Crowdsourcing pays off for Merseyside filmmakers

A TEAM of Merseyside filmmakers has crowdsourced £10,000 to start work on a Star Wars-inspired feature film.

Alan Donohoe and Jamie Williamson, who studied film and television at Edge Hill, and producer Laura Purcell, promoted their film on the US-based crowdsourcing site Indiegogo.

‘I Have A Bad Feeling About This’ features Andy and Sam, two Star Wars-obsessed slackers in their early twenties who are in search of tickets to a one-off showing of the original Star Wars trilogy.

Their pitch promised various incentives to those who backed the idea, from a mention in the film’s credits for £6.50, to a walk on role as an extra for £300.

It created a considerable amount of interest and was noticed by Mark Hamill who played Luke Skywalker in the original films. He tweeted about the project to his fans.

Ms Purcell said: “Endorsements from famous people in the film industry are a fantastic way to spread the word about our film and help will help us to market the film to distributers.

“Once the film is complete we plan to show it on the smaller independent film circuit, further growing awareness and supporters. Next year we plan to elevate this strategy by showing the film at larger film festivals such as Sundance.

“We have different ideas about premiering the film. To show a film at the Cannes film festival is a dream of mine and if this process has taught us anything it is that with enough determination and a refusal to believe in naysayers you can make your dreams a reality.”

The team was encouraged to crowdsource capital by Roy Boulter and Sol Papadopoulos of Liverpool-based Hurricane Films and also advised by the city’s creative business support body ACME.

The film went into production last week and should wrap up by September 18.