Everything AND the Kitchen Sink

My Approach to Crowd Funding

            There were a few things I knew to expect during my crowd funding campaign on PasserBy and there were more than a few delightful surprises that I would have never expected. I knew going into my campaign that it wasn’t going to be easy. Money is tight everywhere these days and it takes a lot to get people to part with their hard earned money.  I’m a one-woman show these days, used to creating projects with a collaborative group, this time around I’m the writer, producer and actress on the project. I’ve chosen to work with a director that comes with his team of producers, makeup, camera guys, composer, the whole nine yards. On one hand, this is lovely and amazing, it makes my job as a producer much easier, but not when it comes to crowd funding. One of the keys to crowd funding is to appeal to your fans, to spread the word and reach as many corners of the world that you can. The more people you can list on your project and crowd funding page, the better chance you have at reaching your goal.

            I decided that I would do everything in my power to reach my goal. I threw everything AND the kitchen sink at my campaign. Here are the things that I did.

           

            1. Email Campaign – I sent an introductory email as soon as my campaign      launched on PasserBy using Mail Chimp, a free email service that allows you          to track clicks and opens of your email campaigns. I tried not to overwhelm   people with the amount of emails I sent, in the end I believe I sent 5 emails            over the course of three months. I lost some subscribers, but you can’t take it            personally, they may just be trying to stream line their life, or perhaps your          initiative and drive makes them realize their own lack of drive and initiative and its too painful to see, you never know, but you don’t have time to worry         about that, you’re running a crowd funding campaign!   Using the information    from Mail Chimp I  . . .

           

            2. Sent Personal Emails – Every few days I would send at least 2-5 personal emails to people who had clicked on the link in my email or had opened it            numerous times. I also emailed people that I don’t have on my mailing list     alerting them to my campaign but also asking them to help spread the word.

           

            3. Twitter and Facebook – My Twitter feed and Facebook page are now          covered with my PasserBy link and the “Tactics” poster. I sent at least one        message a day for the 90 days my campaign was active, and sometimes twice           a day. It can get annoying, but you have to remember how fast a Twitter feed        moves and how often posts can get lost on the Facebook. I’m pretty sure I lost           some “friends” on Facebook due to the amount of promoting I did, but it    doesn’t bother me, why would I want friends who aren’t supportive of what             I’m doing?

            4. Contests! – I decided to see if I could find some prizes that people would    want to win if they donated at least $20 to my campaign on a certain day.  For        instance, those who donated at least $20 on April 15-20^th would be entered to win a set of Season 1 DVD’s of the MTV show “Awkward” signed by actress            Desi Lydic. Desi and I were in an acting class together years ago and she was             kind enough to offer her autograph and she even tweeted her followers the    deal, no small offer, she currently has over 29,000 Followers!

            5. Press – I am lucky enough to have a relationship with one of the journalists           at my hometown paper, The Pueblo Chieftain (thanks to my Mom, the P.R. Maven, who scored me an interview when my first short film was in the Indie           Spirit Film Festival in Colorado Springs) so I contacted the paper and asked if         it would be possible to write something about my Crowd Funding campaign.            They did and a little blurb about my project ran in The Pueblo Chieftain!         

            6. Thinking outside the Box – PasserBy’s own Todd Metheny suggested that we do a Google Hangout and talk about my project, my experience in the film          business and as an actress, writer and producer. One Saturday morning, we connected via the Inter-webs and he set about asking me some very             insightful questions. Todd posted the 4 segments of our interview here on    the PasserBy blog and I used them in my Mail Chimp campaigns as well as all over my Facebook and Twitter feed. I think this was one of the most   successful things that we did. It garnered a lot of attention as well as gave me       a little more credibility and the opportunity for people to hear me talk about            the project. It gave them some insight into me and who I am and what I was        hoping to accomplish with my campaign and in my life! Plus, I’m a firm     believer that any time you can use your own personal energy to          communicate you will always be able to connect with others easier and on            a more personal level.

            7. Offer Credit – I offered to every actor, producer and filmmaker that I know           who are working on their careers, building IMDB credits and trying to get out            there, the opportunity to earn an Associate Producer credit. I extended to      them that if they could drive $500 to the campaign, I would give them Associate Producer credit on the film! One actor took me up on my offer and             raised             $500 for me! I am happy to give him the credit and it doesn’t cost me           anything!

            8. Have a TV show with a Cult following, major stars and lots of hype – Okay,             this wasn’t a “Tactic” of mine, but it did prove to be very beneficial for the          Veronica Mars Movie. In the middle of my campaign, I watched as Kirsten      Bell and Rob Thomas launched the Kick Starter for the “Veronica Mars”      movie. They told fans that if they could raise $2 million dollars, Warner Bros             would let them make a movie! With my jaw on the floor, I watched as by 11       am they had $1 million dollars and less than 11 hours later had their needed           $2 million, with 30 days left to go! In the end they raised over $5 million             dollars! This is and will be a game changer for the film industry! I would             expect to see lots of similar campaigns in the near future! Let’s hope they      have a little more help and support than poor Zach Braff!

            9. Cultivate Relationships – Hopefully, this is something that you do in your   life on a daily basis regardless of whether or not you’re running a crowd       funding campaign. In the end, most of the donations that I received came      from people that I know, that I respect and that respect me. I keep in touch      with people and care about what’s happening in their lives and their worlds. I          help spread the word about friend’s projects, shows, bands, business    ventures, etc. as much as I can.  Sharing a link on Facebook or Twitter can      take two seconds, but can foster a relationship that may help you for years to      come and lets face it, in Hollywood, your Facebook friend could be the head   of Disney in a few years, you never know.

            In the end, I didn’t quite reach my goal and the perfectionist, competitive side of me is not very happy BUT I raised $6500 out of my $12,000 goal.  Why $12,000? I set the goal based on the $10,000 my director budgeted for the film and the $2,000 to cover the cost of fees. There is A LOT that I will be able to do with the $6500, which after fees to PasserBy, Pay Pal and Stripe, ended up being around $5500, and I am extremely proud of what I was able to do but we will most likely have to run another campaign to raise funds for post production costs. The great thing about running a second campaign is, I already know what I’m doing AND by that time I will have a whole team on board, able to help spread the word!

            The best part of this whole experience was that I had a great excuse to get in touch with people that I hadn’t spoken to in years. I got the chance to catch up with people via personal emails and through Facebook. I learned that I have a lot of support in the chasing of my dreams. People that I hadn’t heard from in years, that I knew in college through my roommate or met in an acting class donated. I would get surprise messages on Facebook from old high school friends expressing how proud they are of me and how much they admire that I am out there, chasing my dreams. I was surprised by the amount of money some people donated, $500 with the request that we work together in the future, considering their donation as an investment in a future together! Absolutely, I’m on board, if you help me, I will help you! There is nothing better than helping friends achieve their dreams, especially if you help me achieve mine.

           

            Follow Elizabeth on Twitter @AnInspiredIdea or like her Facebook page, www.facebook.com/elizabethlaughs

           

           

Can Hollywood Shatter its "Blockbuster" Image and help Heal and Change the world?

I am an actor.

I am a writer.

I am a producer.

I Long to use my talents to help heal and change the world. To better our lives and the humanity that resides in each of us, whether it be through broad, healing strokes or minute, specific pin pricks that resonate with one person.

As some of you know, I've been doing a little online dating, why not?! Everyone else seems to be doing it. Recently I came across the profile of a very attractive man, one who seems to have it all together. He teaches highschool and coaches the football team, his ultimate goal is to open a clinic to treat disadvantaged children, Additionally, he teaches female recruits for the LAPD in self defense and fighting tactics. He does volunteer work mentoring kids at risk. He also is in shape, likes to work out, can have more fun at Disneyland than a kid does, is generous to a fault and not to mention is 6'3" and gorgeous. He's got it all, looks, smarts, sense of adventure, I would be a FOOL not to pursue this guy.

Anywho, I contacted Mr Perfect and we struck up a little back and forth. On first mention that I was an <gasp> actor, he was done. Said no thank you. . . etc. Of course, I should have said, Great. Not the guy for me. . . I should have. . . I pressed on, insisting that being an actor does not DEFINE everything about me and that just because he had a stereotypical view of all actors that I don't necessarily fit into that mold. I shared with him my dreams and desires to change and better the world through film, acting and writing. He has very strong opinions about Hollywood and insists that they do no good. Maybe it's the title,  "Hollywood". I don't necessarily view Hollywood as only the decision makers, and the major studios, etc. But perhaps he is?

Recently, he asked me this.

"In your opinion is there a specific movie made over the past five years that has truly had a positive affect on society? If so give me some examples of how it made a difference."


I started thinking and even asked some of my friends what they thought.

~ BROAD STROKES of Change ~

One of the first movies that comes to mind is, "The Blindside", last years film that won Sandra Bullock an Academy Award. In my opinion, that movie helped open people's minds in regards to race, differences in social and economic stature, being able to help someone who needs you and realizing that sometimes its not a WHOLE WORLD of people who need your help, but that in helping that ONE person, you can change their WHOLE WORLD for the better.

Movies like, "Milk" that are based on True Events can help bring awareness to a cause. This one being the gays and the struggles they have had to face in fighting for equality. Sure, they are still fighting for it, but who is to say that audiences who saw Milk didn't leave the theatre thinking, wow, I didn't realize that Gay people have had it so rough. You know, they should have the right to marry. It's an uphill battle of course, but in my opinion if a few people left that theatre thinking, wow, how terrible. Can you imagine if someone treated me in that way? Then that movie was a success.

~ MINUTE, SPECIFIC PIN PRICKS ~

As an actor, healing the world through my art has a much broader, yet simpler meaning. Let me explain myself. If I am in a movie where I play a character that is a victim of abuse, and ONE person comes to the movie that has suffered from abuse, and they are somehow healed or moved through my performance, I have done my job. It may seem small and irrelevant to the WHOLE WORLD, but can make a difference in that victim's WHOLE WORLD, enabling them to release what has been holding them back. Perhaps it allows them to heal and speak out about what happened to them, therefore helping a handful of other people heal. Those people heal themselves and in turn reach out to other victims of abuse, allowing them to smile more, hold doors open for people, be kinder, gentler, more open in their humanity and THAT will always change the world. It's a delightful SNOWBALL of reaction from one seemingly silly part in a silly movie with that new actress Elizabeth Mihelich that no one really went and saw.

This is an art and a passion that I can get behind. I also see Hollywood as a driving force for change in the world because of the expanse of influence that it has, the money it is able to put behind the movies, and the celebrities, who can reach more people in a day,  just by living open, giving, and compassionate lives.

~ GRASSROOTS EFFORTS for CHANGE ~

I have an amazing friend, who is a documentary filmmaker. She set out on making a documentary about the children of Cambodia who live on the street, are orphans, and spend their days digging through the dumps in search of treasure. I KNOW that her efforts and her movie, Small Voices: The Stories of Cambodia's Children has made a difference in the world, because she is still in contact with all of the children. She has helped place them in schools so they are learning and becoming educated. She visits them multiple times a year and because of the amazing, Heather Connell, they have learned that there are people in the world they can trust and rely on to help them. I KNOW that the kids she has helped will one day reach out and help someone else, because they were helped one day. She changed their WHOLE WORLD and I know one day they will strive to better the WHOLE WORLD.  Not to mention the fact that while in Cambodia, she connected with a young handicapped boy, Sum Namg, at an orphanage, learned that there was really no place for him to learn or grow, because of his disability, and she sprang into action. She is currently building a school for handi-capped children in Cambodia called Safe Haven. You tell me that film does not make a difference in lives after that?

Of course, Hollywood isn't perfect. Of course there are bad people in it that only have money and greed in mind. Of course. There are people like that in every industry of the world. I refuse to believe that we have no influence over the world. Artists are catalysts for change. John Lennon continues to change the world everyday and he's been gone from this planet for a long time. Thankfully, his music and his messages of "All You Need is Love" survive. Lucille Ball still brightens the days of people who had a rotten day at the office, they come home, turn on the tv and get a good belly laugh, because re-runs of "I Love Lucy" are on. Laughter is one of the most healing properties we have to work with. Even silly little sitcoms and crazy over the top comedies like Airplane! heal the world every single day because they help us laugh, they lighten our load and they allow us to open our hearts.

Please feel free to comment on this blog with movies that have inspired you, changed the world or that have simply brought a smile to your face when you needed it the most.

I am most grateful to Mr Perfect for pushing me to define WHY I pursue this passion with such tenacity and drive everyday of my life.

I believe in Love.
I believe in Peace.
And I believe that within each and everyone of us lies the power to Change and Heal the World.

Please honor Heather and her efforts to better the world by checking out her movie, Small Voices: The Stories of Cambodia's Children by renting it on Netflix or going here http://store.cinemalibrestore.com/smallvoices.html to purchase the DVD.

"Like" Small Voice on FB here, http://www.facebook.com/#!/smallvoicesmovie !

Follow Safe Haven's progress on FaceBook also, here http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Safe-Haven-School/148444011848303?v=wall

Shatter away.

Elizabeth