Sadly that's often not enough. Olan Rodgers, creator of Final Space, created a new indie pilot called Godspeed. With a Kickstarter to fund the rest of a first season.
Proof of concept only gets you so far. Indie animation relies on people actually putting their money where their mouth is, which they rarely ever do. Unless you're doing Hazbin or Digital Circus numbers, very very few other indie animations ever get over the starting line.
You know, I've been thinking about this all day and finally realized why it wasn't sitting right with me. SamBakZa. 25 years ago, a team of three Korean animators managed to make their first major animation using the primitive tools of the time and that animation is one of my all-time favorites...
(sorry to spam you) - Independent animation can do well. Sure, not every indie animation is going to blow up to something like Last Airbender - but, if creators want to create, there's tools out there and there's an audience for almost anything.
Nine years ago, 600 of us got together and gave this team $35k for a new entry in the series. And it took awhile. And we were patient. And it came out and it was amazing. And that $35k went towards rewards like physical discs, an art book, etc.
And my name is in the credits for that DVD too! And I'd donate again (if you count the patreon, I'm donating now for virtually nothing but my appreciation of the crew!)
Recently, I donated $150 to Pendleton Ward's charity stream. where I won a custom drawing from him live on stream! (middle of pic)
Just last year, they teamed up with Youtooz to release a plushie (and are supposedly planning to release the other in the set). I even received a hand-crafted fish and carrot with a note to go with him for being a member of SamBakZa's patreon.
Comments
They needed $600k to make one (1) more episode.
1.9 million views on YouTube.
Kickstarter made just over $300k.
Nine years ago, 600 of us got together and gave this team $35k for a new entry in the series. And it took awhile. And we were patient. And it came out and it was amazing. And that $35k went towards rewards like physical discs, an art book, etc.
Recently, I donated $150 to Pendleton Ward's charity stream. where I won a custom drawing from him live on stream! (middle of pic)