In The Future of Independent Film Financing? I interviewed filmmaker Jacob Hensberry about his film Planet X and his decision to fundraise via Kickstarter. Here, as promised, is the follow up interview.
Now that it’s over, what are your overall thoughts about the Kickstarter experience?
We reached our goal! That's definitely positive! A person I've never met before, a total stranger, (who turned out to be a Hollywood screenwriter) gave us a huge donation at the last minute. That was truly amazing.
I wish Kickstarter would have listed us as "Project of the Day" at least once and put us on the front page. I think they should do that for every project through out the life cycle of it's fundraising. It really does help draw peoples attention to what you're doing.
Is there anything Kickstarter could do better?
Maybe if they had a little more outreach to folks who enjoy funding small projects although I'm not sure how that would work. Given that their service is basically free, at least to start, I think what they are doing is wonderful.
Were there any surprises?
The above mentioned "Hail Marry" donation at the last minute. I still can't believe that. Some of my close friends donated a lot more then I expected. I feel loved!
Who were your supporters?
80% Friends, 5% Family, 15% good Samaritans. Some of my friends are also filmmakers (like you Davidi!) and I did get a small donation from a group of grad film students.
What’s the Planet X schedule? When can we expect to see it making the festival rounds?
We're shooting at the beginning of September. We're completely cast and we've had three rehearsals so far. There's been some re-writes and we're scouting locations now. It's all terribly exciting. You won't see it at festival for probably a year, six months if we're lucky. Post can take a long, long time.
Thanks for sharing, Jake.