Drylaw film student Kevin Pickering will be going back to the future when he starts filming his latest project next month. Needing funding to support his latest project, the Edinburgh College of Art student turned to new ‘crowd-funding’ website Bloom to appeal for backers – and Kevin’s ‘Wake Up Call’ has become the first project to reach it’s target on Bloom. Now Kevin can revisit a story he first told on an award-winning short film film ten years ago.
Bloom Venture Catalyst is the first crowdfunding platform of its kind in the UK, enabling anyone with an idea, anywhere in the world, to reach out and receive donations from across the globe, using their social networks. The company, which launched last November, offers an alternative route to finance for startups, community projects and social enterprises. Kevin became the first in Scotland to crowdfund his new movie, reaching his target in just four days and going on to raise 46% more than his target by the end of the crowdfunding campaign.
Bloom’s Amanda Boyle said Kevin’s project was a perfect example of how to pitch and run a crowdfunding campaign. She said: “Wake Up Call was a great story told well, and Kev put the effort in to make his campaign a success. He reached out to his friends and family first to ask for their support and create a series of fab rewards. Who wouldn’t want to be credited as Executive Produce on a film? Kev made the connections, put the effort in and reaped the rewards. This project was one destined to win from the outset.”
Kevin was a young Royal High School pupil when he made ‘Wake Me Up’, and he now plans to take up the story where the original tale left off – and he’s tracked down the original cast members to make the sequel.
“I have always been passionate about film and cinema and I was fortunate enough to win an award from First Light to make ‘Wake Me Up’. We had a budget of £10,000 to make the film – that was a lot of money then; it still is! Even now it’s the biggest budget I’ve ever worked with. The film premiered at The Odeon cinema in Leicester Square and that was quite a buzz – ‘Wake Me Up’ went down really well”.
Since that 2002 breakthrough, Kevin has gone on to make a succession of critically acclaimed low-budget films, many of which focus on the darker elements of human nature and the criminal underworld. Now, with funding raised through the Bloom ‘crowd funding’ website, he will make a sequel to the film that set him on the road all those years ago.
“I had been thinking about making a sequel to ‘Wake Me Up’ for a long time, it was always something I wanted to return to at some stage”, he said. “Due to other filming and college commitments I’ve not really had the time to think about the project in detail, but late last year I wrote a draft script for ‘Wake Up Call’ and decided to seek out funding sources that would allow me to make the new film”.
Kevin pitched his idea on Bloom, a new ‘crowd funding’ website, appealing for financial support. He set a very small target, looking for only £400, but offers of support steadily rolled in. When the closing date was reached over £600 had been pledged.
“That might not seem like a lot of money – and nothing like the budget we had for ‘Wake Me Up’, but I have done my sums and, together with the money I am putting in myself, I think that will be enough to make the movie and do it justice. People, especially family, have been very generous,” Kevin explained. “So much changes in ten years – people change, life changes and I thought it would be interesting so look at how the lives of the main characters in the original film had developed – for better and worse. My idea was to track down as many of the original cast as I could to give the new film a real authenticity, and fortunately every one I contacted agreed to come on board. Rehearsals are under way and I’m very excited about how the new film is developing.”
‘Wake Up Call’ will be shot in Edinburgh next month with the release planned to coincide with the tenth anniversary of ‘Wake Me Up’ in October.
