Crowdfunding - They Don't Tell You

'Little Miss Sunshine' Producer: What They Don't Tell You About Crowdfunding (Guest Column) - The Hollywood Reporter

Tomi Um

Kickstarter vs. Indiegogo? Hire a social media expert? How do you get on the "front page"? David Friendly, writing for The Hollywood Reporter, shares the lessons from his first foray into raising money online for his sneaker documentary: "Turns out I suck at crowdfunding."

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This story first appeared in the Nov. 15 issue of The Hollywood Reportermagazine.

In this town, where the brag frequently exceeds the swag, some transparency is a healthy thing from a producer. Turns out, at least on day 32 of a 60-day campaign, I suck at crowdfunding.

A bit of background: I'm producing and directing (along with my co-director Mick Partridge) my first documentary,Sneakerheadz, which focuses on the colorful world of people who obsessively collect "kicks" (tennis shoes in the old days). Our movie will feature interviews with famous collectors, athletes, fashion designers who work in the space and just regular folks who collect. Fortunately, this is a low-budget show, and we have almost all of our money in the can. But a few months ago, our team discussed the idea of raising another $100,000 for expensive elements like music and clip clearances. The sneaker explosion evolved from the natural intersection of hoops and hip-hop, and songs from Drake orKanye don't come cheap.