Like many artists, Austin’s creative community is increasingly turning to crowdfunding platforms to cover developmental costs. For potential backers, it can be hard to navigate all the sites out there, so we scour the web for local projects. Remember, do your own due diligence before you back anything.
Who’s raising the funds?
Chronicle cover star and podcaster Neha Aziz for her directorial debut.
What’s the project?
“So, That Happened” is a romantic dramedy inspired by Aziz’s ruminations on how people wander in and out of each other’s lives. The script focuses on college friends Imran and Sheila who are reunited after several years when Imran moves back to Austin. Aziz has described the city as the third character in the story.
Aziz may be best known for her podcast Partition, about the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. “So, That Happened” again focuses on South Asian lives, but this time what makes it special for Aziz is that it takes what has been traditionally a genre for white characters and lets South Asian characters have those same experiences – friendship, relationships, everyday ups and downs – onscreen, just as they do in real life.
Target?
$15,000 by June 24. This includes:
• $3,000 for casting
• $3,000 for locations
• $4,000 for crew
•
$4,000 for post-production
• and $1,000 for production design
The project has already hit this initial target, but the extra funds will allow for a bigger production.
What are the perks?
$15 gets you an Instagram shoutout, but for only $250 you’ll get early acess to the finished film, behind the scenes materials, a sticker, personalized postcard, and a special thanks on the film credits – oh, and that Instagram shoutout. Feeling flush? $1,000 gets you all that, plus a copy of the script and set polaroid, and an executive producer credit.
The “So, That Happened” crowdfunding campaign runs through May 22 at seedandspark.com.
This article appears in May 26 • 2023.
