129 backers pledged $26,024 to help bring the Impact Factor Movie to life.
That’s pretty amazing, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.
Of that $26,024 only about $16,000 made it through the maze of Kickstarter fees and uncollected donations.
Ouch!
It’s not possible!
Many professional filmmakers told me that it was impossible to create a professional feature film with $16,000, especially considering the cast of 30+ actors and just as many locations.
But, I promised to make a movie, so we just had to make it happen!
A BUNCH of amazing people worked together and we went into production in August and September of 2019 and got it done in 16 days of non-stop work.
Even more amazingly …
We managed to come in $3,000 under budget and 2 days under schedule.
I was elated!
Then the taxman said, “You didn’t spend it all in the first year! I’ll take over $1,200 of what you saved!”
Ugh …
Industry experts say to allocate the same amount of money to post-production as to production.
I was lucky to be able to generate a bit more funding and committed myself to a full year of doing almost all of the post-production tasks myself.
Michael Engesser, the award-winning composer worked on the score for the movie that entire time.
I edited the film, I color-graded, I did sound editing and design.
Cody Rowan did visual effects.
Deremiah kept the Social Media Team supported and engaged while we worked.
Double full-time for over a year.
Here’s the good news
The footage looks wonderful, the actors did a wonderful job, and we are 98% finished with post-production.
Of course, production is just a small part of the total expenses of making and launching a film. Many filmmakers come in with the idea that production costs are the only costs they will have to worry about.
Oh if that were only true!
We still have some significant costs to do final polishes and all of the deliverables for the film and that certainly doesn’t count launching, distributing, and marketing the film!
Deliverables!
There’s music licensing, stock footage, and deliverables (like a DCP for festival screenings)
Here are just a few of the deliverables that have to be produced:
The Master
DVD/Blu-ray Copies
Closed Captioning
Transcript
Music Cue Sheet
Music License Materials
Metadata
Trailer
Poster Art
Bonus Materials
Outtakes
Interviews
Deleted scenes
Extended scenes
Bloopers
Behind-the-scenes footage
Commentary
Promotional Clips
Press Kit
Don’t Forget Marketing
Oh yeah, you need a website for the film, screenings at various theaters, film festival applications, local ad campaigns, and to hire a publicist.
Traditionally, feature films have the same amount of money spent on marketing (commonly called “P&A,” which is short for “prints and advertising”) as the budget of the film. If a film costs $1 million to make, then the rule of thumb is to spend $1 million on marketing for a theatrical release.
This brings me back to YOU!
After the successful completion of our Kickstarter Campaign, all of the available incentives went away when the campaign ended.
If you wanted any of the perks from that campaign you were out of luck!
But, now you are IN Luck!
To help fund our final 2% of post-production and marketing we’ve teamed with Indiegogo to make those perks available to you and to allow you to make sure that the marketing of this film goes just as well as the production and post-production went!
Working Together …
I’ve been working toward this for over a decade and I have a lot of skin in the game, but I can’t do it alone. Working together we can do so much more than we can apart. Filmmaking is an expensive adventure and it’s a very challenging project. Not only do we have to design a cutting-edge cinematic feel for the production we have to create an entirely different world to bring home the key principles that enable people to have more impact.
It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of people and the only way we can make that happen is to get you involved.
Funding the Project …
The main way that you can help is through a financial contribution. We already have some substantial support, but we need more people on our team to close the budget gap.
Grab Some Amazing Perks!
We have some pretty amazing perks for you!
Our rewards are about including you on the team and making you a part of this community.
Making a Difference
The Impact Factor is about feeling like we can have an impact. We’ve all felt unheard trapped in a noisy world. Whether it’s about getting an idea to the people who need to hear it or a product or service you know that can change the world.
You can either stay quiet or we can leverage art, science, and technology to spread your dream to millions.
Can You Empathize?
If you can empathize with what I’ve been talking about, this is the project for you.
If you know one person can make a difference this is the project for you.
If you know people can leverage art, science, and technology to make the world better than it is, this is the project for you.
And for those of you who don’t live in Hollywood or work in the movie business but deep down always wanted to play a part in getting a movie made, this is your opportunity to make it happen.