Fundraising With Movies

Joel Swierenga sent me this pic from the panel at STORY where One Thousand Premieres director Santino Stoner, Dot and Cross executive producer Corey Petrick, and I talked about STORY’s project to bring the Biblical story of David and Goliath to life in a full length feature film.

You may have heard, we’re looking for people of faith to be “co-producers” with us. By donating between $99-$999 to production costs, you and your family or organization can follow the making of the film on our website, get a license to show the film over debut weekend, and maybe even visit the set on a designated day if you so choose.

How does that work as a fundraiser then?

We welcome individuals or groups to front the money to book a premiere and then sell tickets to not only recoup their initial investment, but to make money for a worthwhile cause.

Here’s what that looks like:

• If you put down $199.00 to reserve a small group premiere, you could sell $8 tickets amounting to sales of $392. After paying yourself back for the license fee, your profit would be $192.

So what if you need to make more money?

• Sell 99 $8 tickets ($349 premiere) —–> make a profit of $443
• Sell 199 $8 tickets ($699 premiere) —–> make a profit of $893
• Sell 500 $8 tickets ($999 premiere) —–> make a profit of $3,001
• Sell 1000 $8 tickets ($999 premiere) —–> make a profit of $7,001
• Sell 2000 $8 tickets ($999 premiere) —–> make a profit of  $15,001

Some other things worth knowing:

• With the largest premiere ($999), you could show it to as many people as you want. If you have a theater that seats 5,000, there’s nothing stopping you from filling it. If you have the ability to host multiple showings over debut weekend (October 12-14), you can do that too.
• You don’t have to charge $8 a ticket. You could charge $5 or, in some markets, people might pay $10, $12 or even $15 for a good cause.
• It would also open the opportunity for you to have your youth group or another group sell or give away popcorn and drinks to earn money for your cause.
• If a youth group of 100 teens invited 10 people each, it would fill a 1,000 person premiere.

If you would like to host a One Thousand Premieres Fundraiser next fall, just book a premiere at this link by January 31st and you can begin planning  how to make the most of your event.