Robert J. Merritt
.
So ultimately we will be creating a video to explain the project in more detail here soon.
I can't disagree about the realism of the budget, but bear in mind most indie filmmakers struggle to raise $5k for their first big project. Unless you can say "look at all these amazing things we've done before!" - ie. have a Youtube channel full of badass 3-5 minute shorts, maybe one or two 25 minute things as well, no one can judge your ability to do it- which typically manifests as "they probably can't do it". Naturally I'm the first to admit that for an intelligent, well-researched person, the first project can go significantly better than the norm... But even so, would I be willing to bet $70k of other people's money on that? Probably not.
Obviously this being Kickstarter you can just say "well, if it doesn't fund, no one gets charged", but it doesn't work like that. Psychologically when funding, you have to budget out and say goodbye to that money, and if it doesn't fund, it's more like an unexpected "refund". You're asking 2000-5000 people to commit $15-35 of hard cash to something that appears inexperienced (putting out a ViDoc on their lack of expectation of standard filmmaking issues, while honest, may not have made the best impression), is completely unknown (is that writer guy any good? That's the most important part of the whole thing!), and has no apparent plan (run away!). I can't find that Youtube channel via two or three clicks through Facebook, which seems pretty odd... Is it being hidden? (Probably not, but I'm being "hypothetical potential pledger" here). Think of a crowdfunding campaign as a horrible job interview lasting 720 hours straight, with lots of unexpected questions, where you're up against 100 other candidates better qualified than you and you have to pretend to be enjoying the whole thing!
I understand unforeseen delays due to the new nature of the enterprise, I underestimated each stage of my BR build by 50%! But I also didn't ask for money to finish the project when I'd only just started building the grip, y'know? From an investment standpoint, it's just not an acceptable risk. If you had a couple of producers on board with actual projects under their belt, maybe an indie festival award (they're not really as exclusive as the olive wreaths make 'em look), a line producer (the second most critical person after the writer!) who can lay out every single thing you need to do point by point, budget it all out and has the experience of where the fat can be trimmed and where not, then it might be different.
You also only have low-four-figure views on those YouTube videos... If you need 2000-5000 people, you most likely need to have already been hitting a consistent 100-300k (minimum) views per video (across more than two) well prior to the KS launch. Speaking of Youtube, there's this "Halo Origins" Youtube, no idea what that is, then the HH website links to an entirely empty HH Youtube profile, and then in the video it's apparently going to launch on the "SnackRabbit Films" Youtube? That's an inconsistent message.
These are the impressions that the main team needs to be working around the clock to reverse across as many different outlets as possible. One said "Once the Kickstarter goes live, all we can do is cross our fingers," or something. Nope. That's when the real work and weeks of sleepless nights starts! Making a movie should be simple after running a Kickstarter campaign.
Ok, I'm done criticising now. I know how much easier it is from this side of the screen than that side! Whether the team gets all this together for this campaign, or takes it into future funding rounds, I hope it's useful to see it "from the outside", as it were. Looking forward to the next video.
