David Lilley, the brains behind Broadway Cinema's bi-monthly Short Stack short film night, is looking to raise £5,000 through a Kickstarter campaign for his new film Socks & Robbers. Our Screen Editor, Ash Carter, talked to him about the project...
Tell me a bit about the film...
Socks and Robbers is a short gangster heist film where the robbers have Sock Puppets for heads. Think Reservoir Dogs meets The Muppets. The film takes place in a bank just as it is being robbed, but what 3 of the 4 robbers don’t know is that one of them is an undercover cop sent to infiltrate the gang and catch them in the act. We’re blending VFX with live action puppetry to create something very original and visually stunning.
Who else is involved in the project?
I’m working with a dream team of talent. I’ve got Jenn Day producing the film, Jenn has many years working as an actor and as a casting director and is stepping up to produce her first film. Karl Poyzer is the DoP, Karl is one of the go-to talents in the country and a highly sought after DoP. Alex Withers, coming off the back of working on several feature films, is AD and Simon Dymond, one of the East Midlands' brightest Short and Music Video directing talents is Editing. I’ve also got a great team of NTU graduates working on the design for the film.
What made you decide to crowdfund?
We need to crowdfund for a couple of reasons. The main ones are to do with the VFX and the set build. Socks and Robbers is an ambitious project, we have got the turn the Nottingham Council House grand ballroom into a believable bank and also we’ve got to turn 4 actors into believable sock-headed bank robbers through the magic of VFX. Sadly, this all comes at a cost that we cannot avoid without support. However, one thing is for sure, every penny invested is going straight up on the screen and investors will see where their money went when they watch the film.
What can people get by backing you?
There are several perks on offer. You can be in a draw to win one of the sock puppets, you have the chance to attend the cast and crew screening, visit the set, get to see the video online before it’s publically released and, best of all, the director will personally name a pair of his own socks after you.
It’s very hard to stand out which is why I have deliberately waited until I had the right project before launching a campaign.
How will the money be spent?
The money will be spent on the set build for the interior of the bank and also on the lengthy VFX production. We will use the money to cover cast and crew fees and expenses and ensure everyone is fed and watered during the shoot. We also need to ensure the project is fully insured.
What made you take the risk of going with Kickstarter over the flexible funding option available with Indiegogo?
We wanted to go with Kickstarter as it’s a bigger platform than Indiegogo. I was in favour of going for the all or nothing approach as it shows you have faith in your project. We also ensured we kept our funding goal as low as possible so as not to overstretch ourselves.
How is the campaign going so far?
The campaign is going very well so far. At the time of writing this, we’re 9 days in and have raised £1,101 of our £5000 target. We’ve got 26 days to go and a big chunk to raise, so we still need as much support as we can get.
How hard is it to stand out when there are so many crowdfunding campaigns?
It’s very hard to stand out which is why I have deliberately waited until I had the right project before launching a campaign. I think Socks and Robbers is a campaign people will want to get behind primarily because they want to see the film. This is why I’m making the film, I want to see this film myself.
What have been the biggest challenges so far with the campaign?
The biggest challenge is getting the word out to people outside of our circle of friends and family. Our friends and family have been great and got us off to a fantastic start. We need now to connect with those people who don’t know us but would love to help us out.
What else can people do to help support the project?
All we need people to do is spread the word. We’ve got lots of amazing content already on our Facebook and Twitter pages and we want people to show the world what we’re doing as we cannot deliver this awesome film without the support and generosity of the people out there. Get backing!
Socks and Robbers on Kickstarter
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