When it comes to crowd funding, it’s not about what your film is about, but why.
Filmmakers, you’ve been lied to. Film school has taught you to pitch the WHAT about your project — WHAT is the story, WHAT is the cast, WHAT are the target group for the film etc — but the WHAT is not the most important element when it comes to crowdfunding. The WHY is! You see it comes down to your likability on camera. ‘But I’m cool and I’m a great filmmaker’ I hear you say. While that’s good for you, that’s not why people want to engage with your crowdfunding campaign.
More people will support something that is important to them, something that matters to them. Whether you are doing a drama, a comedy, a sci-fi project, or a documentary on environmental changes, more people will support you if you tell them WHY it matters that you make the film and therefore WHY it matters to them. You have to smitten your audience and become an ambassador for your own film.
Having run eleven crowdfunding campaigns, I can tell you this from my own experience — People don’t support WHAT you do, people support WHY you do it.