Q&A: Seed&Spark raises $1 million for indie-film 'wedding registry'

Emily Best, CEO of Seed&Spark

"A lot of us in the digital distribution space really feel like we’re in it together to figure this out," says Emily Best, CEO of indie-film crowdfunding and distribution platform Seed&Spark.

So Seed&Spark is both a crowdfunding platform and a distribution platform.

There’s two really important components. The first is that indie film often lives and dies by what the filmmaking team can get for free. And the second is that the making of the film is not the point — it’s getting it seen. So we built a couple of aspects into the crowdfunding platform that I think are particularly respectful of those desires. The team that we’ve assembled is almost entirely indie filmmakers first and tech startup folks second.

How does the crowdfunding component work?

The crowdfunding platform works like a wedding registry, which is to say filmmakers actually list the individual items they need: sun spray, sunscreen, camera, car rentals, costumes. Crafty is really a popular item for people to fund. The community can contribute money toward those items or loan them to the project directly.

One of the things it does is it changes the way filmmakers structure their financial outreach. It helps them build a stronger filmmaking community. It also allows community members who may not understand how they can be helpful to a project understand their impact. “I’m not giving $5 into a $50,000 pot — I’m giving a can of sunscreen that’s almost entirely shooting outside, and I can see the utility of my involvement.”

The crowdfunding also doesn’t force you to stop building audiences once a campaign is closed, so you can continue to gather followers for the lifetime of the film, who earn site rewards points called Sparks every time they fund, follow or share your project. Those Sparks are spent to watch streaming of completed films on the cinema platform.

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