The Hustle: What’s Wrong with My Crowdfunding Pitch?
Written by Daniela Espinosa
So you’re ready to make your next project -- maybe it’s a short film, a web series, or even your music video dream coming to life! It’s THE perfect idea, it’s your vision. You feel a little overwhelmed by jumping into crowdfunding and pitching but you know it’s the right thing.
You’re thinking, “Yes, I am a creative genius and yes, this is going to be my greatest piece of work ever!”.
While there is no doubt your idea is probably 100% amazing (because it’s 100% true to your vision), there are some things you need to keep in mind when you start crowdfunding and pitching! When preparing to sell the rest of the world on your potential project, you need to realize that it isn’t just you that needs to love the film; it also has to appeal to the people that will help fund it!
Oftentimes this information isn’t available to rising filmmakers, or women or nonbinary creators but we want to dedicate this edition to the Hustle to answering “What’s Wrong with My Crowdfunding Pitch?”. When making your crowdfunding pitch, there’s a few key things that may prevent you from getting the buy in from the audience that YOU need to pull it off. Read on below to learn 4 key tips….
Your audience might be too general!
Ask yourself, “Who is my film’s targeted audience?” if your first instinct is “Everyone”-- you need to think a little more specifically. Yes, you want as many people as possible to love the film, but realistically it’s not possible to please everyone! The best you can do is specify who this film is for that will guide who will enjoy it, who will want to share it with their circle, and who will absolutely be rewatching this project for years to come. Once you narrow down who the targeted audience is, it will make it much easier to create a pitch that resonates with them. Crowdfunding isn’t a mad money grab, it’s about developing your audience throIt’s a better way to really hit home with the point of your film instead of just telling any and everyone that you got a project and it needs money now!It’s boring.
For a crowdfunding video, the first 15 seconds are crucial in hooking a viewer right in. Yes, SECONDS. Whether that means making it funny, super shocking or mysterious and intriguing (which depends on your film and again, the audience!), it needs that wow factor. You may have an awesome 3 minute work of art pitch video but think of the first 15 seconds of your video as the icing on a cupcake. Sure, you could take a bite straight out of the sugary cake first, but it’s that sweet decoration topping the cake that pulls someone into its sweetness. The beginning of your crowdfunding video needs to entertain the audience in a way that makes them realize, yes, this film is for them and they need to watch more to learn more about it!Remember, your crowdfunding pitch isn’t only for you to get something out of this!
As a creator your work is from you but also about the audience! Think about it this way: you love your film and you know it’s amazing… but what does the audience really get out of supporting you? Now, this is a two-part situation: first, getting the audience ‘buy in’ for your project AND thinking about what you provide them in exchange for their support. To establish solid reasons for why an audience should care about your project gets easier when you identify who that audience is (ie, tip #1). Once you know that, you’re able to figure out what supporters will get in return for making donations or pledging their support. Make it clear that whoever supports you, gets something in return - even if it’s a shoutout on social media! This makes their support mutually beneficial and connects you to your audience even more.. Is your audience in love with graphic design? Maybe have a designer draw profile pictures for a certain tier! Do you have a sticker plug? Maybe you can send some out for a certain tier! Here’s some other ideas for rewards: discounts on or free merchandise, access to behind the scenes footage or extra content, producer and decision making credits, a google meet call with the director, movie poster, signed scripts, or whatever your heart desires!Your call to action is confusing OR you don’t even have one and it’s throwing people off.
When you’re crowdfunding and creating your pitch (deck, video, tiktok, whatever!), make it very clear what you want people to do to support. Do you want people just to donate? Or do you also want them to spread the word? Use this guide to outline your CTA:
Share a donate link for financial or other donations
Include sample social copy and short messages about your campaign that people can copy and paste to share about the film
Add in your social media handles both your films and any person handles
Show the trailer or any teasers of the film!
Bonus: if you have them, include important reviews or articles on the film
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash
Without providing this information and clear next steps on what you need, you’re essentially throwing your crowdfunding pitch into the void and hoping someone will help out. But there’s so much more control you can have! You got this, crowdfunding is a hard process but one that puts your best foot forward with your audience!
Once you have tackled these blind spots, your crowdfunding pitch will certainly be stronger and resonate a lot more with potential audiences. Good luck!