Andrew Jenner Discusses Crowdfunding for Film

Film Title: The Mirror

Length: 12:20

Status: Premiered at Rogers Short Film Festival

Shooting Location: Arkansas, USA

Logline: A loser cop finds himself as the last line of defense against a murderous sniper trying to free his serial killer partner.

Actor Jasper Mize as Chris 

There are pros and cons to every type of film funding. We caught up with Writer/Producer Andrew Jenner, who recently premiered his short film The Mirror at the Rogers Short Film Festival in Arkansas, to talk about the process of crowd funding an action short film set in rural Arkansas.

Planning to crowd fund a short film? Learn from Andrew's experience, and check out their crowdfunding page on GoFundMe.

How did you fund your short film, The Mirror? 

Andrew Jenner: We started a GoFundMe to collect the "get out of bed" costs to get the ball rolling. After that, it was all split up between myself and our director/producer, Ben Harrison, to cover post-production costs.

Did you have film funding in place before writing, or get funding together after you wrote the script? 

[AJ]: We had a very polished script finished by the time we started talking about budget and funding options, but I always write with budget in mind, so we already had a good ballpark of what we would need.

What are some of the pros about crowdfunding for film? The cons? 

[AJ]: There are way more fees associated with a crowdsourcing campaign than we realized. Which do eventually add up. When you're on set and buying lunch for everyone, it's hard not to think of all the money spent on transaction fees to an online platform.

The biggest benefits to a popular crowdsourcing website like GoFundMe is that it is incredibly intuitive and simple to pass around a link among your family. Instantly, we started getting support from our non-tech savvy family members that wanted to support us, so that was a really great boon early on to get that energy going. We felt so indebted to our fundraising team that we commissioned my very talented sister-in-law (artist Emma Wise) to create a custom thank you note that we mailed out. Considering that it would be a while before most of them saw the movie, we wanted them to feel our love reciprocated.

Actor Taylor Holbert as The Killer 

Did you learn anything when it comes to crowd funding and budgeting that you will do differently on your next project? 

[AJ]: Yes, we quickly found out that we had way more beneficial options than a big crowdsourcing platform full of fees. So, going forward, we will be using a local film fund that has a 501(c)(3) status and will allow people to make tax-deductible contributions to the film, circumventing the fees we had to pay to the third-party platform. 

What is your long-term vision for the project? 

[AJ]: Ideally, we would love to use the short as a proof of concept to attract some producers to fund a feature-length version that would allow us more time to delve into the characters and build out the situation better. I like to think of it as "smoothing out" some of the rough edges you have to make peace with when making a short film. 

Were there any areas where you were able to call in favors/save money? What were those areas?

[AJ]: Movies at this scale live and die on favors. Our locations were found through a lifelong friend, as well as the titular pit dug for the movie. Actually renting an excavator and doing it ourselves wouldn't have been possible with our budget range. My advice to other filmmakers is to be explicit about your needs and get your feelers out early. We found our set parking because our director had used it before on another shoot, and luckily, the land owner was a cool dude. So yeah, be cool and gracious to the people who go out of their way to make your silly little movie happen. 

Actress Raeden Greer as Layla 

Did you get any budget or expense surprises that you weren’t expecting? 

[AJ]: We were filming out in the country, and our lavatory situation fell through at the last second. Luckily, port-o-potty companies are happy to take your money, but that last-minute need could have gone south so fast. But, it's our job to make the environment as supportive to creativity as possible, so in the end, all these incidental expenses are worth it. 

Any fun anecdotes you'd like to share? 

[AJ]: Our big shoot days were a Saturday & Sunday. Saturday was clear and beautiful, but a huge rainstorm was coming Saturday night, and we had already dug the pit on Saturday. So, our biggest fear was coming to set on Sunday morning to a pit full of water that we needed our actors to spend the day in. The solution was to borrow two massive tarps from my father (love you, Dad) and completely cover and line the pit. This took about an hour and it required a number of us, but it was totally worth it to weigh down and partially bury the tarps because on Sunday, when we pulled in at sunrise and removed the tarp, the pit was bone dry and ready for our actors to work their magic. It was a win that we absolutely couldn't have lost. 

What do you think people will be interested in knowing that I haven't asked?

[AJ]: Just how supportive every single person in our crew was along the way. If anyone had a problem, there would be an army of eager hands ready to assist in any way possible. It made things run so smoothly and let us all have a blast. I loved every second of it. 

Thanks for sharing, Andrew! Can't wait to learn more about the journey of this project.

Writer/Producer Andrew Jenner, Cinematographer Hayden Morris, and director Ben Harrison in a production meeting

About Andrew Jenner

Andrew Jenner is a Queer screenwriter from Arkansas that specializes in cathartic action stories about love and loss. Between playing bass in a metal band for a decade, working on the family walnut tree farm, and getting his Master of Accounting from the University of Arkansas, Andrew has always related to stories of outsiders facing adversity only to rise to the occasion through sheer willpower and hard work. His scripts have placed in multiple competitions, including a quarterfinalist placement at the Austin Film Festival for The Squire.