I stumbled across an article headline that used a term I was unfamiliar with: 'Sellsumers'. It caught my attention - the opening paragraph reads thusly:
"In Trendwatching.com’s latest briefing report, the independent trend observation firm believes it has spotted a new trend. It claims that during these recessionary times, many ordinary consumers will increasingly become a new class of consumers called the sellsumers. Due to 'a recession-induced need for cash' and 'an ever-growing infrastructure that allows individuals to act as (part-time) entrepreneurs', many consumers will look for multiple ways to make money, instead of just spending it."
And although it goes on to talk about people creating various kinds of online stores to resell products or use affiliate marketing to make extra cash, I started to think about how this way of thinking applied to The Biracy Project model.
It is a low cost way for members can earn sales commissions for referring people to the project. The only guaranteed overhead is the cost of the membership. They can use their creative and persuasive marketing skills to link interested consumers with projects relevant to their interests. There is no obligation to promote, although the returns can be great if some elbow grease is applied. Why not earn money for promoting something one is interested in?
Maybe in future, successful sellsumers will be able to promote their skills on their resumes?! With the penetration and coverage that social media can offer these days, it certainly seems likely that the term 'sellsuming' will form a very important new way of earning cash and gaining reputation.
Great news for film makers and indeed, creative projects everywhere!
Listed on SoKap co-founder Dave Geertz's blog today:
"The Biracy Project and its technology platform SoKap is now ready to begin working with other producers of media.
Our platform is moving to its next stage of BETA development and we are looking for films (features and/or shorts), transmedia projects, graphic novels, gamers, musicians and other creative projects in
various stages of development, production and completion to showcase.
We are seeking between 20 -25 projects at this time so space is limited.
While the platform can be used for projects of any size, we are looking for projects that are truly independent in nature and not tied other complex financing partners.
If you would like us look at your project and contact you about this please take a moment to fill in our confidential form and we will contact you shortly. Please allow 5 days for us to review and get back to you."
The SoKap platform designers are looking for ways to ensure that the platform they create matches the needs of its users. So if you're a creative-type, looking for a way to start getting attention and funding for your project, head here and fill out this short survey.
Screenwriter Lucy Temple has asked some excellent questions of Biracy CEO Dave Geertz, which he answers in a short video. I've summed up the q&a period here, but I do recommend watching the video for more details on each question.
1. What happens if you don't reach your minimum financial goal?
A budget of $500,000 is the required minimum goal to actually begin the movie.
The ideal goal is to get 1 million members and with the varying membership levels from $25 to $200, that would mean a healthy and flexible budget. Not reaching the financial goal of 500K will mean the project does not go ahead.
2. What is the project deadline?
Cutoff date is 1 year from inception, that is Jan 1st, 2011.
3. Clarify what happens with Kaps (rewards points) distribution - when will they be converted into cash?
Kaps will be converted into cash directly from VOD and DVD sales from the site immediately. Traditional methods of distribution conventionally have a longer window of revenue return, but as soon as Biracy receives the money it will be handed out to the members according to their Kaps. The best way to increase a member's Kaps is to actively engage in selling the DVD from the website itself.
4. Is there a use-by date on Krill and Kaps?
Essentially they are valid as long as SoKap is a functioning platform - hopefully forever! The SoKap platform should be available to other producers soon. If you are not active at all for an entire three year period , 50% will go to charity, Binoir Media (the company behind Biracy and SoKap) will retain the remaining 50%.
5. How will you distribute the end film?
On demand theatrical geo-mapping component, such as requesting it in your own theatre.
DVDs ordered online from Vancouver DVD manufacturing company
TV broadcast licenses.
Hopefully some festivals when the invitations start rolling in.
Have you written a science fiction screenplay that's gathering mothballs instead of getting made into a kick ass film? Here's your chance: from March 1-31, 2010, the biracy project is accepting completed scripts. The winning script will go down in history as the first film made using the SoKap funding model, oh, and the scriptwriter will get money... and glory.
So brush off those scripts and send 'em in! You have to be a member to join. But that's only $25! Oh and you can't be related to, or live with any of the biracy project staff. Fair's fair, eh?!
The National Screen Institute of Canada have invited Jon Reiss & David Geertz to host a panel discussion on film marketing, distribution & finance in the digital age.
The venue is to be confirmed, but you can learn more about on this facebook page.
Checking out the Biracy facebook page, I'm loving all the science fiction terminology being thrown around as they ramp us up. I'm a big fan of the sci fi genre. I love its capacity for representing life with alternate histories and/or outcomes.
Just for fun I'm going copy some of the listed terms in here:
Dystopian
self assembling molecular ram
teleportation
spacetime contiuum
Lorentzian Manifold
gibson's law
Stanford Torus
alt history
Alderson Disc
Lots of theory in there to make us think!
And recent status updates indicate that there will openings for crowd participation for writers.... interesting! Fun!
"get your science fiction scripts out people....were going to have a little contest soon."Feb 8th
"Hard SF, soft and social, space opera, apocalyptic, steam punk, dystopian, utopian, alt history, superhuman, cyberpunk, religious, western scifi, and many more. If you are a writer of these sub genres....join this group and wait for instructions." Feb 17th
Check out this great article that gets into the nitty gritty of the SoKap crowdfunding model and how it is being applied to the Biracy project.
Clearly Mr Pruden decided that Biracy has the right attitude and a successful approach because he makes the statement that he too has now taken up a membership.
Want to hear exactly what Biracy is about directly from one of the founders?
Listen to this great interview. Liz asks Dave where the idea came from and why it is so revolutionary and why he's excited about it.
It says everywhere that the Biracy Project is a pilot project. But for what and who cares? According to the blurb on the Biracy site, it is the first film project to engage the unique funding model of the SoKap platform. SoKap stands for Social Kapitalist, a cute play on capitalism, which at some level we're all into whether we like it or not. It builds on the belief that everyone who puts energy into a project should receive just rewards for it. And it intends to offer filmmakers unprecedented access to audiences and funding in one step. And it offers audiences the chance to be a part of the filmmaking process.
So the SoKap model (as it is being tried out with Biracy) will eventually be available to any filmmaker or producer who wishes to raise money for their movie. They use the platform, manage their own promotions via it, build their fanbase and raise their funding. The neat thing about this is that it offers an alternative to traditional funding options. With the SoKap model there is no one mega-financing company that also wishes to have creative control of the film. The money comes from genuinely interested fans who want to see the project make it to completion.
The fifth video from the biracy team is a talk with Jason Bourque and Dave Geertz about collaborating with the 'crowd' (the members). Much of this discussion has come about as a result of communication sent to Dave about the idea of this involvement of the crowd in the creative process. Jason points out that as a director, his role is often collaborative; with the actors, the writers, the crew. And as Dave mentions, in big budget studio films, it is often the case that major decisions are made by those the studio answers to, that is, those that hold the purse strings. So a situation such as the biracy project, where the director can accept feedback and then make decisions actually could mean that the integrity of the vision could be retained even more. An interesting insight!
Login to check the whole video out.
Just cruising Jason's facebook profile and watching some of the trailers for work he's already done. I was mightily impressed with a recent project, a documentary called 'Shadow Company' that he co-directed with Nick Bicanic. Great trailer, and a really excellent journalistic angle.
This Question and Answer video session was extremely helpful for me. It is no suprise that as a start up, the Biracy team faces a multitude of priorities clamouring for immediate attention. Using the video format to respond directly to salient questions is a great way of getting the right information out there and clearly indicating that the team are indeed listening to what members and critics are saying. In the video Dave Geertz points out that this is the first such Q&A session, but that it will likely be a regular feature. It seems like a good way to continue to develop the sense of community in the project.
This week's theme? "Is This An Investment?"
Dave answers some really great questions about why crowdfunding IS NOT investing. He covers the legalities of why it isn't, and why it can't be. The questions are coming from filmmakers, publicists and even an indie film festival organizer and their experience and knowledge is well-displayed in their questions. As a 'lay' film fan it helps me get a better idea of how films really get made and where some of the major hurdles lie.
Aside from learning about the ways in which this project is not about investing, but rather about buying a product, a further revelation for me was that the membership structure has evolved further. When I signed up the difference between the membership tiers were as follows:
$25 got you the 'Player': "voting privileges, full access to project materials, exclusive copy of the finished film, 3 levels of referral network."
$50 got you the 'Icon': "voting privileges, full access to project materials, exclusive copy of the finished film, 4 levels of referral network."
$100 got you the 'Mogul': "voting privileges, full access to project materials, exclusive copy of the finished film, 5 levels of referral network."
$200 got you the 'Titan': "voting privileges, full access to project materials, exclusive copy of the finished film, 6 levels of referral network, unique biracy™ ID and more."
So essentially the differences lay in the commission structure returns where the attractiveness of paying more was simply to encourage those keen on the promotional and reward aspect of the project to engage more. However, Dave's response to Ross Pruden's question reveals that the Biracy team have added products to increase the value of each tier. I do hope they add this to their 'Biracy Tour' as I think they're good selling points.
Additions are as follows:
Player: referral income, access to project materials and a copy of the film.
Icon: referral income, access to project materials, the film, and the documentary.
Mogul: referral income, access to project materials, the film, the documentary and and score.
Titan: referral income, access to project materials, the film, the documentary, the score, and the book.
Film industry publicist Sherri Candler's question about how the fans earn money elicits an answer from Dave which shifted my perspective slightly (another reason why I like this format). He refers to the fans (in their promotional role) as 'Sales Agents' who earn commission. Thinking about my role here as a sales agent clear me of any niggling guilt about the referring aspect of the biracy project.
As Dave later goes on to explain, this process; this entire film that will be made is an experiment - a pilot project. Should it succeed it will be the shining example that crowdfunding CAN and DOES work. What I think needs to be made more clear int he whole biracy project advertising is that this is Step One for the founders. They are planning much greater things than making one movie. In fact this pilot project is a test to see if the funding (and fan collaboration) model works. If it does, they'll open the doors on the greater project - SoKap (abbreviated Social Kapitalist) a platform which will allow other filmmakers to list their project with SoKap and run their own crowdfunding promotion to raise the finances and develop the audience. So really, selling this project just got a whole bunch more interesting. Cause if you're interested in alternatives to traditional film funding options, you should be laying down the measly $25 to try and make this work. It's the philanthropic thing to do!
So hooray to the team for offering us this Q&A session. I hope that the next one is equally as enlightening. I also hope that the results are illuminating for the team too, that they get to see where their excellent ideas might be getting lost in the advertising. My suggestion? Make the greater picture (SoKap) more clear!
Over and Out.
JennyAnyDots
PS Ross Pruden (one of the contributors to this week's Q&A) gives an excellent review of the session on his blog here.
Members are introduced to the very talented composer Alain Mayrand in biracy production feed #4.
See the full interview in the members only section of biracy.com.
Here's the trailer to tempt you:
Biracy production feed #3 is posted on the members section of biracy.com
Here is the trailer, to whet your appetite:
Jason is introduced as the director of the first biracy project film as he talks with founder Dave Geertz about his passion for the genre of science fiction.
More info about Jason's accomplishments can be found on imdb, here.
If you're on facebook you can check out his page here.
I've just sat down and watched a slew of the production feeds on the biracy site and I'm excited to find out that the genre will be sci-fi. I love science fiction. I love it's capacity for projecting alternate realities. It can be totally escapist and fun, or it can be hardline and sobering. I love it when it is cheesy, and when it is totally believable.
The first biracy project film will be produced in Vancouver, Canada. Vancouver has become something of a mecca for filming this genre. As the participants in the video feed on the biracy site say, it seems only sensible to play to the strengths of the local film industry. With such mega-successes as X-Files, the Stargate series, the Twilight films, etc calling Vancouver home certainly bodes well for providing a talented pool to draw from.
I'm enjoying the format of these biracy production feeds, they are friendly and engaging. Each one leaves me feeling invited to add my two cents to the discussion, and indeed members are often asked for their opinions. I would like to be able to follow the progress of the film in a written format as well, however. It isn't always convenient to sit down and watch a five minute clip, and personally I take in more reading that I do watching. But that's just my personal information-collecting preference...
I'm looking forward to the writing process. It's something that's always fascinated me about movies and plays. Is the story fully-formed in the author's head first? How much does it change as it takes script form? Or is it written straight into a script format? I presume that as the roles are cast, the characters and their lines get tweaked to suit? I hope that we do get to see some of this process!
Anyone in Vancouver who wants to know more about this project?
Mark January 11, 2010 7:30pm on your calendars Location: The Electric Avenue Building Theater
933 Hornby St
Vancouver, British Columbia v6z 3g4
Canada Topic: An Introduction to the emerging world of crowdfunding, crowdsourcing and audience building for indie films.
So how does one get involved in this project? Well there's this neat little hook that the founders have developed. You have to know someone. Or at least someone's code. It's not as pretentious as knowing someone to get into the hottest nightclub.. this is about rewarding people for promoting this project. The massive popularity of social networking indicates that people are indeed telling each other what they like.. all the time. They tweet, they facebook, they email, people are saying stuff ALL THE TIME. So what better way for a start up company to try and get noticed than to offer people a reward for talking about something they like. Easy. And the nice thing about the biracy approach is that once you are a member, you don't have to be out there promoting unless you want to. Leave that to the folks who do enjoy it. You can enjoy the other benefits of biracy - the inside scoops on the movie, the participation in the process and of course, the final product.
So yes, I'm selling this project, baby. But I'm doing it so that when you join up, you don't have to;)
So it's new to me. But then I've never personally had to consider raising millions of dollars to complete something. A few not-so-in-depth probes online have shown me that this capital-raising method is not only successful, it is being used for some very interesting projects.
Such as journalism:
US company Spot.us has developed a site for collecting contributions that would fund artciles to be written on various topics. Their mission statement: "Spot.Us is a nonprofit project to pioneer 'community funded' reporting. Through Spot.Us the public can commission investigations with tax deductible donations for important and perhaps overlooked stories.”
In early November last year, Spot.us spread their wings a little further than the grassroots community and allowed the New York Times to use crowdfunding from 100 people to raise $10,000 US to fund a story. Reporter Lindsey Hoshaw was sent out into the Pacific Ocean for a week to report on the famous 'Pacific Garbage Patch'.
Mashable.com ran a story about the NY Times article and it's use of crowdfunding. It's a good read, explaining how the model can be used successfully.
Such as Recording and Distribution for Musicians:
The entrance of website communities like MySpace and Facebook have allowed musicians access to their fans in ways never before possible. In these forums, artists are often discovered by fans, who are followed by the studios. With this access, bands have been able to distribute new albums through new means, thereby avoiding costly and binding contracts. A new step to assist bands needing funding is being attempted by Sellaband.com, who coin their model "fan-funding". To date they claim $3 million raised and over 40 individual budgets reached.
Crowdfunding blogger Crowdmanage posts about the Sellaband concept saying that while the model presents excellent potential, he's not convinced that they have quite tweaked their marketing and presentation enough. It's interesting to listen to his video as he dissect where the model fails to engage enough audience to equal success, in his mind. But then, hey, at least some bands have been helped along the way.
Such as small-scale charitable projects:
I read about this project the other day in a magazine (sorry I actually can't recall which one) But anyhow, it is one of many charitable undertakings that has come about as a result of someone travelling and thinking "Gee, I really wish I could help here. I wonder if..." and really doing it. 88bikes describes itself as 'micro-philanthropic' in its pursuit to provide bicycles to young people in developing countries. People are asked to donate, with $88 being the full cost of a bike locally made and bought in the country where it will be donated. This model has been successful enough for 4 successive projects to have been completed in Cambodia, Uganda, and Peru.
The more I read about crowdfunding, the more I realize that it isn't new to me. Everytime I contribute to someone's honeymoon fund on their wedding registry I am employing this model. Everytime I buy cookies from a sweet schoolgirl raising money for a school field trip to somewhere educational, I am joining other people in making someone's dream a reality. Why shouldn't we all have a vested interest in seeing things we love come to be? And with that vested interest comes a sense of ownership - the feelgood fuzzies. And we all could use more of that. So, I'm for being offered the option to communally fund things I believe in. Hugs all round. :)
Seems only sensible to check out what others have to say about this project. I've said I'm keen. Here are a few others (some with much more industry awareness than I) who support:
So, let's get this part clear. I am an average gal. I don't work in film, or its financing industry. I'm an architectural illustrator by trade, a frustrated artist by nature, and I dream of one day building my own home. Why do I say this? Well, I hope it gives scope as to why this project excites me.
You see I like films - I like seeing them in the theatre, and I LOVE curling up at home with a bowl of popcorn and an open stretch of weekend to lose myself in another world. The making of movies has always fascinated me. From the old days of the big soundstages recreating vast scenes, to the amazing capacity of CG. Movies are cool. They are escapism. They take me away on voyages, guided by the director and writers. And here is where I feel disappointment in many big feature films these days. I do not want to see branded products held centre-screen for a regulated number of seconds by the celebrity lead actor, I do not wish to see where the budget has been cut back and the quality of the CG suffers, I don't wish the story to be edited to suit the tastes of the major financing bodies backing the film. And these apparently are only some of the restrictions that film makers face these days. Of course I haven't yet mentioned the effect that piracy is having on film financing... if all the money to be made on a film is likely to vanish in illegal copies after the first week at the Box Office, who in their right mind will be putting up the big bucks?
Enter the Biracy Project... a system which builds an audience and a movie at the same time. Interesting.
So I buy a membership, which gives me the inside scoop on how a movie is made. Cool.
It also gives me the chance to have a say on aspects of the movie - wow!
Each time I engage by commenting, or voting, I get awarded points. These points can be transferred to other projects. The member with the most points at the completion of the film wins a massive cash prize - Hell yeah!
If I refer people to also support this project and they sign up, I get money. I could make back the cost of my membership, or more!
When the film is finished, I get a copy of the DVD - nice.
Most philanthropically I am taking part in a project that benefits me (the audience), and the creative bodies making it - perfect.
So as an everyday film-loving person, I see this as a pretty neat way of getting involved. And with a membership starting at $25, well that's pretty much the cost of a new DVD today anyway... and it's way more fun. Even the if the resulting movie that is made isn't a masterpiece, well I was there for the making of it and it'll be great to me :) Kinda like the clay ashtray I made at summer camp years back. I didn't know anyone that smoked, and it was pretty damn ugly, but I was proud of it!
It's the pilot project of a revolutionary way to raise capital for making a feature film, while developing an audience at the same time. Secure funding AND fans at once.. nice!
According to the founders: "the biracy project™ is a social experiment in crowdfunded filmmaking where film fans have input into the development, production and distribution of a movie. Members of the biracy project™ that choose to vote on the project processes will be rewarded for their participation. In addition fans can earn income by building a word-of-mouth referral network."
www.biracy.com
About JennyAnyDots
I'm keen on projects that support creativity. I like things that have positive results for those involved, and those that experience the results.
I like this project. I want it to succeed. Support it!
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