Good, Fast, Cheap. Filmmaking priorities.

It’s said that you can’t make a film good, fast and cheaply, you can only pick two. It goes without saying that we choose ‘good’. And we choose cheap out of necessity, so we have to sacrifice speed. And for Penny Black, and I would think most self-funded films, this works pretty well.

Most of our travel shots were in the can after our road trip to Wellington, but we still have the first act to shoot around Auckland. We all have jobs (not ‘real’ jobs, necessarily 🙂 ) so we’re mostly shooting on the weekends, and though I am inherently impatient and in fact EVERYONE is hanging out to watch the movie, I have to admit that this is an easier way to make a film when you have a small crew, several of whom are doing more than one job.

From my position, having 5 days to prepare for the next weekend shoot gives me time to address any script issues and print new pages for the cast and crew. I unpack the boxes of props, set deco, and other random stuff I always take to set. And, of course, locate and wash the wardrobe, towels, blankets, rags, etc that we’ve used. I have time to confirm any new cast members we have joining the team, double check locations, book vehicles, sort catering, replace anything broken or lost, drop the expenses into the budget, touch base with sponsors (including our pledgeme peeps), break down the scenes we’re filming next and get all the props, wardrobe, and set deco packed, post new pics on facebook, and update this blog.

So in my experience it’s true. You can’t have good, fast and cheap. You can only pick two.

And I think accepting that has given us time to plan, to organise, and to refine our ideas, and overall, to make a better film.

~ Fiona

Crowdfunding success!!

Well, much to our surprise, we reached our crowdfunding goal with 17 days to spare. Not only were our friends and family incredibly generous, but we received one totally surprising pledge that propelled us over the $2k mark. I was speechless for about 24 hours.

People have asked why we didn’t make our goal higher, when we could so obviously benefit from having a higher budget. We chose the modest goal of $2,000 for a few reasons.

• Crowdfunding is new and relatively unheard of in New Zealand. Though people are beginning to use it successfully we are the first fictional feature film to hit our crowdfunding goal using a New Zealand based crowdfunding site. Most people who aren’t in a creative industry haven’t heard of crowdfunding at all.
• Another reason is that our film is in pre-production. At this stage it’s hard for us to prove that it will be a success. We know we are asking pledgers to take a leap of faith in our ability to complete the film to a high standard. It’s been great to have so many people believe in us. Thanks 🙂
• And lastly, Pledgeme uses an all or nothing system. If we tried for $10k and only got $4k, we’d get nothing.

With this $2k we have the funds we need to get us to post-production. Just. Of course there are still things we can’t afford that would go a long way towards making the film better.

In addition to the 3 awesome vans from Wicked Campers we would also like to rent a small RV so that we have a dedicated production office (and, more important to some, a toilet) on set wherever in the country we are. We calculate that this will cost around $650 for the vehicle and petrol down and up the country. So our next goal is to raise enough to also cover this cost. Only $505 to go!!

You can find our crowdfunding project here: Penny Black

Thanks once again to all our wonderful sponsors, for your pledges, and, just as importantly, for your support, which is priceless.

~ Fiona

Writing your Sponsorship letter

Sponsorship is one of my least favorite parts of film making. I was lucky that Donna from Moonlighting Marketing Services Ltd helped construct a letter to approach companies who might be interested in sponsoring Penny Black.

In retrospect Donna’s ideas were all very creative and logical, but marketing is not an intuitive process for me so i needed it explained in intricate detail. Here’s a brief summary of her advice:

1. Think of a catchy subject heading that will encourage people to click open rather than delete. Me and Joe have the fortunate last names of Jackson and Hitchcock so we put them in the subject heading.
2. Briefly talk about the project.
3. Imbed photos of your key creatives (don’t attach). We procrastinated about this for quite some time, but people like to see who they are sponsoring so we did it.
4. Be clear about what you need and why. We are requesting products and services rather than financial sponsorship, so we might ask for, ’20 cases of drink for the cast and crew while we’re on the road’.
5. Tell them what you can do for them in return. We love to spread the good word about our sponsors, and we take photos and footage of us enjoying their products, and of course we will list them in the closing credits. You can offer product placement, ask them to be extras in your movie, distribute their product, or whatever you think might appeal to a particular company.
6. And lastly, add a contact number in case they want to talk to an actual person for more information.

Then make a list of potential sponsors that suit your project. Look at their website to see who they already sponsor and if they might be interested in your project, then cross your fingers and start mailing.

We only approach companies we feel a particular affinity with (for example we’re crazy about Hell Pizza and Burgerfuel, our first two sponsors), so we are genuinely excited about promoting their product or service.

I find it really hard to ask for sponsorship. Companies are inundated with sponsorship requests every day, but when they say ‘yes’ it helps stretch our film budget and reminds us that people really are keen to support independent filmmakers.

~ Fiona