To Hell with Hollywood

An old college friend of mine isn't playing by studio rules. At least for right now. Award-winning filmmaker Mike Flanagan decided to get his horror flick "Absentia" made the old fashioned indie way. By maxing out credit cards and begging anyone he'd ever met for a little scratch.

And it worked, thanks in large part to the brilliant social marketing effort he and his cast set up using a one-click funding campaign on Kickstarter. You'll also find the trailer for his film there.

Posting hilarious video appeals from cast and crew to YouTube, shucking n' jiving his Facebook network, and pulling together a pretty fine list of quid pro quo items for those who donated, Mike managed to raise over $23,000 to fund his film. By the way, his goal was $15,000.

A total of 375 people ponied up. In return, Mike and crew gave away everything from autographed screenplays to walk-on roles depending on the amount donated.

Here's Mike's first appeal:


And the rest live here:
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Not bad for a guy whose film came in second to mine in the 1999 Towson University Media Arts Festival. Still stings doesn't it, Flanagan?