[Frameworks] Filmmaker need money..?

[Dylan Gauthier]

Dear all:

The only problem with Kickstarter I've found is the usury associated with it
- can be as much as 10% on a project (5% goes to Kickstarter, 3-5% to Amazon
Payments).  Obviously, on another scale, fiscal sponsorships take a small
amount but these are -- in theory -- skimmed out of an institutional
funder's pocket.  And even then, 10% would be steep: Fractured Atlas charges
6% for example, which I think includes credit card transactions.  It always
seemed strange asking friends or friends-of-friends to share 10% of their
good-will gift with Amazon and Kickstarter.  Fiscal sponsorship also comes
with the incentive that the sponsor is lending you its 501c3 status.
 Kickstarter grants are not tax-exempt, so if you pay taxes, you may pay
more.  You may still find it to be worth the 10% cut + xx% tax levy with the
exposure Kickstarter gives you to a multitude of tiny pockets.

But as long as we're talking about fundraising, has anyone found an
alternative -- perhaps a Kickstarter with grassier roots?  Can you think of
any historical pre-Kickstarter (pre-internet) fundraising schemes that would
have funded these same kinds of small projects back in the day?

-D

On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 10:45 PM, Chuck Kleinhans <chuckkle at northwestern.edu
> wrote:

>
> On Feb 23, 2011, at 6:19 PM, Shelly Silver wrote:
>
> > dear all:
> > slightly off topic, but what do people think of kickstart?  i do know
> several people who have been able to get money that's really made the
> difference, and am thinking of doing it myself.
> >
> > my question - is it a kind of 'friend's tax'? (and if so, is a friend's
> tax ok?)
> >
> > best,
> > shelly
>
> I recently supported a kickstarter project by Vanessa Renwick  which was
> successful.  I have met her, but just briefly, at a film fest in Portland;
> but I have liked her films, and she has a nifty website and sense of humor.
>  For my donation I could get one of her custom "Oregon Department of Kick
> Ass" T-shirts which I really wanted, at what was a kind of boutique price,
> but I also got to feel good about supporting an artist.  Win-win.  For a big
> donation she would cook dinner for you and some other folks.
>
> I think what made this work for me was:
> the project was very clear: to transfer some of her films to DVD, and just
> depended on getting the $
> I had seen some of the films and liked them
> I like her personality which comes through the films, talking to her, and
> the website
> she has a track record of completing things
> the "gift" was something I thought was neat and novel
>
> Maybe it's also a "Portlandia" kind of thing (for those of you who have
> followed the IFC cable series)
>
> Chuck Kleinhans
>
>
>
>
>
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