Dear Filmmaker-Friends from Berlin and Vicinity,
I’ve been pondering the thought for a while now, to hold a half-day-long seminar on crowdfunding in Berlin. Target-audience: Filmmakers and media professionals.
In the last few months, I’ve been invited to Berlin several times to speak on that topic, for example at the dfc or at co:funding. Some of you may remember me from these events, others from Twitter, Facebook, Blog , etc. Some of you have already contacted me directly, to pick up ideas and support, because they are into one or another crowdfunding project. Time and again during these conversations, we came to a point where we thought that meeting face-to-face might be a good idea.
So, it’s time for a seminar! The benefit would be that we could talk about basic questions in a group, and you could develop or test your ideas publicly, so to speak. We could then discuss individual questions in subsequent face-to-face sessions. - That’s the idea.
As luck would have it, the US-Filmmaker Lucas McNelly is visiting Europe, more precisely Great Britain, in August. I’ve already posted about his crowdfunding campaigne “A Year Without Rent” on this blog.
In this context, my twitter-colleague spoxx inquired with me, whether I saw a possibility to bring Lucas to Germany, to make his Know-How in independent filmmaking and crowdfunding accessible to our German-speeking colleagues. After some to and fro, we have now decided to kill two birds with one stone ;-), and arrange a
CROWDFUNDING SEMINAR FOR FILMMAKERS IN BERLIN, FEATURING LUCAS MCNELLY
And that’s what we are figuring (short version):
We’ll suggest a date, and a rough schedule for this event, and start a crowdfunding campaign at the beginning of next week, through which you can purchase your attendance at the workshop (similar to the way we handled it with David Röthler for our Crowdfunding-Webinar ). After the seminar or on the following day, I’ll be available for personal consultations, which you can acquire as a perk (for a relatively low price). In addition, Lucas is bringing his film “Blanc de Blanc”, and stage an exclusive screening for us. The tickets to this screening will make another perk. Through this crowdfunding campaign, we hope to cover any costs, among them travel, accommodation, catering, honorarium, handling etc.
And here are the HARD FACTS:
- TOPIC: Crowdfunding for Independent Filmmakers
- DATE for seminar: August 13th, 2011
- TIME: 15:00 − 19:00 CET (9am - 1pm EST)
- ACTIVITIES: Introduction into the topic „Crowdfunding for the film sector“ with numerous examples, by Wolfgang Gumpelmaier. First-hand reports by Wolfgang Gumpelmaier (CHI L’HA VISTO – WO BIST DU), Lucas McNelly (A Year Without Rent), and possibly a third filmmaker; afterwards open forum with opportunity to present and discuss own projects (workshop style).
- CITY: Berlin
- LOCATION: open; inquired but not confirmed. —> EQUIPMENT NEEDED: Internet/WIFI/-connection, data projector, projection screen, sound system.
- DATES for PERSONAL CONSULTATIONS: August 14th 2011 from 10:00 on.
- LANGUAGE: English
- FEES: € 50,- (estimated)
Possibly, there may be some people from the USA or elsewhere interested in participating via stream - therefore this specific time. Generally, participating via stream will be free of charge. However, this shouldn’t make you feel annoyed, since first and foremost, the value of the event lies in getting to know and making contacts etc. with people in your local community. Besides - anyone attending via stream is free to contribute a few Euros ;-)
I have already inquired for possible fundings, sponsors, and partners; however, in this respect, we can’t promise too much. Especially the location for the seminar is still unclear, since the two locations, I have inquired, are not available at the given date. Perhaps some of you have an idea?
So much for our thoughts, now, it’s your turn. Please notify us about your ideas, wishes, and comments, so that we can consider them the coming week. I’ll inform you about the start of the crowdfunding campaign via an extra blog post or some of you personally via eMail.
For my part, I say good by for now, and I am looking forward to meeting you in Berlin soon!
