This past March, Nancy Roder was offered the chance of a lifetime – a temp job in NYC.

For those of you who don’t know Nancy, she’s one of my ‘characters,’ although I say this liberally, since my fondness for her voice typically finds its way into my everyday conversations. I even auditioned for Glee recently under the guise of Nancy – myspace.com/gleeauditions – but due to some unfortunate technical problems, her audition doesn’t appear anywhere in their audition gallery (conspiracy???)

Now she’s back, in two episodes of the Temp Life, below:

Nancy had a blast hanging out with the stars of The Temp Life, including special guest star Ileana Douglas, and is so grateful for the opportunity to visit NYC (she had never been outside of Sherman, Oklahoma!) :-)

For those of you who would like to keep in touch with Nancy or follow her on her various social networks, here are the links:  twitter.com/nancyroder, myspace.com/nancyroder, facebook.com/nancyroder. She has also posted more than several video blogs up on YouTube, for example, Nancy Goes On A Job Interview and her original Video Resume that warmed the hearts of over 12 people.

Pardon my French, but raising money is a bitch. A droopy cloud on a sunny day. A piece of poo on a shiny white floor.

I don’t like it.

In the past, I’ve been fortunate that most my projects have been funded from pitches, or, if they’re just small one-off things, I self-fund them. But going out and asking people for money? The horror. Even if I think my project is the best thing since goat cheese, I still shudder at the thought of playing salesperson. Hate, hate, hate it.

And then I stumbled upon Kickstarter. (Cue the sappy commercial music.) Perfect for folks who prefer a more passive, less in-your-face approach to raising money for artistic endeavors, Kickstarter is one site that I think could determine the future of the independent artist. You put up a profile, incentivize people to donate with different tiers of donation rewards, and then sit back and let Paypal do all the work. Though it currently seems to be more a site for low-threshold monetary goals (most projects on the site are asking for 10k or less), I am excited about where this could go in the future.

There are a few other sites out there like Kickstarter (IndieGoGo and ChipIn are also prominent), so you have to look at the various advantages and disadvantages of each. I personally chose Kickstarter for my project. It took about 5 minutes to be approved, and whoila!

Here is my project’s full profile: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1845100421/among-the-stars-investigative-feature-explores-th?pos=35&ref=recently-launched

Because of Kickstarter, I’ve raised over $800 in my first day (one tweet!). I’ve still got several weeks to go, but I’m hopeful that we can reach the $7500 goal, which will cover all the post-production costs of my film. (IMPORTANT NOTE: You have to raise all the money in order to collect ANY of it…and then you better actually follow through with your project and rewards…or, run the risk of getting sued. Yikes!)

I’m also looking into grants and scholarships, such as the Women in Film Finishing Fund grant (thank you Jenny Starnes for the tip) and I would love to figure out a way to start an online auction with all the gift suite swag I’ve scored over the past three years.

But enough about me. Most of you who read my blog are artists in your own right, and I’d like to know how all of you have found success raising money outside of the studio/production company development fund system.

Let me know what you’ve tried, what works/doesn’t work, and specific grants, scholarships, awards, online auctions, or other ways to raise money without having to go knocking on doors.

In the meantime, here are some links to articles about raising funds for features/web series:

The Right Way to Raise Money for your No-Budget Film – while the title is a little off-putting (there is no right or wrong way!), this article provides a no-nonsense, traditional path to approaching investors (in good conscience!)

The Money Web – a little outdated (the article was written in 2000), but still has a few websites up there in business to help you fund your latest project.

Indie GoGo – Fundraising for Independent Filmmakers – This is more a review of Indie Gogo, but it provides some insight and sample case studies as to how the site works. I am thinking about giving Indie GoGo a try for my next project.

The List of 9 - Nine tips for raising money for your film. Practical advice about what to expect when raising money.

In the craziness of the new year, I completely forgot to post this article that Script Magazine ran last month on myself and actress/writer Barrett Swatnek. I’ve been an avid reader of Script since I started writing in LA, and was incredibly excited that they wanted to write a profile piece on web series creators and the growing industry for writers in new media.

Web Innovators Article in Script Magazine 1_10

Last Sunday (on a very boring Sunday, mind you), I stumbled upon Nancy. Nancy Roder. She’s the girl you always overlooked on the middle school playground. The one who never got picked in gym class. She never had cool clothes, and was more likely found by herself in the lunchroom than surrounded by friends. But you won’t meet a nicer person than Nancy.

I’m not really sure how Nancy’s specific character came about (it’s an odd amalgamation of my 4th grade art teacher and several kids I remember from middle/high school), but it’s safe to say that when I put on the wig and the glasses and the fake zits and braces I bought from a local costume shop, it’s not difficult to remember how I felt growing up.

So you’re probably wondering what the point of all this is? Nancy’s the part of me who never felt good enough. She wants to help those who never got a real chance and maybe make a friend or two in the process. Maybe I’m crazy, but I don’t want Nancy to leave. So I entered her in a contest. There’s a $100,000 prize at the end of the pot, enough to fund my first independent film. About Nancy. Here is her video entry:

She’s never been able to travel outside of Sherman, Oklahoma. Her dream is to see the world, make a few friends, and help other people achieve their dreams along the way. And when it’s all said and done, she’s going to buy an RV for her parents so that theycan see the world, too. It’s weird. I’ve almost taken on Nancy’s dreams as my own.

I want to make this project happen. In my head, it’s a feature/web series/personal quest that will allow me to reach my first dream of making a movie, Nancy’s dream of seeing the world, and helping at least ten individuals reach their dreams, too. (If Nancy wins, I’ve pledged to donate $10,000 to ten people for their assistance in the contest.) I’m also planning on handing out a few other little surprises along the way, but more on that later.

So here’s the deal. To win, Nancy’s entry needs to have the greatest number of ratings and comments. I’m coming into the contest a month after it began (so there’s a little disadvantage there), but I know with the help of friends and new media mavens I can help Nancy’s dream (and mine) come to be a reality.

Please, please, rate the video and comment everyday (which also helps increase your chances of winning one of the ten $1,000 prizes). Beyond the $10,000 I’ll give away if Nancy wins, I will be giving away some additional little prizes to people who include a link to the video on their blog. (I’ve got a Google Alert up on “Nancy Roder.”)

The contest ends Dec. 20, and the video with the greatest total of comments and ratings wins the prize. I just need you to embed, Tweet, Blog, Facebook, Digg, and/or email the YouTube link to anyone/everyone.

Thank you all so much for your help! And, if you’d like to see the original Nancy video that got this all started:

Hey zombie fans! If you like horror and you like comedy, you’ve got to check out Woke Up Dead, which premieres with it’s first five episodes TODAY on Crackle.com. The series stars Jon Heder, Josh Gad, and Krystin Ritter, and follows one office nerd’s quest to discover…is he really dead?

Here’s the 1-minute preview:

I was so very fortunate to get to spend a day on set with the cast and crew, and you’ll get to see my ‘lil cameo sprinkled throughout a few episodes in the series.

Below are a few behind-the-scenes photos of my scenes with Krystin, Josh, and Jon – who are all just as nice in real life as they are funny on the screen. I’ll post some more later this week.

Thanks so much to Stan Rogow and everyone at Electric Farm, Director Tim O’Donnell, and creator John Fasano for letting me crash the set…and thank you to Crackle.com for the pics :-) I had a blast!

The Set

Hey guys,

Here are some pics for the new web series I just shot, Madison Lane. It’s about a young woman (myself) who works at a stressful, high-end fashion magazine. More to come about that later!