"Onward, Amazing People!" Poster

The age of “crowd-funding”, or as it is more commonly referred to in the world of politics and non-profit organizations, “grassroots funding”, is long overdue when it comes to financing independent films. Major advances in digital technology, which allow film-makers access to higher quality equipment at a lower costs, was always touted as the tipping point towards a new era in independent film-making. But this revolution never exactly came to be. Why?

Lower film-making costs never solved the problem of distribution, which often burns up to 85% of a film’s budget. After all, to broker a deal with an established company that can market the film effectively, then produce film prints and DVDs to sell to a waiting audience, is a necessary and difficult endeavor. Even excellent films with well-known actors can find themselves stuck in the festival circuit, unable to make that leap to cinema houses or DVD rentals.

The coveted Red One digital camera, or digital still cameras capable of taking high-definition video such as the Canon 7D or Sony A500, have certainly brought down costs dramatically and have had a positive impact on the film-making community. But these advances in digital technology have also unleashed a curse upon the industry. Widespread illegal downloading has taken a severe toll on profit margins of studios, forcing most of them to significantly downgrade their independent divisions. Oddly enough, it is more risky to invest in a 1 million dollar independent film (which is often targeted towards a smaller, more cultured and intellectually curious audience) than it is to invest in a 200 million dollar film (which is cross-promoted with fast food toys, cereal box covers and more, and targeted at a mass audience). And the word “risk” doesn’t often escape the lips of the shrewd businessmen that run Hollywood these days.

The grassroots fund-raising movement has enjoyed modest success in the world of independent film-making, and is fast on the rise. Sites such as Kickstarter.com, which hosts short film, music, art and social projects, has been featured in Newsweek, Forbes and The New York Times and others. Indiegogo.com operates on a similar model, and focuses its hosted projects in the area of short and feature length films. On both sites, individual artists post their project proposals then elicit donations of all sizes from patrons of the arts online.

However, a young American couple based in Berlin, Sarah Morris and Ryan James, have founded JumperCableFilms.com, and have taken this grassroots concept one logical step further. “Onward, Amazing People!” is their post-apocalyptic comedy written by James, and is intended to be a formal feature film production – with a budget of $300,000 – made with a professional cast and crew. In this case, it employs the grassroots model not only to raise funds, but to elude the always imposing problem of distribution. That is, Jumper Cable Films has structured its donation model to elicit small donations (a modestly priced “advance movie ticket” at $7.50) from a wide pool of supporters, thus guaranteeing that no one loses their shirts to make the film, and there will be a significant audience already in place once the film is made.

While Jumper Cable Films does employ many of the traditional hallmarks of crowd-funding – such as certain perks for higher levels of donation – their fund-raising model takes on what amounts to voting power for their audience members. In buying a ticket to a film that they genuinely want to see come to life, the audience is thus extending faith to the filmmakers that the quality and entertainment value of “Onward, Amazing People!” will meet their expectations. In return for this faith, the Jumper Cable Films team is offering a thorough behind-the-scenes view of the production in “real-time”.

Once audience members buy their advance “ticket”, they’ve joined a community of like-minded champions of the arts, film geeks, and plain old curious folks who can follow along the trials and tribulations of the film-makers. From managing a 300-line budget to casting sessions to creative and strategic discussions with the Director, these ticket holders will not only receive a digital copy of the film they’ve helped produce, they’ll get an exclusive, engaging inside view throughout the entire film-making process from pre- to post-production.

Touted as “blazing a quirky path through sci-fi and cult classic models”, “Onward, Amazing People!” is set in the year 2008 (just six years after the apocalypse) when a lazy, conniving, reluctant anti-hero is called upon to save the only partially rebuilt city on Earth and its crappy civilization. “It’s the perfect film for this type of grassroots funding project,” says James. “The story is hilarious and fun and a lower budget works for it, not against it.” James believes that the cult classic vibe of the film and its post-apocalyptic set pieces (posing as the United States but shot cheaply in Eastern Europe) will give the film that ‘where exactly are we?’ ambiguous feel that made the original “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” or “The NeverEnding Story” so striking. These aspects will keep costs low without compromising how “big” the film feels or cutting corners on professional cast and crew. “Basically, we’re over the moon with this project, and our excitement has proven to be contagious, which is exactly the momentum we need.”

It just might be the dawn of a new era for independent films, after all. As these types of projects become more visible to the public eye, and as one of them cracks the glass ceiling and gains significant attention for both its quality and its inventive production approach, this writer imagines that a film-making revolution will indeed be on its way.