My kickstarter campaign for The Coward will be the first time I've run a proper such campaign. I aim to fund entirely through Kickstarter - all $35,000 (!). I'm using the process of preparing and building that crowdfunding campaign to simultaneously prep and organize the pre-production for the film itself.

My research for that is getting pretty intensive! There's a million articles along the lines of "7 BEST WAYS TO MAXIMISE YOUR KICKSTARTER PLEDGES!" and the like. There's a lot of nonsense out there. Which is fine, I'm an extremely fast reader and naturally nerd up on this stuff so I can quickly sort out the the chaff from the grain. Even so, one of the most useful avenues for me are podcasts, such as Chasing The Dream and, my personal favourite, Crowdfunding Nerds. With two kids, an intensive job as a 1AD and an unsettled schedule, I've found that podcasts (often via one earbud) give me the freedom to listen to great advice and tips at the same time as I'm wrist-deep in 2-year old toddler feces. Try to get that mental image out of your head, I challenge you...

For example, assembling a capable production team is critical to filming success, and also to crowdfunding. Funding a film on KS is fundamentally different to funding a board game (the most common KS campaigns by far). With a board game you have a tangible product and concepts to show and describe. Also, pledgers will receive an actual thing at the end of the campaign.

Backing a film is truly a leap of faith, as you have no idea what the finished product will look like or if it will be any good. A project can have amazing artwork, a solid idea and a great team and yet suck big time when completed. This happens all the time in Film and TV - witness John Carter of Mars as the most egregious example.