Many filmmakers have felt the pain of failing to raise money for a short or feature film, and often give up on their ambition, but here’s why crowdfunding failure matters.
First of all, any film or creative project, no matter the genre, has to earn the creator a monetary return, otherwise the filmmaking itself is unaffordable. Beyond the money aspect, crowdfunding is the first step towards a market test to determine a film project’s credibility in the eyes of the viewers. If money can’t be raised through a crowdfunding campaign, then it could mean several things:
Firstly, failure to raise any money for a project could suggest that the presentation of it is not appealing to the audience being targeted. Secondly, it could mean that the audience isn’t big enough, or that the genre is so obscure that it’s not going to make a return, or there are only a select few that will back it. Thirdly, failure to get enough supporters could simply mean that the marketing isn’t strong enough, or the communication of the project hasn’t reached a wide enough net of potential backers and these are all valuable lessons to be applied to the next round.