to Travel “FindMyCarrots” = Google + Trip Advisor + Semantics – Posted by kanwar sangha on November 29, 2013 at 10:52am in Showcase!

  5. Hi Darshan!

    Thanks a lot for showing interest in our project and giving your inputs.

    I think the perks option on the websites is an interesting feature to get contributions from people with different financial capacities. If we just keep one slot, we might lose out on a potential big or small investor. The idea so far has been to keep the perks enticing and interesting within 20% worth of the contribution but with some creative/emotional value attached to it. Since this is a film, people like it when they see their name on the screen and get to attend a film festival with the people they have supported. I remember how exciting it was coming up with these reward options when I was creating the campaign because it feels awesome to give back something related to your project when someone supports you. Would you like to suggest any other give back options which would be good to get more people interested (not money)?

    Connecting to studios comes with its downsides. If we can produce our project without any studio involvement, we retain all the rights to the film and thus, nobody else has a say in the creative process or can ask us to do a certain thing a certain way. Staying independent gives us complete creative freedom.

    The hurdle right now is collecting the money. If 5,000 people from India, who are fond of the themes in this film, contribute 500 rupees each, we will reach our target. However, it is turning out to be difficult task to find those 5,000 among billions of people, which is why we need some supporters who want to invest more in the project than just 500 rupees. How do we isolate such an audience and target them?

    The target of our film would be film festivals. The monetization would not come immediately, but can only be done via online mediums like YouTube, once we do an online release after completing the festival circuit. Later on, as is our plan, this story would extend into a feature film, which would be a more commercial product.

    The film will be shot in Delhi (set) and tentatively in a place I have recently come across called Abbott Mount Cottage in Uttarakhand. Here’s a picture:

     

    Thanks a lot for getting involved. Looking forward to more contructive comments from the community  🙂

  6. To make our crowd funding campaign more accessible, we have also now started a cash pick-up feature for our supporters in Delhi/NCR and Chandigarh Tricity. A cash pick-up can be booked by simply filling up this form: https://eepurl.com/Lh58P

    And would love to get some feedback on our pitch video for this project also from all the Rodinhooders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhhtCVTb1Vg

    Thanks 🙂

  7. Dear Cinema, the top India News partner of IMDb and a news partner of Google News has just published this article about #ProjectFusebox. Please give it a read: https://dearcinema.com/article/project-fusebox/0744

  8. hey sachin,

    wanted to wish you on your b’day from all of us rodinhooders 🙂

    have a rocking day!

    ps: did your friend’s film get made?

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