Film
How do you fund a short film or documentary?
Budget shoot days, crew, gear and post production, show a teaser, and offer credits, premiere tickets and set visits. Backers get rewards, not shares.
Short answer
Count the shoot days first, because each one pays the crew, the gear, the location and the food. Add post production, music and festival entries, and that is your goal. Show a teaser so backers can see the film, and offer rewards like a credit in the end titles, a premiere ticket or a day on set. If the full budget is out of reach, fund the shoot now and the edit later. If the goal is met you claim the funds; if not, every backer takes their pledge back.
Key facts
- One campaign for one film: a story, a goal, a deadline and up to five reward tiers.
- Sign up with email or Google. No production company, no approval queue.
- Backers get rewards, never a share of the film, its sales or any financial return.
- All or nothing: pledges wait in escrow until the deadline, so set it before your first shoot day.
- Cast, crew and fans who share your link can earn up to 18.5% of each pledge they bring in.
- Each pledge pays 1.5% plus a flat $0.99.
What does a short film cost?
Shoot days drive it. Every day on set pays people, gear, a place and food, so cutting a day is the biggest saving there is.
- Crew: camera, sound and anyone else you pay by the day.
- Cast: the actors' fees, even on a short.
- Gear: camera, lenses, lights and sound kit you rent.
- Locations: fees, and permits where you need them.
- Food and travel: everyone on set eats, every day.
- Post production: the edit, colour grading, the sound mix and subtitles.
- Music: a composer, or a licence for a track.
- Festivals: entry fees for the ones you send it to.
A documentary moves the weight: a smaller crew, more shoot days spread over months, and a much longer edit.
How big should the goal be?
The whole budget from first shoot day to festival entries, plus a margin. Say a ten minute fiction short over four shoot days:
Crew $1,600; cast $600; gear rental $800; locations and permits $400; food for 12 people over four days, about $500; post production $1,200; music $400; festival entries $300. That is $5,800, so a goal of about $6,500 leaves room for fees and a reshoot.
If that is out of reach, fund one stage at a time: the shoot now, then post production in a second campaign once you have footage to show. The fee calculator shows what reaches you from any goal.
What rewards work for a film?
Ones that put the backer close to the film:
- A thank you credit in the end titles.
- A private link to watch it, sent after its festival run.
- A ticket to the premiere screening.
- The poster or the script, signed by the cast.
- A day on set, or a place as an extra.
- A video message from the director.
- An associate producer credit for the top tier: a credit only, never a share.
Some festivals ask for a film that hasn't been shown online, so promise the private link after the festival run, not on the day you finish. The smallest pledge is $10, and a campaign takes up to five tiers.
Should you launch before the shoot or after it?
Before, if you need the money to film; after, if the shoot is paid and you need post production. After is easier to sell, because people can see footage.
Launching before the shoot, the deadline has to land before you pay the crew and the rental house: the funds reach you only after the deadline, and only if the goal is met. Make a teaser either way: a mood reel, a scene from rehearsal or a minute of interview.
Who backs a short film?
The cast's and crew's own circles, first. Everyone on the film knows people who want to see it made.
Ask each of them to post the link, and switch on the share reward: you set it from nothing up to 18.5% of each pledge, paid by the program to whoever shared it, in the same transaction. Then reach the community the film is about: a documentary on a village, a craft or a cause has an audience before it exists. Adding the place where you shoot as the campaign's location is optional, and tells local people the film is theirs too.
What does CoFunders charge?
Writing and previewing a campaign is free. Opening it costs $5 on the free plan, and each pledge pays 1.5% plus a flat $0.99. The share reward you set comes out of the pledge too.
The percentage fee on a pledge follows the plan of the account making it. It's taken when the pledge is made, so it isn't returned if the campaign misses its goal. Paid plans aren't on sale today, so the published fee is the free plan's fee.
Every fee is on the pricing page.
What if the goal is missed?
If the goal isn't met by the deadline, you take your pledge back from escrow with one tap, and nobody has to approve it. What comes back is the amount held for you: your pledge minus the fees taken when you backed (the platform fee, the flat fee, any tip and any share reward the campaign pays).
For a film, that means nobody pays for a shoot that can't happen. Come back smaller: fewer shoot days, a tighter script, or the shoot alone with the edit to follow.
How do you start?
Start with a draft while you cut the teaser: writing and previewing it costs nothing.
- Sign up in the app with email or Google.
- Write the story of the film, the goal, the deadline and the rewards.
- Set the share reward and publish.
- Send the link to the whole cast and crew the same day, and ask each of them to post it.
How to raise money for your idea, from the free course, covers the steps around it. Everything you can fund has a guide for each kind of project, and every other question is in the answers.