Using the Internet to Finance Indie Films

This coming week's edition of Variety has a piece I wrote on filmmakers and entrepreneurs trying to turn the Net into a tool for film financing. The opening:

Howard Dean managed to fuel his 2004 presidential campaign by inviting small donors to send him contributions over the Internet.

Now, an array of filmmakers and entrepreneurs are exploring the same approach to raise a production budget for an indie pic.

The tactic's been tried since the early days of the Internet, but a fresh crop of entrepreneurs thinks the time could finally be ripe.

Among the sites I focus on:

- DrinkMePictures.com
- CinemaShares
- A Swarm of Angels
- IndieGoGo (formerly Project Keiyaku)
- Make A Movie Happen!, from Stuart Acher
- Robert Greenwald's 'Iraq for Sale'
- MovieShares (now defunct)
- The 1 Second Film (not mentioned, but worth a look)