Giving Back to the Indie Community

Hello everyone,

The 1 year anniversary of the Film Fervor Podcast (Subscribe Here) is just around the corner and I’ve been honored to meet some amazing filmmakers in that time. I’ve had the privilege of promoting amazing projects, talking to awesome people, and making some real friends along the way.

Still, with all of that being said, I feel there is more I can be doing for the community.

Recently, I’ve been asking some friends and colleagues about monetizing the podcast, as well as other aspects of the site, and building up a revenue stream where I can start being a major contributor in the indie film universe.

What I want to do is to grow the podcast enough to where I can gain significant revenue from sponsors (only film related sponsors, no nonsense please) and, in turn, invest that sponsorship revenue back into the film community by way of a specialized “Perk” on the crowdfunding sites.

This would accomplish quite a lot in one go, but the two major ones I can think of immediately are:

1. Co-Branding: By linking with film campaigns under a specialized perk, I could lend the Film Fervor name (and community) to the project.
2. Financial Support: Of course the goal of any crowdfunding campaign is to raise money so I want to contribute $1,000 – $10,000 a month to selected campaigns.
3. Cross Promotion: Similar to #1, but being able to link up with these campaigns would help raise awareness for the podcast and the Film Fervor community, thus increasing overall sponsorship levels and revenues coming in.

I’m still working on the whole idea. I don’t have a full business plan or any real architecture built into the idea, but I’ve been desperately seeking other ways to promote, invest in, and support the independent film community and I can’t think of a better way than to work with fellow filmmakers to help finance their dreams, while building the community that I love.

Some other ideas we are exploring:

1. Courses: I am building an online course to help people learn crowdfunding. From the months of prep work before launch, to the pitch video, the story content, the social networking, and also the selection of perks so you don’t get buried under T-Shirts and merchandise fulfillment.
2. University: In addition to the course I am building, I’m also planning on making Film Fervor into a place where film industry professionals can offer tutorials, courses, and other educational work to the public. Unlike the other guys who take 50% to 75% of the course makers profit, I am only ever going to take a 10% “commission” to cover the cost of rising server prices and administrative needs. (100% transparent. AMA)
3. Live Broadcasting: We are in the process of putting together a live weekly show where we will select a completed film, broadcast it live (once we obtain all the required permissions from the owners) and sit down live with the director, cast, and crew in a live Q&A, TwitterChat, online experience. (Think MonsterVision with Joe Bob Briggs or Tales from the Crypt, only live streaming)

What are your thoughts?

How can Film Fervor help more with the independent film community?

Please leave comments below or hit me up on Twitter.