* A screenwriting term frequently used by Blake Snyder, The Dark Night of the Soul refers to the point in the screenplay when the hero thinks things are so terrible that there will be no resolution, despite their efforts. Here, I'm using it to describe the feelings of helplessness associated with running a crowd funding campaign! This post will be followed in several days by a further campaign update after we have our launch party- hopefully there will be a move towards resolution ;) *

So, crowd-funding. You probably either think it's easy ( set up a site, send it out, get people to fund your 'hobbies'- bam!) or are aware of what a hair- pulling, nail biting, time consuming process it all is. I think the middle ground between these two is if you're Amanda Palmer, in which case, you have fame and experience to draw on. We're 13 days into a month long campaign on Indiegogo (igg.me/at/fairyfort) , a campaign which we prepared for for weeks. We researched crowd-funding sites, spoke with friends, planned a launch party, built our social media following, commissioned a poster, commissioned a production company website, printed postcards, deliberated over rewards, locked in our cast and most of crew ( teams look better, apparently!), had dinner with many of the crew, sorted our location, finalised the script, recruited 4 voluntary PMDs to help with promoting the campaign and finally, went live on July 1st, without publicising it- much- for several days. This was deliberate- we ran a soft launch where we emailed family & friends so there'd be money in the campaign to begin with, reminding people that even if they just put in 5 bucks, they could keep up to date with the film and would raise our rankings on Indiegogo (Perspective: $5 in Sydney is a large latte in a fancy cafe, or a return train trip from our place to the city. $5 anywhere else is practically pennies since the AUD is worth less than the Euro, GBP & USD). We also started a Thunderclap, which announced our campaign to 73000 people on social media. Our crowd funding video has screened at 2 events, so far, both of which I've spoken at (one, Kino Sydney, is a volunteer run, inclusive monthly short film screening which we also help to organise and which I hosted last week). We've sent press releases to all the local and larger newspapers in Sydney about pre-production and casting. We've contacted local radios, Irish cultural groups (I'm Irish and the film is a marriage between Irish & Australian mythology), free magazines, Sydney events websites and blogs. We've been promoted by tastemakers on Twitter, including film
bloggers, authors and journalists. One of our cast members has been interviewed on local radio about the campaign. Our friends have shared it over social media again and again. And here's what we've learnt so far:

1) Never go with Indiegogo again!
I wonder if everyone who chooses a platform wonders if they should have picked a different one. In the end, we went with Indiegogo ( after said research!) because 1) The films on it seemed to be doing well. 2) We liked the design layout. 3) They now have a rep in Australia, whose talk Jason attended several months ago when we started planning. 4) They accept payment in AUD..... And therein lies the rub! Indiegogo are supposed to accept payment in AUD via Paypal from those without Paypal accounts, however for the past number of days they've blocked everyone who has tried to pay without having/ setting up a Paypal account- without any explanation. As it's time consuming enough to fill your details out once, we are really worried that these people won't return, and while Indiegogo have now provided us with a list of emails of people who tried to donate but couldn't, some of them are people we don't know, while with others, it's frankly hard enough to ask for money once!
There's also several other issues with them. Indiegogo offer a flexible funding schedule, which we chose,because we need quite a large sum of money for the shoot and post production and had no idea what to expect with crowd-funding. We have been paying for heaps, and are prepared to put in lots more of our own money ( although that is a decidedly finite resource!) , to seek funding later and to apply for whatever further grants we can, to assist with post production ( a memo- it's often easier to get funding at post production as there is footage to show!) However, I have read a number of Internet comments from people who believe that choosing flexible funding shows a lack of commitment and/ or knowledge about the cost of making a film. Worrying indeed- but understandable that people ( who don't know the filmmakers) might think this. I for one, have funded a number of reasonably high profile campaigns for which I am still waiting to receive my reward- or even an update on it! It's quite frustrating, as this has never been our modus operandi and we are fully committed to rewarding everyone.

2) People will share your campaign and be really enthusiastic about it, but aren't so quick to take the time to donate.
Don't get me wrong, we really appreciate those who take the time to reply with, 'I'm sorry , I've shared it but I'm really broke or have funded lots of things recently...' Nobody can contribute to everything. But it's those who don't reply, or who think that if they share the link without so much as a comment that it's enough (what does the research say about Facebook sharing- most people share without even reading what they're sharing?) that can be a little invalidating. To those people who have written to us with compliments on our drive, professionalism, video, etc- thank you- it means heaps when we look at the constant social media 'noise' and think 'I bet nobody's even looking at our site (*sob)'

3- Sometime soon in that ever expanding list of psychiatric diagnoses, there will be a syndrome for those creatives who run crowdfunding campaigns.
It's a well reported fact that creatively minded people suffer more from symptoms of anxiety and depression. What can be more frightening, if you really believe in something and have put your heart into making it happen, than to put it out to the world of crowd-funding- an odd popularity contest where the weirdest things get funded ( anyone see the potato salad guy? yuck!) Yes, people are busy or forget or didn't see it or are broke or whatever... Yes indiegogo is being an absolute nightmare. But all of the logic in the world doesn't stop the niggling voice at the back of your mind that says 'They hate me! They hate the idea! Everyone thinks I'm a fool for trying to make this happen! Why can't they just give a couple of bucks when I donated to their thing/ went to their wedding/ bought their baby a present, etc., etc.' It's hard to care so much and second guess why your project, which you see as a massive stepping stone and know is a huge endeavour, may be seen as something frivolous. The truth is, in life people all have their own stories and perspectives on things and nothing you do is going to change that, so if you're waiting for somebody to behave in a certain way just because you do you'll be waiting a loooong time.

4- The people who do contribute so generously will surprise and delight you.
Last ( but by no means least) on the list is this. It's always funny the people who dig deep for things like this. We've received sponsorship from friends overseas who I haven't seen in several years, accompanied with lovely messages wishing us luck. The emails about small donations popping into my inbox delight me just as much as those that are for $100 or $200. It's the endorsement, the fact that somebody has chosen to look at our video and attachments and get involved. Now, if only we'd chosen to make potato salad..

Suzanne Rath. Writer & Producer, Fairy Fort.