This past weekend I took a road to trip to Ellensburg, WA. Why, you ask? Well because I am an alumni of Central Washington University, I still have friends that are currently in graduate school there and – more importantly – I am one of the producers of a short sci-fi film that will be going into principal photography in Ellensburg in a couple of weeks. It was a weekend filled with minor script changes, auditions, and production notes specifically regarding the budget of the film.

As we all know by now, films cost money to make. Even – and especially – the very low budget ones. In my case, in order for this short sci-fi film to get off the ground, two sets were in need of construction in order to pull off the ambiance, which would result in a high budget for an otherwise no budget film. The director, Kaitlin Larson, took quick action in fundraising her idea.

If you are a filmmaker, musician, artist, designer, and inventor you should be aware of Kick Starter. Kick Starter is a website that sets out to help individuals fund their creative projects. You sign up for a FREE account, create a project, write a proposal, and share your idea with the world. It is powered by an all-or-nothing funding method, meaning, if you don’t reach your goal, of say $1500, then you wont be fully funded. This is a great way to get motivated about the project you are working on. Case in point, in order to fully create a film in the vision of the director, we knew we had to get fully funded. It drove us to spread the word. With great luck and kindness, the film was just fully funded (and then some) a few weeks ago.

Larson had a wide spread campaign via her Facebook (click the link to go to the film’s page) and Twitter. Not only that, but working for the University, she was able to advertise to her peers in the Film and Video department, as well as other students and alumni. The rest of the production team helped by sharing links and spread the word through our own connections as well.

“Honestly, the best strategy is to just get the word out there” Larson explains “and make sure people understand why you want the money”. For Larson, using Kick Starter was a great way of funding her project. She went onto say that all of the money will go to build the two sets. Any remaining money will go towards festival submissions and maybe returning the favor (and good filmmaker karma) to another Kick Starter project.

How about you? Have you heard of Kick Starter? Any generous backers out there?