A while back I was reading the story of a woman who had posted on the internet about how she was in a lot of debt and wanted help to get out of it. She built a website and detailed what she was doing to relieve herself of the debts, with an updated tally of how well she was doing. She also asked for donations from members of the public. She received something like $13,000.
I wondered if people were willing to donate and get nothing back, would they be prepared to donate money towards making a movie, getting their name on the credits and maybe appearing in the film. I haven’t done much about it, but the plan is still there. I say all this because I read yesterday about Vertigo Films, the company behind films like Human Traffic, South West 9 and The Football Factory, are launching a way for anyone to become an executive producer on their new film: Outlaw.
You can find out more on the Outlaw website, but, basically, there are three packages you can sign up for. The Skintboat, costs a whole £10, and entitles you to a credit, a t-shirt and monthly updates. The Semi Caked package costs £50 and gets you a credit, a hoodie and entry into a competition to be an extra. Weighing in at £100, however, is the Big Hitter, with a credit, a hoodie, a t-shirt, tickets to a special preview, entry into exclusive competitions and the opportunity to appear as an extra.
That’s a fair bit of punch for not a lot of cash. Vertigo are suggesting it give ordinary people a chance to invest in the British film industry instead of leaving it to the various lottery-funded councils and funds, which seem to prefer making twee movies with big name stars. The story may not be the best (you don’t see much praise from quality publications, but plenty from men’s mags), but they have got a good track record and it does give people who are normally kept a long way from the film biz a chance to get a foot in the door. Good luck to them and I’ll certainly be interested to see how they get on. Bizarrely, I wrote something about fans financing TV shows on another site not so long ago, this could prove it from a film perspective quicker than I imagined.
For more information, try:
Fans will fund our next movie say film-makers, Guardian Unlimited
Vertigo Films, BBC Online
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