The Path - 30 Days To One Million
.jpg)
(This is where it all began 3 years ago...this photo taken on 8/15/12)
.
KEY POINTS TO OUR BACKSTORY
April 2009 - Film Courage is born.
May 2009 - Filming begins on Goodbye Promise.
February/March of 2010 - Aric Lewis is hired to edit the film (before funding has been raised).
March 2010 - We launch a Kickstarter campaign to raise $15,000 to help with post-production costs.
April 2010 - Kickstarter goal reached by raising 16,203 from 227 Backers.
Early 2011 - Goodbye Proimse is picture-locked and the grueling post-production process continues until May of 2012.
August 2011 Reread Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist,' and the beginning ideas for 30 DAYS TO 1 MILLION are in motion. At the same time the decision to bypass film festivals and traditional distributors is cemented.
April 2012 The Downtown Indpendent agrees to screen Goodbye Promise for 1 week.
May 2012 Jim Kirst of The Downtown Independent sets up press opportunities with the LA Times and KPCC's Film Week.
June 2012 - LA Times' Gary Goldstein writes a glowing review about the film.
June 2012 - Goodbye Promise World Premiere at the Downtown Independent sells out.
July 2012 - We conclude that no other cities (New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Austin) are going to host a theatrical run, so the decision is made to release the film to the world on IndieGogo & YouTube.
May 2009 - Filming begins on Goodbye Promise.
February/March of 2010 - Aric Lewis is hired to edit the film (before funding has been raised).
March 2010 - We launch a Kickstarter campaign to raise $15,000 to help with post-production costs.
April 2010 - Kickstarter goal reached by raising 16,203 from 227 Backers.
Early 2011 - Goodbye Proimse is picture-locked and the grueling post-production process continues until May of 2012.
August 2011 Reread Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist,' and the beginning ideas for 30 DAYS TO 1 MILLION are in motion. At the same time the decision to bypass film festivals and traditional distributors is cemented.
April 2012 The Downtown Indpendent agrees to screen Goodbye Promise for 1 week.
May 2012 Jim Kirst of The Downtown Independent sets up press opportunities with the LA Times and KPCC's Film Week.
June 2012 - LA Times' Gary Goldstein writes a glowing review about the film.
June 2012 - Goodbye Promise World Premiere at the Downtown Independent sells out.
July 2012 - We conclude that no other cities (New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Austin) are going to host a theatrical run, so the decision is made to release the film to the world on IndieGogo & YouTube.
30 DAYS TO 1 MILLION
DAY 1 - August 13th, 2012
THE LAUNCH - Are we insane?
.
OUR PITCH
OUR PITCH
.
We pitch our idea publicly for the first time with Ryan B. Koo, Founder of NoFilmSchool.com. We spoke with Koo one week before our release, but didn't launch our conversation until the day of our release.
With the campaign is LIVE, we began to talk to others and gather their thoughts and feedback. We began with Filmmaker Gregory Bayne who's work includes Person of Interest, Jens Pulver: Driven, and the upcoming Bloodsworth: An Innocent Man.
Big time discussion here with one of the filmmakers we respect the most. He talks about bit torrenting his first feature PERSON OF INTEREST, getting over 100,000 hits and how that led to 500,000 views on YouTube. He also talks candidly about releasing his second feature JENS PULVER | DRIVEN with Gravitas and reveals that he now receives checks every quarter (which is so great to hear).
We didn't stop there. We arranged another conversation with a man who knows all about Infinite Distribution, Ross Pruden who was actually one day away from launching his own Kickstarter for Dimeword. Here is our conversation, "The Power of the $1.00 Backer"
Our campaign launch featured on NoFilmSchool.com, "David Branin & Karen Worden from Film Courage Release Feature 'Goodbye Promise' for $1 on IndieGogo"
DAY 3 - August 15th, 2012
Filmmaker David Paul Baker blogs about our release and we quote his kind words here, "Believe me, I know there is a lot of campaigns out there, and I don't push for everybody because it's just not possible. But these people deserve some attention and support because they have given so much back. If you're a filmmaker, I know we are all looking for money for our own projects. Believe me, I know! I'm a tight Scottish bastard! Besides that, I also run on fumes and make movies with like $100!
However, if you have listened to the case studies on David & Karens show, I think we should ALL give something back because of that great content alone. They have made it very easy for us all because they are accepting $1-$2 contributions for watching their film. A film that will speak to a lot of people in the creative industries."
Filmmaker David Paul Baker on crowdfunding preferences and advice for Goodbye Promise, his films Mission X and Screen, the Internet then and now, and more.
DAY 4 - August 16th, 2012
Thanks to Jeanne Veillette Bowerman, our campaign made the front page of ScriptMag.com due to her article, "Balls Of Steel: A New World in Distribution - Goodbye Promise Releases on IndieGogo"
a
Nicole Alonso and Oklahoma Ward are two Oklahoma based filmmakers that know all about sacrifice and hard work. They have as much passion for filmmaking as any two people that we know. We had heard that they are currently waiting on Film Festivals in order to release their film Crawl Bitch Crawl. It has been a long wait for them as they have decided not to release their first film The Isolation of Subject #136 until after they release Crawl Bitch Crawl. Considering we had decided to bypass film festivals and go direct to our audience and the overall respect we have for them, we wanted to hear more of their story.
a
DAY 5 - August 17th, 2012
FIRST MILESTONE ACHIEVED, $1000 IN CONTRIBUTIONS
In the midst of our conversation with IndieGogo's Adam Chapnick about the release of our film Goodbye Promise on the IndieGogo platform, Adam decides he is going to be the one to help propel our campaign over the $1000 milestone.
In our full conversation with IndieGogo's Adam Chapnick he proclaims our campaign brilliant and the first time he has seen anyone distribute their film directly on a crowdfunding platform.
a
a
Filmmaker Lucas McNelly invites us to talk crowdfunding, Goodbye Promise and Jack Marchetti's 4 Of A Kind Kickstarter Campaign on his new webshow Clouded Lens. Here is the description in Lucas' words, "In episode 2, I talk to David & Karen about their innovative release for GOODBYE PROMISE, the upcoming final days of 4 OF A KIND, and why I shouldn't be trusted to cook anything."
DAYS 6 & 7 - August 18th & 19th, 2012
TWO MESSENGERS APPEAR PROVIDING US TWO MESSAGES ALERTING US TO THE PATH THAT LIES AHEAD (Details to be revealed in time).
THE FIRST FORK IN THE ROAD - Do we continue on our path of passionately pursuing our ambitious release for the full 30 days or do we shift gears to try to help fellow Filmmaker Jack Marchetti (a young Chicago Filmmaker who dreams of making a movie before he goes blind) reach his Kickstarter Goal of $100,000? He has between 4 and 5 days to raise nearly $80,000. Can we really help?
WE ARE ALSO CONTACTED BY A VENUE WHO MAY BE
INTERESTED IN SCREENING THE FILM
INTERESTED IN SCREENING THE FILM
DAY 8 - August 20th, 2012
THE ANNOUNCEMENT - There are times in life when you believe in others dreams just as much as your own. At this moment in time, Jack Marchetti's story (a Chicago filmmaker who wants to direct a film before he goes blind) is so powerful that we simply cannot ignore it. He has until this Friday, August 24th 9:30pm PST to reach his goal. We are transferring the majority of energy that we would put into our own dream this week to see if we can help Jack and his team reach their goal. Would you mind taking a moment for a closer look at Jack’s 4 of a Kind - Kickstarter Campaign?
DAY 9 - August 21st, 2012
We awoke to news that our campaign made it to the feature section of IndieGogo due to the activity our page has generated It was sort of bittersweet news for us as we wouldn't really be able to fully capitalize on this achievement due to our commitment to push Jack Marchetti's 4 OF A KIND.
Another highlight of this day was our conversation with John Yost of Filmmaker Magazine, 3 hours after he relaunched his Kickstarter for White Creek. He cancelled his $28,000 Kickstarter, which was more than 10% funded, in order to relaunch the same campaign with a $8500 goal. He tells us why he made this decision along with discussing our IndieGogo campaign for Goodbye Promise and his thoughts on Jack Marchetti's "4 Of A Kind."
(Watch the video interview here)
DAY 10 - August 22nd, 2012
DAY 11 - August 23rd, 2012
DAVID'S BIRTHDAY WISH...
The result of our decision to support Jack Marchetti's campaign thus far? The campaign has nearly doubled from around $20,000 to almost $37,000 as it heads into the final 24 hours.
At mid-day we chatted with our first international guest, filmmaker David Paul Baker who is located in the U.K. He's the same guy who blogged about our release on Day 3. We have grown a mutual respect
We had intially pushed for a video conversation with Jack Marchetti on Monday August 20th (the day of our decision) so that we could shine light on his story as we did what we could to get the word out. It wasn't until 24 hours before his campaign was to end that our conversation happened.
DAY 12 - August 24th, 2012
THE RALLY
DAYS 13 & 14 - August 25th & 26th, 2012
THE AFTERMATH - OUR DARKEST DAYS
Life appears to be falling apart right now. All the work we have put in. All of the countless hours to create what we have. For some reason this quote by Francis Ford Coppola comes to mind, "Anything you build on a large scale or with intense passion invites chaos."
We try to find the strength to fight on. Our friend Benjamin Pratt (who plays the Radio DJ in Goodbye Promise) informs us that he is hosting his last XM radio show on Saturday, August 25th. It was a decision he wrestled over before deciding to step down. Because of our friendship, the subject matter of Goodbye Promise, and how it all relates he invited us on as guests. It was our second appearance on his show (the first appearance was right after our World Premiere back in June).
DAY 15 - August 27th
DAY 16 - August 28th
TWO WEEKS LEFT
Conversation with Matt Jarbo
DAY 17 - August 29th
Emails behind the scenes.
Turning to Twitter.
DAY 18 - August 30th
Joseph F. Alexander blog post.
Twitter Testimonials
DAY 19 - August 31st
$1 Price Point Conversation
Blayne Weaver
Filmmaker Blayne Weaver's shares the distribution path he has taken with his films "Weather Girl" and "6 Month Rule."
Izkara
Hours before their IndieGogo launch, we were able to chat with Matt Watkajtys & Jeff Hodges about their new distribution platform IZKARA. It's a company dedicated to curating fine independent short and feature films for your enjoyment. They're gearing up to deliver movies that are striking and unique in a way that's convenient and accessible.
DAY 20 - September 1st
DAY 21 - September 2nd
DAY 22 - September 3rd - Paul Osborne
DAY 23 - September 4th
DAY 24 - September 5th - Mike Dion - Almost was the our first day with 0 contributors.
‘How to create a theatrical tour for your movie’ by Mike Dion of Reveal the Path/Ride the Divide
DAY 25 - September 6th - Rebekah Starr, End Of Watch
Filmmaker / Musician Rebekah Starr tells us the idea that sparked her documentary film MY WAY.
DAY 26 - September 7th
DAY 27 - September 8th
DAY 28 - September 9th
Filmmaker/Comic Writer/Author James Cooper tells us about his filmmaking journey, writing/marketing his book (Kickstarter for Filmmakers), and thoughts on our Indiegogo online release for Goodbye Promise.
DAY 29 - September 10th
Jason Brubaker of FilmmakingStuff.com talks to Film Courage regarding their Indiegogo online distribution for Goodbye Promise, Jason's own experience as a filmmaker / marketer, plus his own interest in the distribution side of the film business.
Check out the Film Courage 'Doc Maker's Tool Kit,' 'Crowdfunding Tool Kit,' 'Actor's Tool Kit' and 'Youtuber' Resource page for videos, articles and podcast episodes pertaining to each category.
.png)
iTunes
Podcast
