Seed&Spark Launches $30,000 Crowdfunding Campaign on Seed&Spark. Supporters Will Help Shape the Future of the Seed&Spark Platform.
To innovate the way we make and watch movies, Seed&Spark, the world’s first crowd-funding and digital distribution platform made just for independent film, today started a $30,000 crowd-funding campaign. Hosted on the Seed&Spark platform, the campaign will run for 30 consecutive days, ending on June 22, 2013.
Six months after its successful launch, Seed&Spark is seeking to raise $30,000 in cash, goods or services to further grow and shape the platform. Funds raised will go toward improving the site’s functionality and user experience for filmmakers and audiences alike. Planned site enhancements, such as how-to video training modules and site intro wizards, will help all Seed&Spark users to learn quickly and deeply about Seed&Spark’s robust tools to make, watch, and share independent films.
Like all crowd-funding projects on Seed&Spark, the campaign has a WishList that records specific needs for production, marketing, festivals, travel, crew and professional services. After winning The Pitch Season 2, BetaBeat’s startup competition, the Seed&Spark team not only walked away with $10,000 in funding but also with a clear idea of how to evolve their crowdfunding and distribution platform and gain more market share. To support Seed&Spark’s mission, supporters can opt to contribute with cash or to loan goods and services that are part of the Seed&Spark campaign WishList.
“As a team of indie filmmakers, we started Seed&Spark last year like we started any of our indie film projects: bootstrapped. In the past six months we have learned so much from our community about ways – small and large – we can improve the site before we’re ready to scrap the “Beta” caveat. We can cover our operational costs, but we want to make these improvements as soon as possible,” says Emily Best, Founder and CEO of Seed&Spark. “And that is where our community comes in. The campaign will not only help us to get the funds to improve our site, more importantly, it will help us to get input and support from our members. Together we can get more exceptional indie films made and distributed.”
One of Seed&Spark’s supporters is former executive director of Tribeca Film Festival Nancy Schafer.
“I support Seed&Spark because it’s a platform that allows filmmakers to engage and grow their audience through the filmmaking process — from funding through distribution — and build their own brands,” says Schafer.
Director Dominique DeLeon whose short film REZ raised 126% of funds in just four days on the site comments:
“What filmmakers care most about is getting people to see our films and then interact with them. That’s what makes us better artists, and at the end of the day determines when and if we get to make
more films. All a film really is: a conversation between my imagination and yours. The existing system is like a neighborhood where everyone locks their doors and no one comes outside. Seed&Spark opens those doors, and then encourages you to walk through them.
The Seed&Spark site has more than 3,200 users. To date, 13 of 23 completed campaigns on the site successfully
funded, equating to more than $200K in cash, goods and services.