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Infographic: SXSW 2013

Did the Big Guys Crowd Out the Crowd Funders? (And Other Burning Questions…)

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I’ll admit that, while I consider myself a film fan, I really don’t know much about film festivals. How are the films chosen? Are there formulas? Trends? What type of filmmakers get accepted? Specifically: Do crowd funded, totally obscure indie films really stand a chance, when $200,000 is considered “Ultra Low Budget” for Hollywood films entering the same festivals?

The upcoming SXSW Film Festival seemed like a perfect opportunity to do a little research. I spent a few days poring over the SXSW website to gather what data I could before wrestling with Google to fill in the missing pieces.

Here are my findings in a whimsical infographic…

 

SXSW Film Fest Infographic Final

Notable findings:

  • Regional Differences in Crowd Funding – While San Francisco and Los Angeles tended to use crowd funding to raise large amounts for a few, select projects, New York and Austin used crowd funding much more frequently and for smaller amounts.
  • Kickstarter vs. Indiegogo – Kickstarter seems to be the preferred site by far for indie filmmakers. One filmmaking team (“I Am Divine”) used both Kickstarter and Indiegogo, but this was rare, with most teams choosing to use one or the other.
  • Themes – A few popular themes surfaced among the SXSW films – Strange/eccentric people (12 films), Punk rock (7 films), Nerds (6 films), and People making movies about themselves (5 films).

 

Additions – It was pointed out to me that Austin actor Jonny Mars will also appear in four films this year: Computer Chess, Good Night, Pit Stop, and A Teacher.