Crowd Scene | Crowdfunding Success Stories

In this episode we’re talking with Ivan Mactaggart, the producer of the hotly-anticipated movie “Loving Vincent” to find out more about its unique production and how exactly it got funded. Have you ever looked at a painting and wondered what would happen if it came to life? What would the portraits say if they could tell their story? That’s what the Oscar-winning creators of “Loving Vincent” had in mind when they decided to make a film about Vincent Van Gogh. This is no ordinary film though – the team behind it are creating the world’s first feature film where every single frame is an oil painting. Having already secured a grant for the movie, the team turned to Kickstarter to raise enough to begin production. In 24 days they raised £53,000 – about $75,000 – from 800 backers. Check out crowdsceneshow.com for the show notes.

This is part 2 of our conversation with filmmaker and crowdfunder Denny Tedesco. Denny has a direct link to some of the greatest pop music ever recorded. Throughout the 50s and 60s, a group of session musicians in Los Angeles – known as The Wrecking Crew – became the go-to musicians for producers and musicians including Elvis Presley, Ella Fitzgerald, the Beach Boys and dozens (if not hundreds) of others. Their phenomenal contribution to pop music was largely uncredited by record labels who may have been too embarrassed to put the same names on so many records. At the centre of The Wrecking Crew was guitarist Tommy Tedesco and in this episode we’re talking with his son Denny who directed and produced an incredible documentary that tells the whole story. Denny released his documentary – also titled “The Wrecking Crew” – back in 2008 and it did fantastically well in film festivals around the world. But to release the film to wider audience he needed to raise enough money to pay the licensing fees for the 120 classic songs featured in the film. Even after receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations, he was still short. So Denny turned to Kickstarter in 2013 to raise a further quarter of a million dollars to cover the rest of the fees. Happily, more than 4,000 music-loving backers shared his vision...

Our guest on this edition of Crowd Scene has a direct link to some of the greatest pop music ever recorded. Throughout the 50s and 60s, a group of session musicians in Los Angeles – known as The Wrecking Crew – became the go-to musicians for producers and musicians including Elvis Presley, Ella Fitzgerald, the Beach Boys and dozens (if not hundreds) of others. Their phenomenal contribution to pop music was largely uncredited by record labels who may have been too embarrassed to put the same names on so many records. At the centre of The Wrecking Crew was guitarist Tommy Tedesco and in this episode we’re talking with his son Denny who directed and produced an incredible documentary that tells the whole story. Denny released his documentary – also titled “The Wrecking Crew” – back in 2008 and it did fantastically well in film festivals around the world. But to release the film to wider audience he needed to raise enough money to pay the licensing fees for the 120 classic songs featured in the film. Even after receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations, he was still short. So Denny turned to Kickstarter in 2013 to raise a further quarter of a million dollars to cover the rest of the fees. Happily, more than 4,000 music-loving backers shared his vision...

We're off on our summer vacations here, but we have some more great shows lined up for August, including conversations with Ivan McTaggart, the producer of the forthcoming movie 'Loving Vincent' – as well as Noam Bar Yohai, creative extraordinaire, who leveraged the trend for adult colouring books and raised a small fortune on Kickstarter. Check back soon for these inspiring guests and many more.