TubeStart Wants To Fund Your Low-Budget Hollywood Dreams

Most people have, at one time or other, dreamed of being famous. Some people want to be sports stars and Olympic athletes. Others want to be rockstars and rule the stage (or the garage) with their musical talents. Some want to be big-time movie producers and spend $561 million turning one book into three movies. But there's only one Peter Jackson. For everyone else, there's a new website: TubeStart. Co-founded by Josef Holm and Claude Schires, TubeStart is a crowdfunding platform designed specifically for those who want to produce short clips, mini-series or full-length movies for YouTube. "We are not curating projects," Holm, TubeStart's CEO, told Benzinga. "We are not going to say, 'No, you can't.'" Related: Former Goldman Sachs Exec Wants To Revolutionize An Industry Silicon Valley Ignored TubeStart's open attitude makes it very friendly to aspiring filmmakers that may be turned away by Kickstarter and other crowdfunding sites. As a result, TubeStart has received a wide array of video projects. Two Dudes Cooking Food, for example, fits in with the usual selection of homemade YouTube content. The Dudes are currently asking for $250 (the total monthly contribution) to help produce new cooking videos. While that project has yet to be funded, A Daze Work (an animated series about five guys who run a pizza joint) received $31 more than the $5,000 contribution it requested. "A Daze Work is the kind of campaign we like to see because they really took some time to make a nice pitch video," said Holm. "They are standing behind their campaign and they are taking it seriously." Another project asked individuals to contribute $500 to cancer research. There are still 41 days to go before it comes to a close, but the project has already raised $782. Justice, a comic book-inspired film asking for $3,500, has also been fully funded. Thus far, the biggest project appears to be StandUpBits, a campaign to raise $25,000 to build a new video website and YouTube channel for comedians. As of this writing, StandUpBits has raised $15,483. Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report. Louis Bedigian is the Senior Tech Analyst and Features Writer of Benzinga. You can reach him at louis(at)benzingapro(dot)com. Follow him @LouisBedigianBZ