by Teresa Smith.

Montreal-based filmmakers, Josh Usheroff and Erik Anderson are asking for your help.

Well, actually, they’re asking for your cash.

And if you need anyone to vouch for them, it appears their moms, neighbours and some of their closest friends, already believe the pair’s latest film project, Misogyny/Misandry, deserves the funding needed to be produced.

Enter crowdfunding, the latest in a cluster of web ventures meant to allow Internet users to put their money where their clicks are.

As government grants decline, and federal arts programs are restructured, Canadian artists are looking for alternative ways to fund their art. Crowdfunding websites, such as California-based IndieGoGo, and Paris-based Ulule, could help fill the gap as they provide forums for artists to ask their social media circles for help.

Read the rest of this article from Canada.com

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by Nick Mendoza.

South By Southwest (SXSW) is an annual gathering of interactive, film and music creatives, executives and marketers in Austin. It is the ideal setting to explore multiplatform storytelling, multiscreen experiences and projects that reflect the talents of the collective. After several days of knowledge-filled panels and hyper-networking featuring digital thought-leaders, there were a few notable trends that made an imprint once the conference’s closing credits hit the screen.

Read the rest of this article from MediaShift.

Sign up now for your own FREE monthly subscription to “The Director’s Chair” filmmaking ezine and get the first 30 pages of my 220 page Film Directing Multi-Media Online course, “The Art and Craft of the Director Audio Seminar.”

by Jimmy Graziano.

A local film-making troupe in Buffalo is working on a project that is not only being filmed in the city, but it is also being funded via crowd-sourcing.

The film which is being titled Granted received its funding through local contributors and social media with time to spare. The funding goal on IndieGogo was to reach $6,000, but the group raised $6,400 with a stunning 45 days left in their schedule to raise money.

Read the rest of this article from Buffalo 123.

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This article was written by Conor Friedersdorf.

“…at a time when film financing is facing increasing budgetary constraints, even the most powerful directors are harnessing the power of the web to attract investment (financial or artistic) for their latest projects.

Ridley Scott, the director of Robin Hood – which opened the Cannes Film Festival this year – is producing a film that asks people to upload videos of themselves on to YouTube, which will in turn, form the basis of a documentary to be premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

A growing crop of websites offer anyone willing to donate money to film projects an “executive producer” credit at the end of the film. One example is the collective effort in fundraising for the big-budget Spanish film, The Cosmonaut, a sci-fi movie that used online crowd-funding methods.”

Read the rest of this article from Crowd Source Capital.

This article was written by Luci Temple.

“Crowd sourcing is an innovative business model being applied to several indie filmmaker projects.

Perhaps the most publicised and obviously successful case is that of The Age of Stupid. This documentary project on global warming has raised over $1.2 million via crowd funding, and also used crowd sourcing to distribute and exhibit it around the world.

The filmmakers are passionate about the topic matter, and connected with a global online crowd of people who are equally passionate about the issue. This crowd of people were happy to donate to the project, or buy shares in the film, and in return they were kept in the loop as the project progressed and received a variety of benefits – from a “thanks” on the website through to a slice of profit share depending on their commitment.”

Read the rest of this article from Yet Another Struggling Writer.

The Ten Commandments of Filmmaking
How to Work (and Survive) in the
Film and Television Industry
by Peter D. Marshall