Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Crowdfunding, But Were Afraid to Ask Veronica Mars

Two weeks ago, I received the 41st Kickstarter update from the Veronica Mars movie team. It began:

Dear Backers,

This morning we began the eleventh day of what we expect to be a 23-day shoot.

You’ll be happy to hear that things couldn’t be going much better. We had about half of our Kickstarter extras on set with us last week, and with their help, the Reunion scene and the promised brawl both turned out great.

I gave $10 to the project as soon as I heard about it, earning the following reward:

You’ll be sent a pdf of the shooting script on the day of the movie’s release. Read it or remain unspoiled, the choice is yours. Additionally, you will receive regular updates and behind-the-scenes scoop throughout the fundraising and movie making process.

I later found out that I had joined 91,584 other backers in helping to raise $5,702,153 of an original $2,000,000 goal. This film has turned into a fantastic blueprint for crowdfunding, and there are examples that all film-makers can learn from and adapt in this campaign.

Veronica Mars didn’t really register with me when it first screened. A friend was nice enough to lend me the Veronica Mars Season One box set and to quickly follow up with Seasons Two and Three. I was a firm convert. The show was smart, well cast and unafraid. Season One followed Veronica slowly piecing together the circumstances around her rape while investigating the murder of her best friend. It also touched on fraud, divorce, incest, gang violence and corruption.

Veronica herself was smart and resourceful- first and foremost. The fact that she looked like Kirsten Bell was almost incidental. In fact, there was a Liz Lemon-like syndrome going on at Neptune High- Veronica was a pariah and considered an unattractive untouchable. She, of course, didn’t lose any sleep over this.

The television series garned a cult following, but one which seemed unlikely to translate into a big budget studio adaptation- especially ten years on. So show creator Rob Thomas turned to Kickstarter and appealed directly to the prospective audience- with phenomenal results.

When looking at the results, it’s easy to dismiss the campaign and the team for having the huge advantage of leveraging off a long running television series. But there were several other factors that they worked very hard to get right, and which their established support base didn’t factor into.

Existing Social Media Properties

The team used their existing social media accounts to quickly spread the word about the project. Accounts like @robthomas and @IMKirstenBell sprang into action along with the #veronicamars hashtag and the @veronicamars account.

Having all your ‘ducks in a row’ social media- wise is invaluable when you do launch your crowdfunding. If you have active accounts that are already chatting to your audience, you’ll have a much better chance of success.

The Rewards

Designing rewards is an ongoing issue for film-makers looking to crowdfund. Over-promising and under-delivering is common, equally common is offering up things that people frankly don’t want or need. This is one area that really makes it plain to your potential backers that you value them and have considered who they might be.

Think laterally. I’ve spoken to people who design incredibly complicated ways of somehow inserting their backers into the film- which is a frankly unnecessary layer of complication during pre-production. Think more about what people want and minimising your time- and get on the phone and get tangible goods. Don’t make them too large and expensive to ship,

Here, the rewards were thoughtful and well designed, and the team were also responsive. For example, when requests came from Australia to ship rewards internationally, the team let potential backers when this was in the works.

The Updates

As soon as I backed the project, the update emails began (currently up to #48). They told the story of a group of people genuinely overcome that so many people were also excited about the thing they believed in.

Stop worrying about whether you’re ‘spamming your audience’. It’s hard to over- communicate via email with someone who genuinely wants to hear from you. If they want to opt out of the conversation, they can (and make sure they have the option). But if you’re communicating updates that are relevant and exciting about something that they have cared enough to get their wallet out for, it’s not spam- it’s courtesy. Different rules apply for social platforms like Facebook, but here, keep the updates coming.

Reward Fulfillment

Reward surveys were sent out in order to fulfil the rewards. About a day after I received the reward survey, I got an email from Rob Thomas. He was worried that because the surveys had come from a fulfilment agency that they may have been caught in spam filters.

It’s all too common to hear stories of promised rewards never appearing. Here, the team is making every effort to get each backer what was promised. If you are planning to run a campaign, build reward delivery into the plan from the start and have everything you need to do to make this happen budgeted for.

The Insights

Offered as part of the reward structure, the updates took the audience step by step through the immediate process. Each casting success, each small development was documented. The language wasn’t complex but they also worked to give the audience valuable insight and knowledge into the the pre-production of the film.

Consider your audience here. Chances are some will be filmmakers but others won’t be in the industry and would love to know how it all works. If you can talk to them and pass on some knowledge, what you have to offer is instantly more valuable.

So the team used a strategic reward design, consistent and transparent communication and kept the audience informed every step of the way as well as offering them insight into the film-making process. None of these factors relied on celebrity clout or star status. They relied on time, inclusion and boring old manners.

If you design your crowd-funding campaign along these lines, and couple it with well maintained social media accounts and an audience that you communicate with outside of crowd-funding season, you are much more likely to be successful. And if you are, you won’t just have a funded project, you’ll have an engaged audience.