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SALT LAKE CITY -- A new website is helping fund ambitious projects and ideas by allowing people to donate to a cause without much risk. Creators also offer rewards based on the amount of the pledge.
Utah filmmaker Richard Dutcher is using Kickstarter to fund part of his movie called "Triptych."
He explained,"I'm asking for a minimum of $7,000 from you Kickstarters so that I can complete, what I believe, will be a very important and one-of-a-kind film."
Dutcher makes big-budget movies, as well as independent films like this one. Raising money for his small pictures has always been difficult.
"It's not the kind of movie that people line up to go see," he said.
Nevertheless, Dutcher needed help getting money for one of his movie's three segments that all revolve around spirituality. So he decided to try out Kickstarter, a website that connects creators and people looking to donate. Dutcher's fans came through big time.
"Hey let's do this," said donor Bianca Morrison. "I was like, ‘Hey Davey, I'm going to give Richard Dutcher $100. Is that OK?' And he was like yep!"
Another donor, John Rotolo, explained, "I did it to support Richard. I don't need anything back from Richard. I just want to see this film reach mainstream and become a success for him."
Dutcher set his project goal at $7,000 by the end of 30 days. He reached that total in 48 hours.
"It was honestly just a lot of fun," Dutcher said. "When we crossed the minimum I was just sitting at my computer smiling and laughing, because raising money is never that much fun."
Here's how it works. Kickstarter has to approve your project. Then you set your goal, time limit and rewards.
For instance, Dutcher is giving $25 donors DVDs of his past movies. Donating $100 gets you two tickets to the premiere of "Triptych," and a $1,000 donation earns you an executive producer credit on the film.
If the minimum goal isn't met by the allotted time, none of the money exchanges hands.
Dutcher explained, "It's the kind of thing that couldn't have been done 10 or 15 years ago because, I mean the way I did it was I put it up, then I went to Facebook and just put the link on Facebook and asked everyone to spread that around to their friends."
It's truly changing the game for independent creators who need to "kickstart" their project. "Triptych's" funding period ends Nov. 1. There's no limit to how much can be raised.
E-mail: ngonzales@ksl.com
