How to raise funds for your indie film

You're a filmmaker and you have decent little project that you want to get made that is creative, not quite a genre pic and definitely not bankable with overseas buyers using pre-sales. You need 1 Million dollars and you're going to get it by raising it in chunks of 25 bucks at a time using the SOKAP system developed by the guys over at www.biracy.com

SOKAP stands for Social Kapitalist, or someone who loves being social, being part of group projects and likes making some money along the way.

What separates a SOKAP member from other participatory culture projects....We believe that part of participation is being compensated for your efforts, but - that you are partially responsible for how much you earn.

Anyway, SOKAP is a FOAF marketing platform that allows media fans to fund projects as well as participate in their ongoing production, and reap rewards from the sales of the finished product. Essentially were a hybrid between a member driven cooperative, online social network and network marketing engine.

So back to the Movie -

You need 1,000,000 dollars and you are going sell memberships of your film for 25 bucks. To do this you need to allocate a certain percentage of your sales back to the members who are your sales agents. In the past I've worked with some sales agents that charge 40%! So lets use that as an example here. Keep in mind that this number can be flexible and is only being used as an example. In order to make this work what you really need is 1.67 Million, or 66800 fans!

Jeez Dave...how do i do that?

Our crowdfunding engine is all about these 4 principles:

1. Engage - put some skin in the game!


2. Refer - tell some friends because unless you hit all 66800 fans...you're not going to camera


3. Participate - the more you assist the producer by being active online in contests, voting, and tendering of crowdsourced service bids....the more of the film you own as a member


4. Promote - The film is partially yours so when it comes out - be an advocate of the project.

If your fans are your sales agents....should they not be paid for creating the viral buzz around your project. We think so, and here is how that part works.

You need 1.67M or 66800 fans.

If you can tell 7 friends to sign up, and then tell those friends to sell to 3 people who are close to them and so on and so on....you will have 68887 fans using friend of a friend (FOAF) marketing techniques with only 9 levels of referral. Our platform helps you do this!

Your fans as a result of this are also paid out for their efforts by being given a percentage of the membership that they sell to their friends. Knowing this your fans will be divided into 4 categories:

1. I'm a fan but I don't want to tell or sell to my other friends because I'm too cool for that.

2. I'm a fan and I'll send out a couple of emails as I do want my friend to get his project made but I really don't care about the commissions.

3. I love the aspect of marketing something that I believe in and I will probably outsell everyone and make some good bread on the side of my day job.

4. I'm a die hard marketer, film fan and contributor to the film in all aspects of selling, voting, applying for the jobs within the film, and everything else. Move over...I have arrived!

Categories 3 & 4 make up for the lack of marketing provided by 1 & 2....so your in good hands with the fans using this system.

People will say....sounds like a pyramid!

A pyramid or ponzi is an investment vehicle that has no end and eventually collapses on itself when the number or potential funders runs dry. In most cases there is also no product that can have a value attached to it.

Our engine provides filmmakers a system to provide their fans with a "capped" and "limited" membership which allows people to buy a copy of the film in advance and participate with the filmmaker in its production for the chance to win and earn extra stuff. If you need to a million...we cut you off at a million, and this is displayed online as you near your funding goal.

People who buy a membership are not entitled to sell anything; although they can, and will be paid if they so choose to do so.

If the filmmaker has no ability to fund his or her project as a result of not getting enough members, the amount allocated to production, in this case 60% will be given back to the members, for them to place their membership with another film project on the site that may have a better chance of being funded.

The 40% that you relinquish as a member or in this case 10 bucks is paid out to the person or persons who brought you to the site. This is considered a commission for work performed and is not refunded. In most cases you would have also earned a few bucks for telling your friends so it works out in the end.

If you really feel as a member that you should be repaid all of your 25 bucks....don't sign up...because we really don't have time for people like that.

In a couple of weeks we will be launching the BETA of the SOKAP engine which you can find at www.biracy.com The Biracy Project will demonstrate the system and show fans, marketers, and producers how our system works. Once The Biracy Project is funded, we will open the SoKap engine to those producers who wish to use it. This will be done by making contact with us and having a discussion about your project. All projects will be vetted internally at no cost to the producer; however, we will only invite projects that we feel have a proven ability to be made on time and an on budget.

We are now accepting BETA testers to preregister at launch with us at www.biracy.com. Those people who register now (free) will be given a first look at using our system once we launch the SoKap public site shortly after BETA.

We are looking for journalists, marketers, filmmakers, bloggers, and film fans from all over to assist us with this project, and we will answer all questions in a timely manner.

Engage
Refer
Participate
Promote

This is crowdfunding....Welcome to THE BIRACY PROJECT