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Africa starts crowdsourcing finance for films – maybe local TV programmes should follow

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Africa starts crowdsourcing finance for films – maybe local TV programmes should follow
Africa has begun to join in the fun on crowdsourcing some of the funding for feature films. Crowdsourcing is getting lots of small contributions from individuals that taken together can make up a good chunk of change. Furthermore it connects the film to the audience at pre-production stage. Russell Southwood and Sylvain Beletre look at how it might improve film finance and speculate on whether it could do the same for local TV programmes. Despite Nollywood being in the top 3 of the largest film industries in the world, Africa's total contribution to the international film economy is almost negligible compared to Hollywood and Bollywood. In the 50 years since independence, film production has not been seen as a priority for most African nations: at least at a rhetorical level, things like improving health, security and infrastructure building have seemed more important than support for making films. Apart from Nollywood, the larger film producing African countries tend to be those where there is an element of Government support: countries in this category include Kenya, Morocco, Burkina Faso to a certain extent and prominently South Africa (and Egypt in the old days). However, the financial turnover of Africa’s film industries tends to be relatively modest in international terms. The Nigeria and the South African governments have seriously begun to think about how their film industry might start to become a significant export force. But one major challenge faced by African film-makers and producers can best be illustrated by comparing Hollywood revenue sources and expenditure to those made by Nollywood producers. The Hollywood studios spend heavily on both production and marketingdistribution so that they can maximize a film’s performance in a relatively short period of time. In this short period covering cinema and home video release, the

film will make the majority of its revenues. It is a different story with African films where cinema box office revenues are almost non-existent and where VCD/DVD releases struggle to provide the majority of revenues in Africa’s pirate infested waters. What has changed over the last 10 years is the arrival of the Internet to help film makers. This could offer a lifeline for the African film industry, as it can positively help three of the steps needed to make a film financially successful: funding, production, and distribution. With more fibre delivery, new satellite DTH solutions and some lower priced internet broadband services becoming available across the African continent, film makers have started to use the internet to make their films a success. Crowdsourcing allows a film-maker to pitch his or her idea and in exchange for some modest benefits to raise funding for it. This is not going to float Hollywood blockbuster budgets but for more modestly budgeted film projects, it can form one leg of a three-legged funding stool that might include donations, sponsorship and public funding. Also if you have a film idea that can raise either significant numbers of donors (however small) or significant sums of money, this might help persuade other sources of funding to come in. One example of successful crowdsourcing is The Good Man, a low budget feature film set between Northern Ireland and South Africa. Manifesto Films is set to commence principal photography. The project has also received funding from Northern Ireland Screen, a public funding agency for film. Filmed on location in Belfast and South Africa, the plot weaves together the two interconnecting stories of Michael, an up-and-coming Belfast banker wracked with guilt after causing a stranger’s death in an accident, and Sifiso, a young South African man growing up in the townships. The film is produced by Susan Picken, Director of the Queen's Film Theatre (QFT) in Belfast and is written and directed by Phil Harrison whose recent short, Even Gods, won the Best Irish Short Film and the Audience Award for Best Irish Short Film at the Cork Film Festival in November 2011.

South African directors Jordan Harland and Tyron Janse van Vuuren have both used the IndieGoGo website site to raise money for their film projects. Visitors to the site are given a brief plot summary of the movie and are able to make contributions anywhere from as small as $1. In the African context, there is clearly a trust issue: sending off money to someone you’ve never heard of to finance a film sounds like the perfect Nigerian 419 scam. But provided individuals can demonstrate that they are what they say they are, this opens a new route for film funding. There are also film funding bodies who can help weed out the unscrupulous. But why stop with films? Africa really needs good locally made TV programmes. These need both good creative ideas and money. Africa’s TV broadcasters are in the main risk-averse and would prefer to buy cheaper telenovelas or Nollywood than invest in their own programming. Indeed, some actually run their broadcast stations like a taxi firm: you pay for airtime to show your programme. A good crowdsourcing site outside of South Africa might raise both the level of the creative pool of ideas and finance. Any takers?

Summary Africa has begun to join in the fun on crowdsourcing some of the funding for feature films. Crowdsourcing is getting lots of small contributions from individuals that taken together can make up a good chunk of change. Furthermore it connects the film to the audience at pre-production stage. Russell Southwood and Sylvain Beletre look at how it might improve film finance and speculate on whether it could do the same for local TV programmes.

Description Crowdsourcing allows a film-maker to pitch his or her idea and in exchange for some modest benefits to raise funding for it. This is not going to float Hollywood blockbuster budgets but for more modestly budgeted film projects, it can form one leg of a three-legged funding stool that might include donations, sponsorship and public funding. Also if you have a film idea that can raise either significant numbers of donors (however small) or significant sums of money, this might help persuade other sources of funding to come in.

Tags: Africa, Crowdfunding, Crowdsourcing, filmmakers, Nigeria, Nollywood, South African, TV programmes

Posted by Fiona Mares

Feb 05, 2012 08:19 pm GMT Viewed 1760 times

Author: balancingact - afrcia.com Source

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Africa starts crowdsourcing finance for films – maybe local TV programmes should follow

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