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Show Wed/Thurs/Fri, January 27-29, 2016 C-5 The Park Record Puzzle answers from page c-4 Courtesy of Slamdance Adam Rifkin's Slamdance film, "Director's Cut," featuring, from left, Harry Hamiln, Missi Pyle and Hayes MacArthur, was funded through FundAnything.com, a Park City-based crowdsourcing website. Continued From C-3 Film's funds have local connection idea how to go online and raise money." FundAnything.com helped Jillette raise more than $1.3 million from more than 5,400 contributors for "Director's Cut." "We help the fundraiser every step of the way from creating and executing a campaign, so people successfully reach their goals," Tilson said. "We meet extensively with people to discuss the size of the goal and then we have a complete team that helps with everything from titling the project to figuring out what a realistic goal is, to establishing the price levels and rewards for people who donate." The team also communicates with constituents, including donors and potential donors once the project launches. "The beauty of crowdfunding is that you can raise any amount of money for any project," Tilson said. "You don't have to go into debt. You don't have to go to a bank and beg for money. If you have a project that you think is a worthwhile cause that resonates with people, crowdfunding is an alternative and new way of financing it." Tilson said Jillette reached out to FundAnything.com because he was familiar with his and Zanker's reputations. "Both Bill and myself have extensive experiences and [are known] for being successful marketers on the mass level both nationally and worldwide," Tilson said. "So, when word got out that we were entering the crowdfunding realm, we had many people who were interested in harnessing our expertise to help them reach their monetary goals." Tilson was honored Jillette wanted to work with FundAnything.com, and to have it fund a film that premiered at Slamdance made the deal even sweeter. "Personally, I've always been a fan of magic, and Penn Jillette is someone that I have looked up to, not [just] in the realm of magic, but as someone who knows how to create witty and smart art of all types," Tilson said. "So, work- ing with him was a dream come true." Since working with Jillette, FundAnything.com has attracted other fund-ready projects in show business. "Penn has tremendous contacts throughout the entertainment and business field and many of them have come to us with projects of their own, since the launch of the ‘Director's Cut' campaign," Tilson said. "Currently, we have one of the highest profile campaign out there, "Making a Murderer," which is a popular Netflix show." The first account FundAnything.com worked on was comedian Adam Corolla's independent film "Road Hard," which began right after Tilson and Zanker launched their website. "More than, 15,000 contributors donated $1,450,000, six weeks after we launched the site," Tilson said. "The thing about Adam was that campaign allowed us to become the crowdfunding site to have it's first million-dollar the quickest since its launch. "It took Indiegogo and Kickstarter years before they had their first million-dollar campaign," he said. "So, we're now well known in the indie-film circle." For more information, visit www.fundanything.com. 11' Sock Fun Monday - Saturday 10:00 am - 7:00 pm • Sunday 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm 1675 Redstone Center Dr, #120 • (435)575-0778 BE A LOCAL HERO Volunteer for a local non-profit 4 |