by Jayce Bartok | Published January 11, 2013

Welcome to Just Crowdfund the $&*# Movie!, MovieMaker‘s new blog where indie moviemaker Jayce Bartok talks about the dos and don’ts of crowdfunding from the trenches of his own crowdfunding campaign. Have a question for Jayce about his movie,Tiny Dancer, or just crowdfunding in general? Ask away at [email protected].

I have no apostrophe function on my laptop, as my adorable son spilled coffee on my Mac Book Pro (insert deafening scream here). Combine that with the holidays, and its been a while since Ive blogged [sic]. Nonetheless, it’s time to kick 2013 into gear with a huge announcement for us: Tiny Dancer is finally going into production in May 2013!  After what will have been two years of blogging about our journey to make this film, we are doing it. Oh, and we’re changing the title to Fall To Rise, which comes from the famous Martha Graham quote, I only fall to rise (I have no quotation marks, either). I love that quote. Very appropriate for us filmmaker types.

Anyway, you may all have some questions, now. So, let me start with the title change. Tiny Dancer always felt very cute and quirky to me, and in the years we’ve been working on the film, the project has gotten more serious—as is obvious in the film’s trailer. Oh, and it references an Elton John song. And we’ve been writing and saying the title for years! As many of you know, though, we’ve spent a lot of time building the Tiny Dancer brand. At this late date, by changing the title we risk losing the name recognition, and accordingly, the fan base we’ve built through sweat and tears—not to mention blood. That said, Fall to Rise suits the film better, and we’re committed to the new moniker.

The second question you might be asking is, how are you finally getting the film made? Well, if you remember, we’ve raised $40,000 through crowdfunding and micro investments. But recently, we got a huge bump from The Baryshnikov Arts Center, who is giving us five days of space to shoot all our performance scenes, essentially saving our film like, um, $10,000. Since we believe we can make Fall To Rise for $60,000, we just need to raise $10,000 more. In other words, we’re finally close enough to move into full pre-production mode.

How are we going to bridge that $10,000 gap? Stay tuned over the next weeks and months to find out! You’re about to get an insider’s view of the making of a truly independent, crowdfunded film. Should be fun, right?

Jayce Bartok is an actor and moviemaker who runs Vinyl Foote Productions from Brooklyn with his wife Tiffany. Currently, you can see him on USA’s “White Collar” and in the just-released film, Why Stop Now? opposite Melissa Leo, and Price Check both of which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Follow The Independent Collective at twitter.com/ticnyc to stay updated on the Fall to Risecrowdfunding campaign.

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