One advantage that we had with our IndieGoGo campaign this past January was a sense of urgency.  IndieGoGo campaigns (like Kickstarter) make it very clear how long someone has to raise a certain amount of funding.  It’s almost like the finish line is highlighted in neon with  loud alarm bells ringing.  While we didn’t reach our goal on IndieGoGo, we were still able to get the funds that we raised on there. Instead of doing another campaign on IndieGoGo we decided to create our own website to continue our crowd funding.  Why did we do that? By creating our own website and means to accept contributions we could use all of the money that people give us instead of having to give a percentage back.  Kickstarter, IndieGoGo and other sites like them take a portion of the total funds raised.  The one major disadvantage with using our own website is that the sense of urgency has gone away.

We’ve now put a countdown clock on our site to show you how long we have left to raise the needed funds.  Our goal of $38,000 is how much it’s going to cost to shoot through DCI Finals, (the World Championship of drum corps) which will be the final performance of the 2012 Madison Scouts.  This will be the climax of our film.  The 150 young men that make up the Madison Scouts will never be back together in the same place, and will never perform that show again.  It’s all been building up to this point and we can’t stop shooting now.  We’ve severely trimmed back our shooting schedule and budget.  We originally estimated that our shooting costs would be $88,000.  Our production total is now less than half of that.  Mainly because almost all the crew members are volunteering their time now.  They believe in what we are doing, believe in the Madison Scouts organization, and want the world to see this terrific activity called drum and bugle corps that teaches so many life lessons to young people today.

Again, our biggest expenses are travel (airfare, rental cars, gas, transporting gear, etc.).  I wish we could find a way to get all these things for free, but these businesses aren’t going to give us these things.  We’ve had a few people reach out to us with hotel reward points, and frequent flyer miles.  These gifts help our crew so much! If you think you might have a way to help us, or have a friend who might be able to assist us with discounts please let us know.

Meanwhile, check out our production checklist which has been updated with our final shooting costs.  We lay out all of our expenses for you to see.  Team up with some co-workers, family members or friends to cover a specific item.  Send a note to us with your contribution that states which item you want to cover and we’ll put your name or names under the item on our checklist.

This project is really starting to take shape, but we can’t complete it without help from you.

Thank you,

Mac (and Tom)