Feb 12, 2013

Pixar artists are raising money for a short film - and they're not using Kickstarter!

Pixar artists Dice Tsutsumi (art director for "Toy Story 3") and Robert Kondo (set art director for "Ratatouille") have announced that they will produce an independent short film. To raise funds for the production, the two are auctioning off several sketches on eBay.

The auction is a valuable reminder that crowdfunding is not the only way to raise money for a film project. By auctioning on eBay instead of offering it as a perk on Kickstarter, Tsutsumi and Kondo avoid the stressful task of organizing a large crowdfunding campaign and avoid Kickstarter's high fees.

The two artists may end up running crowdfunding campaigns. Tsutsumi wrote on Facebook, "If we get enough people in the future, we may do a Kickstarter. It takes a lot of work to pull off a Kickstarter." Of course, it's not a bad thing if they choose to do it. But it's refreshing to see out-of-the-box thinking that doesn't treat crowdfunding as the holy grail, but rather as one element of a diverse fundraising effort.