Julia Morizawa raised $16,673 for her animated historical drama, Dragonfly. The short was inspired by her maternal grandparents and follows a young girl who learns of her mother’s survival of the Tokyo Firebombing on March 9-10, 1945 through the eyes of her brother’s spirit.

What's the latest on Dragonfly?

Dragonfly is in the depths of animation production, spearheaded by our amazing
animation director, Maria Marta Linero and brilliant animator, Eva Benitez. We have just
about completed scenes 1-3 (out of 14 total), or approximately two minutes out of what I hope to be a ten minute film. Slowly but surely it’s coming together and so far it’s been looking better than I could have imagined.

What’s something you wish you’d known before you launched?

I honestly can’t think of anything. I think a big part of that is the fact that I took a number of online classes (including the free one on Seed&Spark) and explored a lot of resources and asked friends with crowdfunding experience for advice, and so on and so forth, which really helped me be prepared. This was also the second campaign I had managed so I came into this one having learned lessons from the first one. I guess one thing to remember is that crowdfunding campaign contributions are considered income and are, therefore, taxable. I think sometimes people forget to look into their tax situation until after the fact and I recommend making sure you understand what happens in that department before you launch your campaign.

What’s something during crowdfunding that surprised you?

I was absolutely shocked by the amount of support that I received from complete
strangers. Without looking at the actual numbers, more than half of what we raised
through the crowdfunding campaign was thanks to just a handful of generous
supporters who I had never met or communicated with prior to the campaign. I was very
lucky that they happened to come across the project on Seed&Spark and that the
project spoke to them enough for them to want to become involved.

What advice would you give interested crowdfunders who may be apprehensive?

I get it. I absolutely get it and there is no shame in not wanting to crowdfund. This was
only my second time actually running a campaign, but I have been involved in at least a
dozen projects over the years that were crowdfunded so there was always an obligation
to participate and help promote the project. It’s a lot of work and if you’re not exceptionally skilled or experienced with crowdfunding specifically, it’s likely that you’ll
only be striving to raise the bare minimum you need to produce your project. Which
means, you will not be making any income yourself through the campaign.

And this means that, for most of us, you will also be working a job and producing a project (plus whatever other obligations you have in your everyday life) in addition to managing the crowdfunding campaign. It’s a lot of work. And it’s always extremely difficult to work for no pay, even if it’s for your very own passion project. So my advice is to make sure you are extremely passionate about the project you are thinking about crowdfunding for.

And if so, know that crowdfunding is most likely the one and only opportunity in which
you can fund your project and retain creative control. So, if you’re having doubts, ask
yourself two questions: Do I really want to make this project? And is it important that I
retain creative control over the entire project? If you answer yes to both of these
questions, then I would say crowdfunding is the best route to take. So, embrace it.

What advice would you give current crowdfunders who are in the thick of it?

It’s not forever. There are always a limited number of days for a crowdfunding
campaign, so there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. If you’re in the middle of
your campaign and feel like reaching your goal is impossible, just know that it is always
surprising how much people come together and contribute during those final 24-72
hours. I managed a campaign once when we received something like 40% of our goal in
the final 24 hours.

On a more logistical note, I am a huge advocate for promoting your campaign through individual, well-written emails. Seed&Spark talks about this a lot too. And it’s true. In my experience, the majority of the support I receive from friends, family, and colleagues is a direct response to a personalized email I’ve written. And I know this because those people pretty much always write back and tell me!

I think too many indie creators rely on social media and newsletters, which is probably effective if you’re an “influencer” and/or already have a huge following. Plus, there are so many online classes and blogs and videos out there today about social media marketing that we forget about the more “old-school” ways of communication. Like e-mail. And, yep, I just called email “old-school.” So, if you’re like me — an introvert that doesn’t have 100,000 Instagram followers — tackle those personal emails. Find out how those people you worked with five, ten years ago are doing and what they’ve been up to. And you can mention your campaign too.

Are you a member of any film organizations who have helped you get to where
you are?

I haven’t been involved very much or for very long, but I’d like to give a shout-out to
Women of Color Unite and their JTC List, as well as their #startwith8hollywood
mentorship program (which I’m looking forward to participating in for the first time this
year).

What’s next for you and Dragonfly?

Dragonfly is likely going to be in the animation phase for a while, based on the
progress so far. It’s simply a very tedious process and the fact is that despite our
wonderfully successful crowdfunding campaign, the project is still extremely low-budget.
So I can’t afford to hire a team of dozens and pay everyone full-time wages, which
means the project can’t be prioritized on my team’s schedules. Once animation is
complete and picture is locked, we’ll be jumping into post-production sound and music.

For me, I’m developing a couple of other projects, which are both in the script phase.
My limited series TV pilot, Where We Came From (which is the larger project that
Dragonfly is an excerpt from) has been circulating the contest and fellowship season
this year and I’m hoping to get some specific help from those opportunities in tackling
rewrites. And I’ve just started a feature film screenplay, thanks to an amazing online
class through Sundance Collab, and I’m looking forward to jumping into the first draft.

We can't wait to see what's next for Dragonfly! And if you're getting started with your own crowdfunding journey, we're here to help.