OUR THOUGHTS ON KICKSTARTER…A MUST READ!

On April 15^th Mosquita y Mari will launch its Kickstarter campaign. A few of you may already know about Kickstarter and understand how vital it is to the life of a film project, while most of you are probably asking yourselves, “What’s this Kickstarter thing all about?” Because there is so much riding on this campaign for MyM, I thought it would be extremely helpful to break it down to all our supporters so when April 15^th hits, Mosquita y Mari will get the boost it needs to make its goal!

Okay, first I’ll breakdown how it works and then I’ll share the game-changing impact its having on independent film.

1) Kickstarter is a crowd funding source that allows inventors and artists of all genres (music, fine arts, visual arts) to post their ideas online and invite their family, friends, fans of the project, and complete strangers to donate $ to help realize the dream. Every project on Kickstarter sets a fundraising goal (that depends on what the artist is trying to accomplish) and a timeframe for when they hope to meet that goal.

2) Every Kickstarter campaign has its own web page that includes a video to learn more about the project, written information, explaining what the campaign is trying to achieve with raising X amount, and reward incentives…this is where it gets fun! Each project on Kickstarter comes up with its own unique list of rewards for every level of donation. In other words, the reward incentives connect the donors in very direct and exciting ways to the project. Examples of rewards: filmmaker will go to your community and conduct a special screening of the film; learn what it takes to make a low budget film by visiting the set and hanging out with the crew; own a unique element of the filmmaking process like an autographed copy of the script.

3) Kickstarter is all or nothing which means that if the goal is met then the artist will access the funds. Otherwise none of the pledges are cashed…so meeting the goal is a must!! In no way does Kickstarter own the rights to any of the projects/ideas on their site! They are simply providing the space and the online traffic for each project to have a chance at making their passion project come true! Kickstarter, however, does take 5% of the project’s fundraising goal but that’s funneled back into Kickstarter to keep it going (we’re cool with that)

So that’s Kickstarter in a nutshell. Now, how is this going to impact MyM?

Kickstarter has many success stories since its inception in 2009. According to Kickstarter, on a daily basis about 80 new projects are launched a day and $1 million pledges are made in a week. That’s what our MyM team straight up calls HOPE! With small projects like Mosquita y Mari that isn’t looking to cast big names or tell an empty Hollywood story finding the funding is TOUGH! We’ve been working on funding for a few years now and unless we can guarantee a profit no one wants to take the “risk.” In other words, our passion project is forced into a business model that ultimately deems Mosquita y Mari meaningless because it can’t promise a profit. That’s the world we’ve been subjected to. In turn, Kickstarter is about the public; the consumer saying, “Hey, this is something I want to see. This is something I want my kids to experience. This is a story I believe should be told, manifested, birthed and released into the world.” You, the audience, now get to determine the future of these projects that struggle to see the light of day. And, Kickstarter takes out all the middle men, the agents and hollywood film companies, that not only want to profit from the art, but also want a say in how it’s made. Through Kickstarter, the support is no-strings attached. Your donations support the vision of the artist with the hope that you’ll be able to enjoy the end product in your local theaters, Netflix, etc.

Ultimately, through Kickstarter, you, the donor, walk away knowing that whatever amount you gave you helped an artist tell their story and share their talents with the world. You get to say, ”I helped make that happen!” Kickstater is changing the way independent films are made!

I hope all of this information helps paint a vivid picture of what is at stake when Mosquita y Mari launches its campaign on April 15^th. On our end, we’re doing everything we can to make MyM happen, including creating an exciting Kickstarter campaign video and designing the coolest rewards. How about you? What are you willing to do on your end? Donate? Spread the word when the campaign launches? We hope so cuz all I know is that me and my crew of artists are ready to get down-n-dirty and deliver an exciting film to you!  Check out some of the projects that have found success on Kickstarter:

http://www.Kickstarter.com/projects/2115598587/i-am-i-feature-film

https://www.Kickstarter.com/projects/2128223578/save-blue-like-jazz-the-movie- 0?ref=live

https://www.Kickstarter.com/projects/2024077040/neil-gaimans-the-price

Peace, Aurora Guerrero