Zombie Orpheus Entertainment
In 2008, Ben Dobbins had a bad experience with Hollywood distribution. His film sold for years through a sole distributor, and the company that made it never received its share. The last statement he received showed the distributor owed about 30 grand, and after that he saw no more money. While preparing the next film's investment plan, he realized that independent film funding relied on hiding the fact that investors usually lose their money. He asked why the industry didn't build a plan that actually pays investors back.
In 2010 he launched Zombie Orpheus Entertainment with a different premise. The films would be released online for free, under a Creative Commons license, with piracy and remixing encouraged. Each episode was an advertisement for the next one, and the goal was a sustaining fan base rather than unit sales. The first product was the web series JourneyQuest. Each episode ended with a short video saying the show was fan supported and creator distributed, with no studio or network. Ben said that when the first episode hit YouTube and the web, people wrote in asking how to pay. Fan contributions through a PayPal button on the site made back the production budget, and the investors were paid back within a year. Ben said the company needed to make $30,000 back for season one.
For season two, the team built a fan base on Facebook and YouTube and moved the campaign to Kickstarter, which raised $112,000 from 1,117 backers, averaging about $97 per backer. For season three, the team set up a pre-funding page where fans added their names to an email list. Once 4,200 people signed up, the campaign would launch. It opened with 4,600 names ready to pledge, and the strong first day drew more backers. Season three's Kickstarter campaign reached 5,602 backers and over $425,000. A BackerKit add-on campaign added another $45,000.
What worked was a clear fan-empowerment message, an email list built before each launch, and a strong first day on crowdfunding platforms. Ben also said each campaign grew the fan base, since fans shared the content and brought in new people. Patreon later became a recurring source of income. The company has also turned down venture capital, and Ben has said it is slow to commercialize merchandise because of limited capacity. Fans have complained that there isn't enough merch, and Ben said the team wants to release its world Bible under a commercial license but has not had the capacity to do so.
By the time of the interview, the Patreon page had 877 patrons paying about $5,600 per month. Ben said that once it reached a $10,000 monthly goal, the company would release a new monthly episode. The team was also planning a new property, Gamers, after a $174,000 Kickstarter campaign. Ben described the model as similar to software-as-a-service: reinvest once the business breaks even to grow the fan base.
- •Converting a grievance with distributors into a fan-empowerment message gave the audience a reason to pay before they had any product to buy.
- •Releasing content free and asking for support built a large audience first, so later crowdfunding campaigns started from people who already knew the work.
- •Pre-launching with a public signup count created social proof and a ready list of pledgers, so the Kickstarter launch began with a big first day.
- •Recurring Patreon income and repeated campaigns turned one-time fan support into a steadier revenue base that compounds as the audience grows.
- 1.Release your first piece of content free, with a clear call at the end inviting people to pay for the next one or to support creation.
- 2.Collect email addresses before a crowdfunding launch and set a public signup target, so you can launch with a warm list of pledgers.
- 3.Use a small direct-payment option, such as a PayPal button, to test whether fans will pay before you run a larger campaign.
- 4.After each campaign, add a recurring membership like Patreon to turn one-time backers into ongoing revenue.
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