A very British Western
Almost a year ago to the day, having explored all the funding options that were available to me (I.E selling a kidney, Big Tony the loan shark), I embarked on my first attempt at crowd funding for my short film ‘Laughter of the World’. I drafted a rough budget and worked out what the minimum amount would be to make the film, settling on five-hundred pounds.
I set up the crowd funding page and tirelessly plugged and plugged, hoping to get someone, anyone interested in this little funny, dark, short film. To my utter surprise and sheer delight, we managed to smash our target and ended up raising seven-hundred pounds for the film, thanks to a large group of immensely generous people that I will forever be grateful to. It means a lot when people are willing to take a chance on your art by donating their hard earned cash to it.
Fast forward a year and Kent is still a black hole in the world of film funding. Something my good friend and fellow filmmaker Dominic Pillai has found out when trying to find money for his latest short film, a British Zen Western ‘Samsara Sands’. Like myself, he’s come to the conclusion that crowd funding may be the way to go.
Dom and I have been making films together since we were sixteen years old. We met whilst studying media at college and, more often than not, when one of us has been making a film, the other has been involved in some form or another. He was my cinematographer and co-editor on ‘Laughter of the World’, and for ‘Samsara Sands’, Dom asked me to co-produce the film with him. I hate producing films. I hate the paperwork, the organisation and everything else it involves which means I’m spending time away from the writing and directing side of things. Naturally, Dom had to sweeten the deal for me. Knowing this, he offered to co-produce my next film with me. A problem shared is a problem halved and all that, and I happily agreed. Although by that time, it’d be nice if we’d have found a permanent producer with which to collaborate with (any takers?).
‘Samsara Sands’ originally began five years ago when, as a film student, Dom wrote a short film script entitled ‘The Very Long Goodbye‘. It dealt with the theme of circularity but was in the film noir genre. At the time, Dom felt he couldn’t make the film work as a whole, so it sat on his shelf collecting dust.
It was during one of Dom’s film vlogs, when discussing the lack of great Westerns in recent years, that he realised by changing the genre from film noir to western the idea would work. From this moment everything fell into place and ‘Samsara Sands’ was born.
In my eyes, Dom’s style as a filmmaker is a cross between David Lynch and Francis Ford Coppola and I think you’ll get to see that in ‘Samsara Sands’. The theme of circularity is dealt with through a series of mimed duels between the characters of The Outlaw, The Shaman, The Two-Spirit and The Dandy. The film looks to do something new and interesting with the Western genre by tackling themes of spirituality, sexuality, gender, as well as playing with conventions of Westerns. And it’ll all be shot in the UK, using Camber Sands beach as our final frontier.
As an indie filmmaker, I cannot stress enough how much we rely on the support of people who love independent film and seeing young talent come through, and getting to be a part of their early work. This is a project of love for Dom, so much so that I watched him try on dresses in a shop for the cross-dressing character of The Dandy. Now that’s dedication, and also a little bit of what we like to do at the weekends, but mostly it’s passion and commitment.
By all means, support people like Zach Braff with their projects but also maybe take a look at us small guys, trying to break into a very tough industry, and chuck us your support. Even if you can’t donate money, throwing your support behind the project, telling your friends about it, even just saying hello to us on Twitter and telling us to “go get ’em, tiger” is greatly appreciated and needed. Sometimes it feels like you’re being over-saturated with crowd funding projects on social media but it’s there for a reason, for people like Dom and I. I was very lucky and grateful to have the opportunity to make my film, now I want to make that happen for Dom.
Please consider backing us today – http://www.sponsume.com/project/samsara-sands
‘Laughter of the World’ – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBC3Y2wviZk
When I first began crowd funding to raise money for my short film ‘Laughter of the World’, I really didn’t know what to expect or how people would react to me asking them to donate to the project. You can imagine my shock when we raised our five-hundred pound target within a week!
The generosity of the people who donated astounded me. The response was incredible and I have no words that could truly do justice to the gratitude I feel to everyone who helped make this film possible. And it wasn’t just the money that was donated but the people who would retweet and share the links to the fundraising page and send messages of support. It was an incredible experience and I feel damn proud to have been a part of it.
We ended up raising just over seven hundred pounds during the thirty days of crowd funding. I initially set our target at five hundred because I felt it was the minimum amount we could make the film for and also because this was my first time crowd funding so it was largely an experiment, and a successful one at that.
I’ve never had a budget to work with before, aside from what I’ve taken out of my own pocket, I felt like a proper filmmaker.
With money to spend, the first thing we had to do was arrange a date for when to shoot part two of ‘Laughter of the World’, having shot the first part way back in April.
Luckily, being a small production, this merely involved organising four people; the two actors, Dave Higgins and Sadie Hurley, director of photography/cameraman Dominic Pillai and composer/personal assistant/long suffering girlfriend Jo Gallant.
The date agreed on – Sunday 23rd October.
It was time to spend some of that budget.
I would like to claim I am normally quite responsible with money, and while this may not be one-hundred percent accurate, I do feel that with a, somewhat, great budget comes great responsibility. I’ve kept a record of every penny spent, meticulously noting down what the money went on, how much was spent and what budget remained. People have donated their hard earned cash, I wasn’t about to be frivolous.
The money we’ve spent so far has gone on things such as equipment (new battery for the camera and mini DV tapes. Yes, some people still use those), props (my favourite being the giant novelty syringes) and costumes.
Everything was well organised. I had re-tweaked the story boards, everyone knew their roles, what time to arrive on set and we were all excited to finally get back to filming. Then the great British summer decided to end and the week leading up to the shoot date, the autumnal heavens opened up and the south of the UK had a forecast of rain, rain and more rain for that weekend.
The entire day’s shoot was exterior shots.
As it turned out, Saturday was beautiful. The sun lulled in a hammock of white, fluffy clouds, surrounded by clear blue skies. Every hour of that day I checked the forecast for Sunday. Rain. How could one of the wettest days of the year so far follow such a bright and clear day?
I’d initially asked cast and crew to meet at midday but looking at the forecast there would be no way we could get anything productive done, it would be far too wet. However, there may have been a window to shoot early Sunday morning when the rain would, hopefully, be lighter and less of an issue.
I feel the need to point out none of the cast or crew are getting paid for this film. We feed and look after them, pay expenses when they are needed but it’s a labour of love for those involved. Either that or they’re just doing me a favour. I choose to believe the former. It was a lot to ask of them to be on set bright and early on a Sunday, especially as most of them aren’t in the Folkestone area (the location of the shoot).
Being the absolute super troopers they are, everyone agreed. The shoot was on.
The feeling of excitement was replaced with one of dread as I was all but certain we wouldn’t get much, if anything, shot thanks to the weather. I hardly slept a wink that night, awaking early in the morning to drink rubbish coffee whilst rearranging the shoot schedule.
I was just so hyped up, having successfully crowd funded the project and elated to be directing again, the idea of being forced to halt proceedings for another week or however long it would be was demoralising. I’ve always made films for myself, never having to answer to anyone. This time I have fifty-plus backers who all believe in the project and want to see it get made. I want their investment and faith to be justified.
The night before I had purchased several umbrellas to keep the actors and camera dry (thanks budget!) and even roped one of my pals into coming down to the set with the specific job of holding one of the umbrellas over the camera. Dave suggested I credit him as “umbrella bitch.”
Director’s hat on (metaphorically) I rounded the troops pre-shoot and said we were going to try and get as much done as possible today but if the rain did interfere too much, we would have to call it a day.
We arrived at the location. A small alley around the back of a dodgy pub on a flight of stairs leading down to Folkestone harbour. I originally chose the location because of its roughness. There’s graffiti on the crumbling walls and broken glass on the floor. A perfect setting for the decaying world the characters inhabit. However, the broken glass seemed to have reproduced on its own as the ground was covered in a sheet of broken bottles. There was a further delay in shooting as myself and Tim, Umbrella Bitch, took it in turns to clear the glass out of the way with the dustpan and brush also purchased the previous evening (thanks again budget)
On the plus side, I clearly had forgotten the many overhanging trees above the alley. They provided a great blanket against the light drizzle already falling from the sky.
We began shooting.
By half past eleven we’d gotten everything we needed from that location shot. A remarkable feat considering we’d had no rehearsal time and the gathering black clouds above. Everyone was spot on with their roles, even Umbrella Bitch, and I couldn’t have done it without them. The actors performances were superb and with only minor tweaks on certain movements from myself, never messed up a single scene. The exception being Dave hoisted by his own petard by slipping on a banana skin he had dropped. Who knew that actually happened in real life?
Feeling a renewed sense of positivity, we packed up the equipment and headed towards the second location, which was to be a pub exterior. It was during this short journey that the apocalyptic rain predicted earlier hit. We took shelter in the nearest coffee shop, ordered a well earned round of caffeine and waited for the rain to subside
It didn’t but considering we were only three shots away from completing the day I was more than happy to rearrange that for a later date, immensely happy with the footage we had. All that was left was to feed the cast and crew (yes, thank you budget). The unanimous decision was a fry up at the local greasy spoon.
The next step is the third and final part of the shoot. The most difficult section of the film, logistically speaking. We’re auditioning in London next week (Tuesday 2nd October) to try and find our Laurel and Hardy, the comedy rapists of the script. We’ve already had Laurel and Hardy lookalikes turn down the chance to try something different with the characters on the basis they were disgusted by the script. I take this more as a compliment than anything else and it only excites me as to what’s to come when we finish shooting ‘Laughter of the World’ and start to edit the footage together.
Shooting ‘Laughter of the World’ – Part 2
When I first began crowd funding to raise money for my short film ‘Laughter of the World’, I really didn’t know what to expect or how people would react to me asking them to donate to the project. You can imagine my shock when we raised our five-hundred pound target within a week!
The generosity of the people who donated astounded me. The response was incredible and I have no words that could truly do justice to the gratitude I feel to everyone who helped make this film possible. And it wasn’t just the money that was donated but the people who would retweet and share the links to the fundraising page and send messages of support. It was an incredible experience and I feel damn proud to have been a part of it.
We ended up raising just over seven hundred pounds during the thirty days of crowd funding. I initially set our target at five hundred because I felt it was the minimum amount we could make the film for and also because this was my first time crowd funding so it was largely an experiment, and a successful one at that.
I’ve never had a budget to work with before, aside from what I’ve taken out of my own pocket, I felt like a proper filmmaker.
With money to spend, the first thing we had to do was arrange a date for when to shoot part two of ‘Laughter of the World’, having shot the first part way back in April.
Luckily, being a small production, this merely involved organising four people; the two actors, Dave Higgins and Sadie Hurley, director of photography/cameraman Dominic Pillai and composer/personal assistant/long suffering girlfriend Jo Gallant.
The date agreed on – Sunday 23rd October.
It was time to spend some of that budget.
I would like to claim I am normally quite responsible with money, and while this may not be one-hundred percent accurate, I do feel that with a, somewhat, great budget comes great responsibility. I’ve kept a record of every penny spent, meticulously noting down what the money went on, how much was spent and what budget remained. People have donated their hard earned cash, I wasn’t about to be frivolous.
The money we’ve spent so far has gone on things such as equipment (new battery for the camera and mini DV tapes. Yes, some people still use those), props (my favourite being the giant novelty syringes) and costumes.
Everything was well organised. I had re-tweaked the story boards, everyone knew their roles, what time to arrive on set and we were all excited to finally get back to filming. Then the great British summer decided to end and the week leading up to the shoot date, the autumnal heavens opened up and the south of the UK had a forecast of rain, rain and more rain for that weekend.
The entire day’s shoot was exterior shots.
As it turned out, Saturday was beautiful. The sun lulled in a hammock of white, fluffy clouds, surrounded by clear blue skies. Every hour of that day I checked the forecast for Sunday. Rain. How could one of the wettest days of the year so far follow such a bright and clear day?
I’d initially asked cast and crew to meet at midday but looking at the forecast there would be no way we could get anything productive done, it would be far too wet. However, there may have been a window to shoot early Sunday morning when the rain would, hopefully, be lighter and less of an issue.
I feel the need to point out none of the cast or crew are getting paid for this film. We feed and look after them, pay expenses when they are needed but it’s a labour of love for those involved. Either that or they’re just doing me a favour. I choose to believe the former. It was a lot to ask of them to be on set bright and early on a Sunday, especially as most of them aren’t in the Folkestone area (the location of the shoot).
Being the absolute super troopers they are, everyone agreed. The shoot was on.
The feeling of excitement was replaced with one of dread as I was all but certain we wouldn’t get much, if anything, shot thanks to the weather. I hardly slept a wink that night, awaking early in the morning to drink rubbish coffee whilst rearranging the shoot schedule.
I was just so hyped up, having successfully crowd funded the project and elated to be directing again, the idea of being forced to halt proceedings for another week or however long it would be was demoralising. I’ve always made films for myself, never having to answer to anyone. This time I have fifty-plus backers who all believe in the project and want to see it get made. I want their investment and faith to be justified.
The night before I had purchased several umbrellas to keep the actors and camera dry (thanks budget!) and even roped one of my pals into coming down to the set with the specific job of holding one of the umbrellas over the camera. Dave suggested I credit him as “umbrella bitch.”
Director’s hat on (metaphorically) I rounded the troops pre-shoot and said we were going to try and get as much done as possible today but if the rain did interfere too much, we would have to call it a day.
We arrived at the location. A small alley around the back of a dodgy pub on a flight of stairs leading down to Folkestone harbour. I originally chose the location because of its roughness. There’s graffiti on the crumbling walls and broken glass on the floor. A perfect setting for the decaying world the characters inhabit. However, the broken glass seemed to have reproduced on its own as the ground was covered in a sheet of broken bottles. There was a further delay in shooting as myself and Tim, Umbrella Bitch, took it in turns to clear the glass out of the way with the dustpan and brush also purchased the previous evening (thanks again budget)
On the plus side, I clearly had forgotten the many overhanging trees above the alley. They provided a great blanket against the light drizzle already falling from the sky.
We began shooting.
By half past eleven we’d gotten everything we needed from that location shot. A remarkable feat considering we’d had no rehearsal time and the gathering black clouds above. Everyone was spot on with their roles, even Umbrella Bitch, and I couldn’t have done it without them. The actors performances were superb and with only minor tweaks on certain movements from myself, never messed up a single scene. The exception being Dave hoisted by his own petard by slipping on a banana skin he had dropped. Who knew that actually happened in real life?
Feeling a renewed sense of positivity, we packed up the equipment and headed towards the second location, which was to be a pub exterior. It was during this short journey that the apocalyptic rain predicted earlier hit. We took shelter in the nearest coffee shop, ordered a well earned round of caffeine and waited for the rain to subside
It didn’t but considering we were only three shots away from completing the day I was more than happy to rearrange that for a later date, immensely happy with the footage we had. All that was left was to feed the cast and crew (yes, thank you budget). The unanimous decision was a fry up at the local greasy spoon.
The next step is the third and final part of the shoot. The most difficult section of the film, logistically speaking. We’re auditioning in London next week (Tuesday 2nd October) to try and find our Laurel and Hardy, the comedy rapists of the script. We’ve already had Laurel and Hardy lookalikes turn down the chance to try something different with the characters on the basis they were disgusted by the script. I take this more as a compliment than anything else and it only excites me as to what’s to come when we finish shooting ‘Laughter of the World’ and start to edit the footage together.
Crowd Funding for ‘Laughter of the World’
HERE’S THE LINK TO THE FUND RAISING PAGE MAN, I’M WRITING THIS IN BIG BOLD LETTERS SO YOU CAN SEE IT AND REMOVE IT 😉
http://www.sponsume.com/project/laughter-world
AND THE ARTICLE:
I feel like one of those people you see on the street holding a clipboard, with a large, false grin plastered on their face. The sort of person you cross heavy traffic to avoid because you know exactly what they’re going to ask of you. You’re aware of their pitch, the subtle amount of guilt they lay on you and how desperately they try to convince you that it’s just a few pounds per month to save a starving family in the third world.
I feel like one of these people.
However, there are many differences. The money I raise won’t be going to any big corporation, nor will I be taking a commission or a cut. Every penny I make will be going towards the budget of my short film ‘Laughter of the World’.
Ok, maybe it’s not as noble a cause as trying to raise money for the poor or the sick but I do believe donating to independent short films is a worthy cause none the less.
‘Laughter of the World’ is a short, dark satire that takes iconic characters from the early days of cinema and transports them into the harsh reality of the modern world with horrible consequences, and it’s all shot in the style of a 1920’s silent film.
I wrote the script a few years back and it wasn’t until a few months ago that I put it into production. I’ve shot a third of the film already, financed out of my own pocket and I was very happy with the results. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to finish the film due to lack of funds.
Someone on Twitter suggested I should try crowd funding and linked me to sponsume.com, a crowd funding site for projects that need help getting off the ground. It’s free to sign up, free to post projects and they only take 4% of the money you raise. You also get to keep all the money pledged, even if you don’t reach your target. So I signed up and ‘Laughter of the World’ is now a project that anyone can donate to!
For any donation, of any size, you’ll get a DVD copy of the film when it’s finished, a big credit thanking you for believing in the production and invitations to any and all screenings up and down the country when we (hopefully) get it into short film festivals.
I must admit, I feel like a bit of a heel promoting the film so much and trying to entice people to donate but it’s a necessity. I’m not going to spam people or twist their arm into donating, I only ask for donations people can absolutely afford, and I try to do it all with my tongue firmly in my cheek. If I were a guy with a clipboard, I’d be one of those polite, friendly but not too pushy ones. The type of person you can happily wave off without wishing they’d just go away and die. You might even want to chat to me and hear what I’ve got to say, and we’d have a lovely conversation about the film and you might well decide it was worthy of your hard earned cash.
We’ve had a couple of backers already and their generosity is astounding. It means a lot to me people have such belief in the project and are willing to support it.
If we can raise the money needed or even go over that target, we’ll be able to make a much better, more organised and well developed film. More importantly for me, I’ll be able to see an idea I’m so passionate about come to life. Who knows, it could be the kick start of my career as a filmmaker and I’d owe it all to you.
Please donate to ‘Laughter of the World’ if you believe in independent film and those people struggling to make movies without big budgets and, of course, if you can afford do so. If you are unable to donate, if you could help spread the word and get ‘Laughter of the World’ out there, it’d be just as appreciated. I would be eternally grateful for your support.
Thank you for your time,
Chip Thompson
Writer/Director of ‘Laughter of the World’
Crowd Funding for Laughter of the World
HEY MAN, I’M WRITING THIS IN BIG BOLD LETTERS SO YOU CAN SEE IT. ONE ARTICLE FOR YOU SIR ABOUT THE FILM. FIRSTLY, HERE’S THE LINK TO THE FUNDING PAGE:
http://www.sponsume.com/project/laughter-world
AND HERE’S THE ARTICLE. FEEL FREE TO CHANGE ANYTHING YOU SEE FIT WITH YOUR EDITORIAL POWERS.
I feel like one of those people you see on the street holding a clipboard, with a large, false grin plastered on their face. The sort of person you cross heavy traffic to avoid because you know exactly what they’re going to ask of you. You’re aware of their pitch, the subtle amount of guilt they lay on you and how desperately they try to convince you that it’s just a few pounds per month to save a starving family in the third world.
I feel like one of these people.
However, there are many differences. The money I raise won’t be going to any big corporation, nor will I be taking a commission or a cut. Every penny I make will be going towards the budget of my short film ‘Laughter of the World’.
Ok, maybe it’s not as noble a cause as trying to raise money for the poor or the sick but I do believe donating to independent short films is a worthy cause none the less.
‘Laughter of the World’ is a short, dark satire that takes iconic characters from the early days of cinema and transports them into the harsh reality of the modern world with horrible consequences, and it’s all shot in the style of a 1920’s silent film.
I wrote the script a few years back and it wasn’t until a few months ago that I put it into production. I’ve shot a third of the film already, financed out of my own pocket and I was very happy with the results. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to finish the film due to lack of funds.
Someone on Twitter suggested I should try crowd funding and linked me to sponsume.com, a crowd funding site for projects that need help getting off the ground. It’s free to sign up, free to post projects and they only take 4% of the money you raise. You also get to keep all the money pledged, even if you don’t reach your target. So I signed up and ‘Laughter of the World’ is now a project that anyone can donate to!
For any donation, of any size, you’ll get a DVD copy of the film when it’s finished, a big credit thanking you for believing in the production and invitations to any and all screenings up and down the country when we (hopefully) get it into short film festivals.
I must admit, I feel like a bit of a heel promoting the film so much and trying to entice people to donate but it’s a necessity. I’m not going to spam people or twist their arm into donating, I only ask for donations people can absolutely afford, and I try to do it all with my tongue firmly in my cheek. If I were a guy with a clipboard, I’d be one of those polite, friendly but not too pushy ones. The type of person you can happily wave off without wishing they’d just go away and die. You might even want to chat to me and hear what I’ve got to say, and we’d have a lovely conversation about the film and you might well decide it was worthy of your hard earned cash.
We’ve had a couple of backers already and their generosity is astounding. It means a lot to me people have such belief in the project and are willing to support it.
If we can raise the money needed or even go over that target, we’ll be able to make a much better, more organised and well developed film. More importantly for me, I’ll be able to see an idea I’m so passionate about come to life. Who knows, it could be the kick start of my career as a filmmaker and I’d owe it all to you.
Please donate to ‘Laughter of the World’ if you believe in independent film and those people struggling to make movies without big budgets and, of course, if you can afford do so. If you are unable to donate, if you could help spread the word and get ‘Laughter of the World’ out there, it’d be just as appreciated. I would be eternally grateful for your support.
Thank you for your time,
Chip Thompson
Writer/Director of ‘Laughter of the World’
Down With Film 