It has been a very exciting week for LA filmmakers Jay Armitage, Jason Cooper and Chris Gartin since their own Kickstarter campaign began for their documentary feature film “Kickstarted,” the first documentary feature film for, by and about the crowdfunding revolution. Their goal is to raise $85,000 to complete the film they’ve been working on for the past year, where they have interviewed crowdfunding newsmakers like Zach Braff, Amanda Palmer, Maxwell Salzberg, Lisa Fetterman, John Vanderslice, Brian Fargo and many others.
Shrewdly, before launching their Kickstarter campaign on May 27, the trio released part of their Zach Braff interview on May 8, and that video was included in a feature story on Mashable that introduced the project to the world. To date, that video has generated well over 50,000 views per week. The filmmakers are shaping-up all this content which in Cooper’s words, “Tells the inspiring and dramatic stories of artists, makers and entrepreneurs who are harnessing the crowd to achieve the impossible,” and they are also continuing to colorfully share their key findings and insights with the growing international community of makers and crowdfunding enthusiasts.
In their introductory and trailer video, Armitage says, “We’ve taken this film as far as we can with our own resources and now need your help to complete it.” Since Mashable’s Eric Larson wrote his follow-up story on “Kickstarted” on May 30, the project is now 18% funded. Braff himself recently appeared on the cover of Variety with these words: “Go Fund Yourself: Zach Braff made finding financing on Kickstarter look easy. But is it?” That’s the exact type of question that Cooper, Armitage and Gartin have set out to answer with their project, and along the way, they are sharing their knowledge in the hopes of raising the money to finish their film.
Earlier this week, they released the first two in a series of original “Funded in 60 Seconds” episodes, presenting crowdfunding tips, insights and best practices from people who are using crowdfunding to pursue their dreams. Episode one features Lisa Fetterman of Nomiku, who had a goal of raising $200,000, and raised nearly $600,000, while episode two features musician Amanda Palmer, who raised almost $1.2 million to launch her new album. Also this week, in association with Indiewire, they kicked-off an original “Top 5” series with their first release, “Five Controversial Crowdfunding Moments.” These videos and others to come are currently available in their entirety for free on the Kickstarted YouTube channel.
As the excitement builds, instead of watching the funds come in, the “Kickstarted” filmmakers are seizing the opportunity to meet, network with – and often, film – others who are making headlines with their own crowdfunded projects. Naturally, “Giving back” is a big part of this project’s DNA: “We are a participating member in Kicking It Forward and pledge to give five percent of any profits back to other crowdfunding projects,” Cooper has said.
“We’re hoping that our efforts to help educate and cross-promote our colleagues will make it clear that the more people put into our project, the more they and others in the community will get out of our efforts,” added Armitage.
To learn more about the project please visit http://www.kickstartedmovie.