On December 1, 2012 Seed&Spark will launch a platform to build a truly independent film community.
What is Seed&Spark?
Seed&Spark is a tool for truly independent filmmakers to build and monetize audiences throughout the entire life of the film - from pitch to premiere.
Crowd-fund your movie by building a Wishlist (it’s like a wedding registry for your production).
Build a robust profile that hosts all your media, blog updates, and allows you to seek cast and crew!
Self-release your movie to your ready-made audience.
Rent or buy movies. Watch and share with friends. BOOM!
Gather and grow your audiences from day one! The profile you build for your project is robust enough to act as your film’s website. You can also build your own personal profile that allows you to track everything you're working on, following, and watching. You can grow your own personal audience of friends and followers who are interested in your filmmaking career, or who want to follow the list of truly independent films you are watching. You know, because you're a taste-maker!
Why would I want to use Seed&Spark?
- We're the only crowd-funding platform designed specifically for filmmakers to build their audience.
- We're the only place audiences have access to truly independent films (and filmmakers!) from pitch to premiere.
- We're also a streaming platform. You upload your film, set the price, and BOOM, keep 80% of the revenue.
Crowd-funding. Crowd-building. Crowd-pleasing.
It’s the future of filmmaking. Seriously. Even Forbes thinks so.Meet Seed&Spark's Founding Filmmakers!
ALIYA, JAMAL, AND THE RAT PRINCE
Animated short
Papaikou, Hawaii
“Jamal escapes the slave camps of Prog, teams up with the Rat Prince and Aliya, and tries to save Queen Jasmin from the evil clutches of the Pig Lord Kane.”
- GB Hajim – Producer/director
- Dave Pellicciaro – Music supervisor
DARKCOMEDY
Narrative feature
New York, NY
“A struggling young actor navigates his way through a quarter life crisis, bizarre love triangles, and affairs with casual racists in a love/hate letter to New York City.”
- Woodrow Morton - Writer/Director
- Jess Magee - Producer
- Miranda Levitt - Producer
- Karl Glusman - Actor
- Zonia Pelensky - Actor
- Jillian Hervey - Actor
- Dave Ransone - Actor
FOG CITY
Narrative short
San Francisco, California
“A reclusive young man must enlist the help of his community after making an unnerving discovery on the beach.”
- Liam Edward Brady – Writer/director
- Elizabeth A. O’Neal – Producer
- William Wohleb – Director of photography
HOMEMADE
Documentary
Atlanta, GA
“One explosion, dozens of stories. ‘Homemade’ explores relationships both created and destroyed by war through the voices of military men and women deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, their families, doctors and support networks.”
- Jason Maris – Co-director/cinematographer
- Danielle Bernstein – Co-director/producer
THE JINGLE DANCER
Narrative short
South Bend, Indiana
“Clear the way with kindness.”
- Michael Waterhouse – Associate producer/1st AD
- Chris Jones – Producer
- Daniel Waterhouse – Writer/director/producer
- Dean Jacobson – Director of photographer
JUST ANOTHER NIGHT
Narrative feature
Brooklyn, NY
“Four gay couples, each presented with one of those mundane life moments, quickly finds that it morphs into a universal relationship turning point.”
- Jason Jude Hill – Producer & Writer
- Daniel Sears – Director & Writer
LOVE LAND
Narrative feature
Austin, TX
“When a fiery young woman with an intellectual disability is placed in a private institution for being a ‘danger to herself and others,’ she is forced to face the reality that comes with being considered Special: ostracism from mainstream society.”
- Josh Tate – Director/Writer
- Paul Gleason – Director/Writer
- Maritte Go – Producer
- Andrew C. Richey – Producer
THE MASTER CLEANSE
Narrative short
Brooklyn, NY
“When Jim falls in love with Brook, an idealistic hippie who lives in a Brooklyn commune, he knows this won’t be a run-of-the-mill affair. But what he fails to realize is that her ‘Master Cleanse’ has nothing to do with cayenne, lemon, and maple syrup.”
- Daniel Goldberg – Director/Co-writer/Co-producer
- Ittai Orr – Co-writer/Co-producer
- Josh Fisher – Director of Photography
MOVEMENT + LOCATION
Narrative feature
Brooklyn, NY
“In this casual science fiction thriller, a woman restarts her life in Brooklyn, desperate for a better future. But when she discovers the man she most wanted to find, he turns out to threaten it all.”
- Alexis Boling – Director/DP/Producer
- Bodine Boling – Writer/Producer
- Serena Hedison – Producer
PRODIGALS
Episodic
New York, NY
“Three Separate Lives. One New Family.”
- Carlton Tanis – Writer/Creator
- Casey Stein – Director of Photographer
SAIGON, CA
Narrative feature
Los Angeles, CA
“Two brothers battle each other as they embark on a violent crime spree through California's Orange County area, stealing computer chips for a Hong Kong gang (the infamous Triads), as they both fall in love with the same woman.”
- Jeong Yeob Kim - Writer/Producer
- Mark Tran – Director
- TripwireFX Productions – Producer
- Aya Nakano – Line Producer
STORIES OF THE UNCONSCIOUS
Experimental short
Brooklyn, NY
“‘Stories of the Unconscious’ is a short film that consists of 9 surreal landscapes. Within ‘the Unconscious’, people live in a world where metaphor and symbol are as real as the weather, where the inner workings of the mind form the reality that surrounds them. Animals speak, statues bleed and people seek purpose in a world that is at once alien and familiar.”
- Cait Davis – Writer/Director/Producer
- Sara Murphy – Producer
- Nick Hendershott – Producer/Stop-Motion Co-Director/Actor
THOR'S TWIN
Narrative feature
Los Angeles, CA
“A tormented man, living as a crime lord's houseslave and haunted by inner demons, unleashes a murderous figure from his psyche known as the Falconer, who hunts and kills the twelve people lodging at the crime lord's secluded lakeside mansion one by one.”
- Dennis Brucks - Writer/Director
- Evan Bonifant - Producer
- Terry Maratos; Scott Whalen; Jordan Jones; Evan Bonifant; Yvette Saunders; Estelle Matranga – Cast
SUSPENSE
Experimental short
Half Moon Bay, CA
“Working with Olympic gymnasts, a musical ensemble, and a high-speed camera, “Suspense” captures the moment when a person goes from one state to the next, focusing on the time of suspense.”
- David Hodge – Filmmaker/artist
- Hi-Jin Hodge – Filmmaker/artist
- Francois Houle – Composer/musician
- The Turning Point Ensemble, Vancouver
TRICHSTER
Documentary feature
New York, NY
“Trichotillomania affects the daily life of people of all ages, genders, and lifestyles, but while some are living with it openly, others go to great lengths to hide their intimate secret.”
- Jillian Corsie – Director
- Carolyn Maher – Line producer
- Amanda Giordano – Producer
- Seun Babalola – Director of photography
- Kathleen O’loughlin – Director of photography
Sweet, Sign Me Up!
Visionary Audiences
Be the first in line to support and watch truly independent film. There’s a special bonus* in it for you:
Whoa, I have some questions
How does Seed&Spark work?
Seed&Spark builds audiences at every step from the crowd-funding platform, to the production resources, to the distribution platform. And every time an audience member supports the making of a film (funding, following, sharing) they earn “Sparks” which can be redeemed to watch movies on the streaming platform.
Supporting films lets you watch more films: It’s the new ecosystem for filmmakers & audiences, and…that’s it!
What are these “Sparks”?
Thanks for asking. “Sparks” are rewards that users receive for various actions including funding, following or recommending projects or movies.
“Sparks” can then be redeemed to watch movies on the site. Yeah, now you get it! A new ecosystem for filmmakers and audiences. It’s a beautiful thing.
* Our first 1000 audience members to sign up will receive a BIG sparks bonus. You’ll be able to start watching movies with your rewards on day one.
But really, why would I want to Seed&Spark?
Because while funding films is hard, getting an audience to watch them is harder. Advertising is crazy expensive! Seed&Spark helps you build your core audience from before you're fully funded and throughout the life of the project, and encourages that audience to share with their community. The earlier you start building your audience, the better positioned you’ll be when you're ready to release your film.
Only 1% of the roughly 15,000 movies created every year receive distribution through traditional avenues. Does that mean nobody wants to see those other, like, 14, 850 movies, many of which screen and win awards at top festivals? Hell no! But not everyone lives in a festival city or near an art house cinema.
Because traditional distribution puts layers of gatekeepers between you and your audience, and they take a big toll from the money your audience pays to see YOUR movie. If YOU build YOUR audience from the start, why should you have to give away typically 60-80% of the revenue?
The audience needs access! The technology exists to link filmmakers directly to their audiences! Cut out the middle men and make money on your movie!
Is this an all-or-nothing crowd-funding method?
Not exactly. Film budgets are such amorphous things, we developed the “green light” method. Once you have reached 80% of your fundraising goal, you're greenlit, and we will release the funds to you. We think your Wish Lists should be aspirational. Every indie filmmaker knows how to make that scene work with less money, how to ask for just ONE more favor, but we don't want the “all-or-nothing” method to scare you away from asking for all of what you need. Everything above the 80% is gravy, and you should have no excuse for not making the film you wanted because you couldn't get everything you needed.
How much of my crowd-funding money do I get to keep?
Seed&Spark takes an industry-standard 5% fee from the crowd-funding revenue. However, we don't ask you to set up an outside merchant account which may charge additional fees (beyond credit card service fees which are a necessary evil) and we offer funders an opportunity to cover the Seed&Spark fee for you upon checkout. AND, if somebody loans you something through the Wishlist, we will take ZERO percent on that item. Good deal we think. So, in short, you keep as much of your money as possible.
If I crowd-fund on Seed&Spark am I required to release my movie here later?
Of course not. It’s your movie! But keep in mind, you’ll make the most money per view on our site and the audience you collect here will have rewards built up they may want to spend on your film.
If I release my movie on Seed&Spark am I allowed to release it elsewhere?
Of course you are. It’s your movie! Go big! But remember you’ll always have a home here. We don't take any of your digital rights, you simply “Agree” that we can display the content on your behalf.
Is it safe to upload my movie on Seed&Spark? What about piracy?
Piracy will always be a problem in media because someone can always videotape their screen as the film is playing, and those pirates are clever little devils. For the time being, Seed&Spark does not allow digital downloads of films. The streaming platform allows audiences to “rent” the film, which gives them the opportunity to watch the film for a few days, or “buy” the film, which allows them to add the film to their streaming library. Audiences have to be logged in to the site and they have to be paying customers. In the future, we will work on better safer ways to protect the rights of your film to make it available for digital download.
Are you in? Head back up to that sign-up form!
Still have questions? Email us: info@seedandspark.com