Crowdfunding for Filmmakers: Lessons from the UnScarred Campaign

Documentary First, Episode 263 · with Elise Jaffe, director of UnScarred, and tattoo artist Stacie Rae Weir · 50 minutes · October 23, 2025

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How do you crowdfund the money to finish an independent documentary?

Elise Jaffe had a rough cut of her first feature documentary, UnScarred, and no money left for the finishing: the sound mix and score, graphics and color. She had applied for grants, written to family foundations and asked family and friends, and had made, as she puts it, 90% of a film on about 10% of her original estimate. So she launched a Kickstarter campaign with a $37,000 goal. When this episode was recorded on October 18, 2025, it had raised $7,000 with two weeks left, and Kickstarter is all or nothing.

In Episode 263 of Documentary First, Christian Taylor talks with Elise, a fellow Chicagoan who first came on the show five years earlier, as she was starting the film. UnScarred follows survivors of trauma and illness, including breast cancer and self-harm, who reclaim their bodies through tattooing. Christian, who sits on the film’s board, joined its open call because of her own surgical scars. Midway through, tattoo artist Stacie Rae Weir of Calgary, a breast cancer previvor who has covered scars since 1999, joins to talk about her own journey and the tattoo session she is offering as a Kickstarter reward.

Elise is candid about the campaign: why she hired a crowdfunding consultant, why she would set a smaller goal next time, why she chose Kickstarter over GoFundMe and Seed&Spark, and why a campaign is really an advertising campaign that needs to be built before day one.

In this episode, you’ll learn

  • How a 2018 brand film for a breast cancer fundraiser led Elise Jaffe to make UnScarred, starting in March 2020
  • Why Elise, raised in a Jewish family that saw tattoos as taboo, came to question that belief and got her first tattoo during the film
  • The three things an artist who works with scars needs: empathy, artistic ability and technical ability
  • How Stacie Rae Weir went from covering her own self-harm scars to restorative tattooing, and what being a previvor taught her
  • What is left to pay for at the finishing stage of a documentary: sound mix and score, graphics and color
  • How the UnScarred Kickstarter was built, with a paid consultant, reward tiers and tattoo sessions with artists from the film
  • Why Elise would set a smaller goal next time, and why she chose Kickstarter over GoFundMe and Seed&Spark

Questions and answers

How do you run a Kickstarter campaign for a documentary?

Elise Jaffe, director of UnScarred, hired crowdfunding consultant Bri Castellini, whom she met at a crowdfunding presentation on The D-Word's weekly Friday Zoom. Elise, whose background is in advertising, says a campaign is fully like an advertising campaign, and you need to spend a lot of time developing it before you launch. Castellini advised against launching in the fourth quarter. The UnScarred rewards included artist designs, prints, film credits, tattoo consultations, behind-the-scenes footage and tattoo sessions with artists from the film.

What happens if a film's Kickstarter campaign misses its goal?

Kickstarter pays out only if the goal is met. When the episode was recorded, UnScarred had raised $7,000 of its $37,000 goal with two weeks left. "We have to raise 30 or we get zero," Elise Jaffe says. In retrospect she would have set a smaller goal and exceeded it, and she hopes backers will give through the film's fiscal sponsor if the campaign falls short.

Why choose Kickstarter over GoFundMe or Seed&Spark for a documentary?

Elise Jaffe felt GoFundMe was built for things like health issues and disasters, an absolute necessity for someone to live, not creative projects. She says there were issues that held her back from Seed&Spark, and people just don't know it as much. Most of the 1,500 people on her mailing list don't work in film, but they have heard of Kickstarter.

What is the documentary UnScarred about?

UnScarred, directed by Elise Jaffe, follows survivors of trauma and illness, including breast cancer and self-harm, who reclaim their bodies through tattooing, and the artists who help them. The idea came from a brand film Elise directed in 2018 with Chicago tattoo artist David Allen, and she began the documentary in March 2020. She filmed nine people, four of them featured, and held an open call to show how universal scars are.

What should you look for in a tattoo artist to cover a scar?

Elise Jaffe says artists who work with scars need empathy, because they become like a therapist without the training; the artistic ability to work with a scar; and the technical ability to use the right tools. "They really have to be careful about who they choose," she says. Tattoo artist Stacie Rae Weir, who has done scar cover-up work since 1999, was told by the artist who trained her not to touch scar tissue until she had at least three years of tattooing.

Chapters

  • 0:00 Welcome & Introduction to UnScarred
  • 5:15 The Origins of the Film: Inspiration During the Pandemic
  • 10:27 The Power of Tattoos in Healing and Identity
  • 17:42 Introducing Stacie Rae Weir: Artist, Survivor, and Healer
  • 24:52 From Mastectomy to Masterpiece: Stacie Rae’s Journey
  • 29:51 Tattoos as Therapy: The Collaboration Between Artist and Survivor
  • 33:10 The Art of Crowdfunding: Lessons for Independent Filmmakers
  • 35:04 Behind the Scenes of UnScarred’s Kickstarter Campaign
  • 39:26 The Pros and Cons of Crowdfunding for Filmmakers
  • 44:48 Building Community Support for Independent Films
  • 46:33 Transformation Through Art & What’s Next for UnScarred

About the guest

Elise Jaffe is the executive producer of Big Teeth Productions, which she has run for 20 years, and the director of UnScarred, her first feature documentary. Her career began in children’s television on Reading Rainbow and Blue’s Clues, and she has worked as an agency producer for agencies including JWT, Draft FCB and Edelman. She created, produced and directed the kids web series Fooditude, served two terms on the Indiana University Media School alumni board and has taught as an adjunct professor. She is also a SAG-AFTRA voice actor. Originally from Cleveland, she lives in Chicago with her husband, Greg, who is her business partner and the editor of UnScarred, and their two children.

Stacie Rae Weir is a tattoo artist in Calgary, Alberta, who has tattooed professionally since 1996 and specializes in restorative tattooing for breast cancer survivors, scar revision and custom work. She is the author of The A.R.T. of Areola Restorative Tattoo, pioneered an approach to 3D nipple tattoos, and trains and certifies tattoo artists worldwide. She created Nipplebacks temporary areola tattoos and medARTpro, and has designed needles with TatSoul. She carries a breast cancer gene and had a mastectomy, and calls herself a previvor. She is also a Reiki master and was opening a healing tattoo studio when the episode was recorded.

About the film

UnScarred is a documentary by Elise Jaffe and Big Teeth Productions about survivors who turn their scars into art through tattoos, and the artists who help them. It began with a 2018 brand film Elise directed for a hair care brand raising money for breast cancer research, featuring Chicago tattoo artist David Allen and his client Molly, a Jewish woman in her 30s who covered her breast cancer scars with tattoos. Elise started the documentary in March 2020. She filmed nine people, four of whom are featured, plus participants from an open call, and the film also follows the tattoo artists. When the episode was recorded, the film had a rough cut and was raising finishing funds on Kickstarter.

More from this series

Elise first came on the show in 2020, as she started pre-production on her first feature documentary: First-Time Filmmaker Elise Jaffe.

About Documentary First

For people who make documentaries and people who love them. Discover how documentaries actually get made, paid for and seen with filmmaker Christian Taylor. Plus DocuView Deja View, where every guest recommends a documentary worth watching. One week, a long-form conversation about a guest's journey, projects and lessons; the next, The Deep Dive, Christian's short solo reflection on one idea from that conversation. Guests have included Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy. Christian directed the award-winning documentary The Girl Who Wore Freedom. Nearly 300 conversations. Listen Notes top 5% worldwide. 4.8 on Apple Podcasts. New episodes every week. Follow the show · About the podcast · Support the show on Patreon

Resources mentioned

This episode is sponsored by Virgil Films Entertainment.

Full transcript

Welcome & Introduction to UnScarred

Christian Taylor: Today’s episode is brought to you by our distribution partner, Virgil Films and Entertainment. Now, I’ve worked with Virgil personally, and I can tell you this is a company that champions independent filmmakers, with over 25 years of experience in film distribution and having partnered with brands like National Geographic, OWN, and Major League Baseball. Their films, including the mega hit Super Size Me, the Oscar-nominated Restrepo and the hit documentary Forks Over Knives, have landed on Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Tubi, Apple TV, and more. They work directly with filmmakers and streaming platforms, and they offer a range of deals to fit different needs. They don’t just distribute films, they elevate them, and truthfully, they’re just really great people to work with. So if you want to learn more, head on over to virgilfilms.com. And now on to the show.

Welcome to Documentary First, an inside look at documentary filmmaking. I’m your host, Christian Taylor, and a documentary filmmaker myself. And I am delighted today to have a good friend, a fellow Chicagoan, and somebody who I am delighted to support. Four years ago, this first-time feature documentary filmmaker discovered our podcast, and she was encouraged to press on with a film during a very difficult period, working to tell a story that I know is going to touch your heart. It’s touched mine, and now she needs our help to finish it. Her film UnScarred is about survivors who turn their scars into art through tattoos. It’s bold, it’s beautiful, and it’s Elise Jaffe’s passion project. Today she’s here to tell us why this story matters and how together we can make sure it gets made.

So, welcome, Elise. It’s a delight to have you here. This is your second time on our podcast. We had you here, like I said, four years ago. You came just when you started, and you got introduced to this podcast by my dear friend Sandy Gordon. She told you to start listening. And yeah, tell us a little bit about how you got started listening to Documentary First and how it was helpful.

Elise Jaffe: Well, as you reminded me, we met years and years prior, but it was in a very different circumstance. And when I was starting to work on my film, the idea kind of percolated from a project I did in 2018, but I didn’t really start working on this film that became UnScarred until March of 2020. And we all know what happened in March of 2020. The world shut down, and I had two small children, and I was like, if I don’t have a project that is my own, and my sole purpose is to make sure that they log on to internet school, I’m going to go crazy. And I had already started thinking about the idea for this film.

So then I just started working on it and researching, and a couple months in, I had been talking to Sandy, who I’ve been friends with for a very long time, and she’s like, “Wait, you have to listen to my friend Christian’s podcast. It’s so good, and she’s making a documentary,” or I think you had just finished the film.

Christian: Yeah. Yeah.

Elise: And so I started listening with Cecilia, who’s my associate producer, and we listened to all the episodes, and then you had us on, and it was very, very encouraging at the beginning, when, I’m sure lots of your listeners know, it can feel very isolating when you’re making a film, even if you have another person on your team.

Christian: And we had made a lot of mistakes. I think in the beginning of this podcast, my hope was it would sort of be a guide for people. I didn’t want them to make the same mistakes I’ve made. So I was sharing a lot of the mistakes I’d made in hopes that you wouldn’t make them. So I think...

Elise: It was very helpful in that respect. So yes, thank you very much.

Christian: So I want to take a minute to read your bio, because you are more than just a first-time documentary producer. This isn’t something you don’t have experience in. So let me just take a minute to read this. Elise Jaffe is the spokesteeth and executive producer of Big Teeth Productions. As the lead producer and director, she focuses on documentary style and animated projects. Her career began in children’s television with Reading Rainbow and Blue’s Clues, and if you guys remember those, just great shows. Her extensive experience includes agency producing for JWT, Grey Network, Draft FCB, and Edelman, and post and design producing for VSA Partners and Vitamin Pictures.

Elise created, produced, and directed the kids web series Fooditude, teaching tweens about life through food. She served two terms on the Indiana University Media School alumni board and as an adjunct professor. She’s also a SAG-AFTRA voice actor, originally from Cleveland. Elise now lives in Chicago with her husband, two kids, and her two dogs. So she clearly has her hands full, and yet is taking on this giant, important film project that we’re here to talk about today.

So this film, UnScarred, is in its final, final stages. You’re in postproduction. And I think it’s really important that we start at the beginning and we talk about what UnScarred is about. I’m going to be upfront about this film. I believe in it so much. I am on the board of this film in hopes that we can help get it across the finish line and get people to see the story. And you are here so that we can introduce new people to this film and hopefully get them on board our train to get this film made, because we are looking for finishing funds. So why don’t you tell us what this film is about, and let’s just jump right in and learn a little bit more.

The Origins of the Film: Inspiration During the Pandemic

Elise: Thank you, Christian, for that great introduction. It’s always funny to hear your bio read, because you’re like, I did all those things? Okay, that’s cool. Especially when you feel depleted when you’re making a film sometimes. So I have run my own business for 20 years, and I’ve been mostly producing, right? I’ve been the executive producer of the company, but I’ve been a line producer, a post producer, a broadcast producer, an agency producer. I’ve done all of those things, but I always had this desire to direct.

And so over probably the second half of Big Teeth’s existence, I started directing more, specifically the doc style work. My favorite thing is interviewing people. I just absolutely love it. And I’ve interviewed some people where, when I first read about what I’m going to ask them about, I am quite bored. But then when I start really taking a deep dive into their lives and how they got into what they’re doing, it’s fascinating to me. So it’s ironic timing that this is coming up now, because this whole project was inspired by a breast cancer awareness product that was raising money for breast cancer research, and it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month right now.

Christian: Yeah. As we’re recording right now, it’s October 18, 2025. I should have led with that. It is October, it is Breast Cancer Awareness, timely. And if you don’t know what that is, if you’re listening and you’re not quite sure, we are really focusing on breast cancer in hopes of defeating it. So people are wearing a lot of pink. If you see people wearing pink, it’s to bring awareness to this. So yeah. So your idea got started during October.

Elise: Yeah. So I had gotten an outreach, an RFP. For people that don’t know, that’s a, oh my god, a request for proposal, to do a video, a brand film, for an agency out of London whose client was a hair care brand that raised a lot of money with some of their sales for breast cancer research. And they were creating a hair straightener that was going to be pink instead of black, which normally their stuff was. And a large percentage of the sales of that were going to go towards breast cancer research. And they partnered with a tattoo artist who happened to live in Chicago and happened to have a studio two blocks from my office, which we didn’t find out until after we won this job.

And they were trying to create something where they were connecting this feel-good emotional piece with a brand. And we bid against several other companies. And when this came to us, I said, I want to direct this. I don’t want Greg, my husband and business partner, to direct it. This is the kind of project I want to do. And we won the job. And then I met David Allen, who was the artist that was featured in this and who was designing this straightener, and his studio was two blocks away from me. It was serendipitous.

And he picked two clients of his to be featured in this video series, which would also turn one of them sort of into a supermodel around the world. And one was a client he had had for a while, and he thought she’d be great for it. And one was a newer client who was going to be tattooed for the B-roll footage for the short film. And I connected with everybody, but I specifically felt a strong connection to Molly, who was going to be the B-roll footage, and she happened to be Jewish.

And I had never really thought about, I mean, I thought about tattoos because tattoos were something everyone talks about, and like, what’s your opinion of them? What’s the stigma around them? And when I met Molly, I started talking to her about being a Jewish woman who was in her 30s who got breast cancer and covered herself with tattoos. And she had had a tattoo before, so it wasn’t new to her. But it was really eye-opening for me. And I told her at that shoot that one day I would make a project about her and we’ll tell her story.

And then, like I said, flash forward to March 2020, and I’m stuck at home, and I’m like, “This is the time to make the film.” And then I had access to a lot of people who were stuck at home and really wanted to talk about what they did. Tattoo artists weren’t working. A lot of survivors were sitting at home in the same situation that I was in. And the more I talked to artists, the more I realized that this was such a universal issue. And they had so many clients coming to them for covering up breast cancer scars, covering up self-harm, any other kind of scars. They had all of these clients that were doing this.

And then George Floyd was murdered, and our country was being divided by race. And I’m like, but this film that I want to make is about our skin, and everyone has skin, and it doesn’t matter what you look like, but you have a scar. Everyone has some kind of trauma they’ve dealt with in one way or another. So it was kind of a universal story, and it became much bigger than a Jews and tattoos story. And here we are.

The Power of Tattoos in Healing and Identity

Christian: Yeah. You know, I think it’s so interesting that from the beginning, you were interested in this tattoo story when, as a Jewish person, you didn’t have a tattoo yourself. You knew that tattoos were taboo in your faith and in your faith culture. And I’m curious as to why you were so drawn to that if they were taboo.

Elise: Yeah, I think I wasn’t always necessarily drawn to it, but I work in a creative field, so I have certainly been around a lot of people who have a lot of tattoos, and it was never really anything I thought about for myself until I did that project. And then I saw these gorgeous works of art, and I was like, this is really interesting. I never really thought about why people get tattoos. And I think, I’ve talked about this in previous interviews, but Judaism teaches you to question a lot of things and interpret parts of Torah that might be antiquated in some ways, and how are we interpreting them, and everyone interprets them in a different way.

So it really forced me to start thinking, why did I think this way? Why did I always say, “Oh, tattoos are bad,” versus saying, “Oh, well, maybe this tattoo is bad, but this one isn’t”? Or, “Why am I not accepting of all of them? Why do I look at face tattoos differently than I look at a sleeve?” So it just opened up this door to something I had not really spent a lot of time thinking about. And now, I mean, I’ve talked about it every day for the past five years. So it’s very interesting.

And then I also got my first tattoo during this whole process. I had never had a tattoo. And that’s actually one of, well, we could talk about that when we talk about Kickstarter. But I talked to people about their tattoos every single day, and I never knew what it was like to get my own. And so about a year or so into this whole filmmaking process, I got a tattoo that David Allen designed, and I’m actually going to be getting some enhancements to it done next week. So yeah, I mean, certainly my family has been like, is she really sure she wants to work on this? But I mean, there’s stories to everything that we carry. There’s stories to the clothes that we wear and the hair choices that we make. And so, yes, this is a little bit more permanent, but...

Christian: Yeah. And so talking about the stories, all documentary films, I think, are told because there are these important stories that the directors or producers feel like the world needs to hear. And I know as a producer and director myself, those stories, you can’t tell them all. There are more than enough to put in a film, and you have to, we call it killing your babies. You have to leave out so many. And we don’t have time to talk about even all the ones that are in your film, but I would love to hear some of the stories, at least one or two, that are really moving for you, that you felt compelled, you’re like, I have to tell this story in my film.

Elise: Yeah. I mean, we interviewed a lot of people before we decided who we were filming. And then we ultimately filmed with nine people, four of whom are a little bit more of a feature in the film. And then we saw how universal it was, and we did an open call, as Christian knows, to have people come in just to show how universal this topic is, and they’ve all been incorporated into the film. But of the four main stories, I do like to talk about one in particular when I’m really just thinking about my years of working on this film, because we have developed a very strong relationship too.

One of the women in the film somehow got a flesh-eating bacteria when she was a teenager, and she wasn’t sure what was going on. She went into the hospital and, long story short, which you can hear more of the long story in the film when it’s done, had to have a mastectomy. And so she came out of this surgery as a person who had just pretty much been developing, and now she didn’t have one of her breasts. And it wasn’t until she was in her 30s that she just decided one day, it’d be kind of cool to do a tattoo. Maybe I should get a tattoo on it.

And she’s lived a very interesting life in general. She has an incredibly supportive family and supportive husband. And she has grown so much in terms of her confidence during the film. But this one thing that I really learned from her is that I went into it going, oh, this tattoo is going to solve your problems. But as we make films, you realize that things are not what they appear to be, and you’re going to go in different directions as you’re working on the film, and this is just one step in a healing journey. And like I said, it was the door that opened up for me to spend so much time talking about tattoos. For her, it was like an emotional healing, the start of her emotional healing. So it came with a lot of other things, and we’ve done many follow-ups with her, and it’s just been really moving to see just how she’s changed from what we were able to do in this film.

Christian: Yeah, it’s incredible how long you’ve been working on it and how much change can occur. You know, you talked about your open call, and I was part of that open call. I do have a scar on my back from a fusion that, you pointed out, doesn’t seem like much, but for me it felt like this giant, ugly scar that I was embarrassed about. And I never thought about changing that really, or doing anything about it, or that I could feel different about it until actually entering into this world of your film and meeting these tattoo artists through your work.

And just three months ago, barely, I had another surgery where I’ve now got a six-inch scar on the back of my neck. And again, I’m thinking, hm, maybe this is the time to really do something about that, because I’ve watched people in your film go from feeling embarrassed and broken to having something that they want to show off and feel beautiful about. It was so encouraging to see, because I have seen the rough cut, which is just incredibly moving. Yeah. So I think the reason we’re here is I really want people to understand the importance of this film and one of the biggest challenges. What I’m going to ask you is, what is the biggest challenge to finishing this film?

Elise: Well, I do also want to add that the artists become a huge part of this film and the story, and elevating these artists and showing how important they are to this healing process is a huge part of the film too. And I hope that this will also shed light on this tattoo culture, that it’s not what people think of as negative, but really see how much care and compassion these artists have to have. There’s three sort of elements that really contribute to an artist who works with scars. And one is their empathy, because really they become like a therapist, but they’re not trained for that. So the emotional toll it takes on them can be very heavy, but they just need to know when to talk and when to listen, because a lot of extra trauma comes up when someone is sitting in that chair or laying on that table getting their tattoo work.

And these artists need to be prepared for that, as well as, they have an insane artistic ability to know what’s going to be able to move around a scar in the right way, or work with a scar, and use the right tools for it. And then they have this technical ability as well. And I think a lot of people think, “Oh, I have a scar. I’m just going to go get a tattoo over it.” And I want to make sure that this film shows people that they really have to be careful about who they choose.

Introducing Stacie Rae Weir: Artist, Survivor, and Healer

Christian: Interesting.

Elise: In the process of making this film, I was able to meet an artist who had also gone through a lot of her own trauma.

Christian: Mm.

Elise: She had an elective mastectomy because of the BRCA gene, and then had implants that got recalled, but she also had already been a tattoo artist. So it became a big part of her career to figure out how to help people who had gone through this that wanted to get tattooed and get mastectomy tattoos. And so she kind of came at it as a bridge of both of our survivor and artist worlds, and we’re really lucky to have her as part of the film. And I think she’s going to be joining us.

Christian: I know. I’m so excited to say she’s going to be with us today, because I think that is an important bridge in this film, to have somebody that actually went through this. I mean, that just amplifies the empathy a hundredfold. And I think she just has become this extreme expert. So I am excited to introduce... Yes, what were you going to say?

Elise: I didn’t know if you were going to bring her in yet, or if you wanted me to answer the question about what has been the hardest.

Christian: Please, let’s talk about that for a second.

Elise: I was just going to say that the hardest part about making this film, well, there have been a lot of little hard parts, like trying to get back in touch with some of the people we interviewed to say, hey, where are all your baby pictures? Can I send someone to your house to scan all your photos? And also just dealing with the ups and downs that we have dealt with in our world. It always seems like there’s a challenge, but the biggest, as I’m sure most...

Christian: And let me add, before you get to the biggest, another thing that I think would be hard in watching your film would be the story aspect of it. Knowing how to tell the story and weave everything together. Was that difficult?

Elise: That was definitely difficult. And certainly my editor, who also happens to be my husband, and I had many arguments about how that was going to work. I watch documentary after documentary after documentary just to kind of research for myself. I think that’s been a huge part of helping me. And I try and find ones that tell multiple stories in one, of people that are living in different places, whose lives don’t overlap with each other, and how can we weave those together. So selecting the stories was really difficult, and then figuring out how to connect them and tell all of them, I think, was very, very hard, especially because we have more from some people than we do from others. We have more support system for two of the people than we do for the other two people. So yeah, that’s really hard. I’m very glad that we’ve gotten to the point where I feel like my story structure is in a good place, and that was a huge hurdle for about a year. It was a really big hurdle.

Christian: Yeah. So that’s done, that’s behind you. Now you’ve got the story, you’ve got the film. What’s left to do?

Elise: We still have to finish editing a bit more. We have to add in some B-roll and then extend the film a little bit longer. I just saw a documentary yesterday that was 88 minutes. So I’m like, it doesn’t have to be 90. It could be 80. It could be 82. And then after that, we have all of the finishing. And the finishing includes all the audio mix and scoring, because I don’t believe that we’re going to be having any licensed music, but we still do need the music to be fitting throughout the whole film. All of our graphics: we need to retell some of our more historical stuff in graphics, and then also just the overarching graphics across the film, and our credits and all that.

And then we also have to do our final color work, which most people who aren’t in production don’t really understand when you say, “I’ve got to do color.” But we have shot this film on so many different cameras. Almost always the same type of camera, but a different person in a different place, and the color doesn’t always match, and you want it to feel smooth. So we have to do all those things, and all of those finishing things are out-of-pocket costs for us. The editorial is our passion, and the producing, all that. We can figure out a way to get that done, but the other stuff cannot happen unless we have funding.

And that’s been my hardest part all along. I’ve applied for I don’t know how many grants. I’ve written letters to so many family foundations, reached out to family and friends, all of those things, and have made 90% of a film on what was probably 10% of my original estimate for the film. So I think we’re doing a really good job, but we’ve gotten to the point where we can’t do it without help from other people. So...

Christian: Yeah. Well, I do want to encourage you, because when I first started with my film, I watched Ken Burns’ master class. And in the introduction, he said that he keeps two binders of rejection letters from financing queries on his desk to remind him how difficult it is to get funding for his films. And this is Ken Burns. So I was super encouraged at that point that it isn’t just me that can’t find funding. This is a universal problem for independent filmmakers. So you are not alone. But here we are. We sit with, what would you say, a 75% finished film. You are now doing a Kickstarter, which you’ve got to raise, is it $30,000?

Elise: Yeah. So the original goal was 37,000. We’ve raised 7,000, but we only have two weeks left, and we have to raise 30 or we get zero. So, yeah.

Christian: Okay. Well, we have an exciting guest that just joined us, who’s here to help us in that effort of raising the $30,000 left. But you were talking about her a little bit before. So why don’t you, I was given her bio, but I’m going to let you read her bio. She’s become your friend, and you can read her bio for me and then talk a little bit about how her story has encouraged and inspired you.

Elise: Okay. Well, her name is Stacie Rae Weir, but if you see her title here, she says Stacie Rae O Sunshine. She has been tattooing professionally since 1996 and specializes in restorative tattooing for breast cancer survivors, scar revision, and custom tattooing. As the author of The A.R.T. of Areola Restorative Tattooing, she pioneered an innovative approach to 3D nipple tattoos, achieves remarkable realism, and now trains and certifies tattoo artists worldwide. Stacie Rae is the creator of Nipplebacks temporary areola tattoos, for 30 seconds to wholeness. Blah, blah, blah, sorry. Inventor of medARTpro scar tattoo practice.

Christian: Okay. Okay. That’s all in the film.

Elise: So many things. She’s made a lot of products. She’s designed needles with TatSoul. Overall, she’s just a ridiculously accomplished artist, with multiple awards in tattoo and fine art competitions. She’s also very spiritual, which really comes into play in a lot of the work that she does. And she has been featured on all these different media platforms, and she’s just incredible. And we met, I don’t even really remember how we originally met.

From Mastectomy to Masterpiece: Stacie Rae’s Journey

Stacie Rae Weir: Well, I know I’ve known Shane for a long time, and I knew that he was involved, and I think that there was somebody else who was involved with this project, and when I...

Elise: Might have been through P.ink.

Stacie: P.ink, yes. Another fantastic organization. Yeah. And then when I saw what you were doing, and I went and checked you out and I read the synopsis, I think I probably might have reached out to you, because I have a unique perspective. I’ve been on both sides of the needle, where I’ve been doing this specialty scar cover-up stuff since the ’90s, since ’99, not expecting that I would also lose my breasts. I am not a breast cancer survivor. I’m what they call a previvor. So I have the breast cancer gene, and when they found a big mass and told me to have a mastectomy, I just had to take that recommendation. And I don’t want to say I’ve been through hell with it, but I’ve seen the worst sides of all of these things, so that gives me a super unique perspective. And you said I’m ridiculously accomplished, but really I’m just ridiculously obsessed with scar tissue, trauma, how we hold it and store it in the body, and that’s what ignited the spirituality.

Christian: You know, I was particularly intrigued by you, Stacie, because I’m in this situation where I’ve been thinking about, I said this earlier in the podcast, dealing with my own scars. And it’s scary, because I had one small tattoo on my ankle, and it wasn’t pleasant. And then to think about tattooing over a scar is even more frightening. But to hear that you have gone through it yourself, that you understand the pain of that and how not to create more trauma around that. And the other thing that I think is unique is that you work with the person to discern what tattoo would be best for them in the area where their scars are, because I wouldn’t even know where to begin to figure out what kind of tattoo I would need or want to cover the scars that I have. And so I really love that you have that gift.

Stacie: Well, I think that’s what excited me about this film project. And I didn’t expect that Elise would invite me to actually play a role in it. She was looking for artist donations, and I was like, “Yes, I want to support it.” Then she asked me to be on a panel for a fundraiser, when COVID hit and put kind of a stop to everything, and I was just happy to be included. But she’s talking about things from the fundraiser side of things, and there’s a lot of, especially October is tough, because there’s a lot of breast cancer fundraising going on. But I think what we really need to do is talk about why this is relevant to all of us, because like you said, you have a scar and you’re thinking about this, and maybe you wouldn’t consider tattoos if you weren’t also involved with this project. I think a lot of people have scars. I believe that, what is it, 81% of the population has stretch marks, men included, and they don’t see that as a scar, but it is. And I cover them up a lot. And...

Christian: Really?

Stacie: So once we kind of bring this big project... Yep. Mhm. That’s one of the ways I got so experienced with scar tissue. A woman would lose 100 pounds and then want to get something pretty, and it is so difficult to tattoo.

Elise: That was actually one of the stories that we interviewed for the film, from a weight loss and then a tummy tuck surgery gone wrong.

Stacie: Really hard for the tattoo artist. And so, you know, they never had training back then. And so I made some mistakes, and I’ve become really obsessive over how scar tissue needs to be tattooed, just as a way to kind of make it up to the people that I’ve made mistakes on and maybe haven’t given me the opportunity to right those wrongs. And just feeling like, how can I sleep with myself? How can I lay my head down at night knowing that I could have done better for people, from the tattoo artist point of view?

Tattoos as Therapy: The Collaboration Between Artist and Survivor

Stacie: So I love that Elise has really brought people with the scar story together with the tattoo artist. Me, as someone on both sides of that coin, that’s really what I love about this project. She’s given a voice to the people. The people who might really want to help fund this project might be the people who, you know, I’ve had this scar forever, and I don’t even like wearing shorts, because I’m sick of people asking me questions about it in the summertime when they can see these scars on my legs. Which was my first scar cover-up: I self-harmed as a teenager. Lots of people do. This mental health movement is shining a light on all the people who self-harm, and I’m one of those kids.

And so I had some scars on my lower legs that, you know, when I had healed from those emotions and stuff, as you do as you’re going through life, people were asking me to cover up their scars. And I was told not to touch any scar tissue until at least three years of tattooing by the guy who trained me. And I respected that advice. It was good advice. So the first person I did a scar cover-up on was myself, and just having the experience of being able to take ownership back on it, because every day that I went out in shorts or a dress before that, I would get questions asked about my scars. And after that, every day I went out in shorts or a dress, I got questions asked about my tattoos.

Elise: Totally. That has been a very consistent thing that people say when we do their follow-ups too.

Stacie: Mhm.

Christian: Yeah. So there’s like this... Tell me how now you’re tangibly wanting to help support this film getting made.

Stacie: Well, I am finally getting a chance to open a healing tattoo studio, because I’m a total hippie with this stuff. I’m a Reiki master, and I made drums in the desert with a shaman, and he taught me how to use the heartbeat of the earth to drum the pain and trauma out of people’s bodies, and singing bowls to change the frequency, and all these. I kind of downplay it as a hippie thing, because I know not many people resonate with that or even understand it. But for the people who do, it’s a really moving experience, being able to change the frequency of their body and open up that space for that stored trauma to leave, because even stretching the skin near a scar can activate the trauma.

So I have just been formulating this in my head for the last 10 years, and so I was like, why don’t I offer you guys a day of tattooing, and people can come to me and have that full little hippie experience, the people who resonate with it. People who don’t obviously can just get a regular tattoo, because after 30 years I’ve gotten okay at those as well, whatever the person wants, including... I live in Calgary, Alberta.

Elise: I was going to say, if you haven’t figured it out yet, she definitely has a strong Canadian accent.

Stacie: Do I? You can hear it? I don’t have an accent, except to you New Yorkers. I do.

Elise: Well, Christian and I are both voice actors from the Midwest, so I think that we have, and I’m from Ohio, so I think my voice is supposed to be the most balanced, unaccented, although I do say things funny. Anyway, Calgary.

The Art of Crowdfunding: Lessons for Independent Filmmakers

Christian: Calgary. Yeah. So, Elise, talk about how this fundraiser is going to work.

Elise: So right now on our Kickstarter, we have several different reward levels. Some of them are just a design from one of the artists in the film, or a print that we will send you from the film. Some of them are signed. We also have film credits available, and consultations for tattoos and whatnot. We also just launched behind-the-scenes footage that’ll be on the cutting room floor, for people who want to see some stuff that isn’t going to make it in the film. But we have two special rewards. One launched a couple weeks ago, and that was tattoos with Dawn Grace in Chicago, and Stacie is now going to be offering a similar offer for her tattoo work. So there are going to be a couple different tiers depending on what size of tattoo you want. But not only will you be getting the consultation time with her, you will also be getting the actual tattoo, and you’ll be contributing to the film. It’s sort of like a threefold reward to you, especially if it fills your bucket to donate to a film like this and know that because of you, a film can happen. So, yep.

Stacie: And their tattoo, you never know. It might show up on the UnScarred social media, or it might show up in, I’m sorry, you never know where your tattoo might show up, if you give permission for it to be shown.

Elise: Yep. So yeah, there’s a lot of different ways that you can support it. I mean, we asked at the beginning of starting this film to just give us tax-deductible donations, with no reward to you, minus the tax deduction. But this is a way for you to really feel like you’re part of the film, and then you’re going to get something from us in exchange for it. But again, if we don’t hit our goal, we get nothing. Yeah. So...

Behind the Scenes of UnScarred’s Kickstarter Campaign

Christian: I think this is a great place to stop for a second and play your little pitch video, because I love that, and I do think that it gives a great vision for what your film is about. And also, our podcast really is about informing filmmakers and helping them make their films. And fundraising is a huge part of getting films made. It’s not your problem alone. Everybody who’s a filmmaker listening to this podcast, I am sure, is encountering the same problem. And they’ve often considered doing a Kickstarter for their film. So I do want to talk a little bit about the challenges of this Kickstarter. So we’re going to show your little pitch video that everyone has to make for a Kickstarter. If you’re not watching this on YouTube, you certainly can hear it, and I would encourage you to go and watch it on YouTube when you’ve got time. But we’re going to play this right now. So listen up, or take a look.

[Music]

Film participant (in the pitch video): When I see my right arm, I kind of see this scar that has all this pain. When I see my left arm, I don’t see scars. I don’t see pain. I see this beautiful work of art.

Elise (in the pitch video): Hi, I’m Elise Jaffe, the director of UnScarred. I was raised as a nice Jewish girl. Tattoos were not an option. But when I met survivors who found healing through ink, I had to question everything I was taught. And questioning, that’s actually a Jewish value. For over five years, I’ve dedicated myself to making a film about healing and reclamation, following people who have transformed their trauma into art, and the artists who have helped them do that. I’ve embraced the idea that your scars don’t define you, but they can transform you.

The healing process takes time, and so does making a film. We have a rough cut, but we need $37,000 for graphics, color correction, scoring, and sound mastering in order to get this film across the finish line. We’re so divided as a country by politics, race, religion, and gender. But we all have scars, and we all need to find ways to heal. This film will inspire some to take the next step in their healing journey, and others to challenge the biases they’ve always had. I owe it to these survivors to get their stories told, and I need your help to make that happen.

[Music]

Christian: Awesome, Elise. That was so well done, and thank you so much for sharing that with us. Do you have any thoughts or comments?

Elise: I didn’t like my hair that day, so I’m sorry, but I was...

Christian: We are all so critical of ourselves.

Elise: We are. But I was wearing my favorite color, which is purple. And purple is sort of the secondary color for the film, besides the grays and the blacks of tattooing, because when you get your stencil before you get your tattoo, it’s purple. And I think that was something that really resonated with me when I first saw all this tattooing being done. I’m like, why is every tattoo purple? Oh, that’s just the stencil, but it’s my favorite color. Anyway.

Christian: I like... Did your tattoo end up being purple, or is it gray?

Elise: No. So my tattoo is black and white, because David does all of his scar tattoo work, which mine is over a scar, all in black and white and floral. And over the past four years since I’ve gotten it, I’ve been like, the one thing I’m missing is, I do love it, and I look at it and it’s beautiful, but it’s missing color. I want color. So Dawn is going to be adding color to that. And it’s orchids, so it lends itself very well to the purple, but I said there definitely has to be some purple in there.

Christian: That’s awesome.

The Pros and Cons of Crowdfunding for Filmmakers

Christian: Yeah. So talk to us about Kickstarter. Many filmmakers have entertained the idea. Has it been difficult? Would you recommend it? Talk to us about it.

Elise: I have multiple feelings about it, but what I will say is we are working with a crowdfunding consultant. Her name is Bri Castellini, and she’s unbelievable. So if anyone is going to do a Kickstarter campaign, please reach out to her. She has made so much of a difference. I cannot imagine if I were doing this with my advisory board, of course, but without knowing a lot of the process. So she’s incredible.

Christian: But how do you, are you paying her? Is that a...

Elise: We do pay her. We do pay her, and that’s actually coming out of a donation that we had already gotten, to fund her up to a certain amount. I met her through The D-Word, which is an online community of documentary filmmakers. So that’s another thing for your listeners: listening to this podcast certainly is helpful, and every Friday, The D-Word has a Zoom for the whole community. Sometimes it’s just meeting other filmmakers, and sometimes there’s a presentation. And one of the weeks there was a presentation about crowdfunding, and she was speaking, and I was like, this lady is amazing, I need to find out about her. And she used to work at Seed&Spark, which focuses a lot on filmmaking.

I had done a crowdfunding campaign at the very beginning of making UnScarred, about a year in, and we did it ourselves. We created all the levels ourselves. We managed it ourselves, but there was no additional community around it. It was still only the community that we built. And so now we’re actually listed as a project that they love at...

Christian: Yeah, a project that Kickstarter loves. I mean, you’re now Kickstarter approved and stamped, which I think is amazing.

Elise: I thought that that would get a lot of other filmmakers to be like, oh wow, this is another pro, let’s get involved in this. It hasn’t seen a big uptick, but it’s still pretty awesome that we are in that category. I would recommend it. I just think, and I hate to say this before the thing is over, I think that in retrospect, if I made a smaller goal and then exceeded my goal, it would have been great. I made a very high goal, which we thought, based on just the data of the amount of people that are on our mailing list, and the amount of people that are in our orbit and follow us on social, and the percentage of conversions that typically are seen from those things, that we would not have a problem with $37,000. We are now realizing that that is a little tricky. So that’s the spot we’re at now.

So there’s definitely pros and cons. She advised us against launching one in the fourth quarter. So we launched it before the fourth quarter began, but it was still towards the end of the year. And you do need to spend a lot of time developing your campaign before you launch it, because it is fully, I mean, my background is in advertising, so it is fully like an advertising campaign. Yeah.

Christian: There is a lot that goes in before you press start on that first day. Well, and I feel it’s akin to making your own film, and you’re still involved. It’s like you make this thing, this film, this advertising campaign, but then it continues for however long. You’ve got to be involved every day, and you’ve got to continue making stuff. And then I think the challenging part, or the thing that’s kept me from doing a Kickstarter in particular, is the fact that you do all that work and you could end up with nothing.

Elise: Exactly. It is hard.

Christian: What’s hard?

Elise: I mean, you can do GoFundMes. There’s things that you can get the money from no matter what. GoFundMe never felt right for me, because GoFundMe, I think it started with, like, a person’s having health issues, and they need to cover their expenses because their medical insurance doesn’t cover it. Like disaster-type things, things that were not creative projects, but more like an absolute necessity for someone to live. Will people be able to survive not having this film? Yes, people will. Will this potentially save people’s lives, or really help them in their healing? Yes, it will. But it’s a lot harder to show that. And so that’s why I felt like GoFundMe wasn’t the right spot.

Christian: What about Seed&Spark?

Elise: Seed&Spark, I don’t want to get into the details of that, but she had worked there, and there are definitely some issues that I think might have held us back from that. But also, people just don’t know it as much. People know Kickstarter. So when you’re writing to 1,500 people that are on your mailing list, several of whom don’t work in this business, don’t know about creative fundraising, they somehow have heard about Kickstarter. Wasn’t that the case 15 years ago? I think I did, not Kickstarter, what was the other one that was the competitor to Kickstarter? I can’t remember.

Christian: I don’t remember.

Elise: I did a crowdfunding for my show Fooditude on that, and I did get the money. We had a goal of 7,000, and we got 4,000, and we got the money, and that was great. But we’re going to make it happen no matter what. I mean, the good news is that I do have a fiscal sponsor, and hopefully the people that give on Kickstarter, if we don’t hit our goal, will convert to being a donor through the fiscal sponsor. Let’s try and get that 30 grand.

Christian: Absolutely. Let’s do it.

Building Community Support for Independent Films

Christian: Now, now we’re going to be giving people...

Stacie: Sorry.

Christian: Now... actual art.

Stacie: Yeah. Well, life-changing experiences too, because Dawn and I, and I don’t know if Shane’s involved in that, but we all really take this stuff seriously, the transformation. So people can not only get inspired by what you’re gifting the world, this creation that you’re birthing for the benefit of the entire world, but also have that reflect in their own lives, where they don’t have to answer those questions anymore. And so I’m so glad that you’ve included some artists that really care about this kind of thing.

Christian: Well, I will tell you, Stacie, when I am ready to get these tattoos to cover these scars, now that I have met you, I’m going nowhere else. I can’t wait to come to Calgary. I’ve never been there before. I will come there, and I look forward to collaborating with you and you coming up with some ideas for me. So this is an exciting offer that I think that you’re making for UnScarred. I think it’s incredibly gracious, and I love it that you’re supporting something that you believe in. And I really do hope that other filmmakers will come and support you, Elise. I think this is an incredibly important project, and I applaud you. I’m proud of you. I fully support what you are doing, and I wish you all the best as you seek this money to finish your film.

Transformation Through Art & What’s Next for UnScarred

Christian: Yeah. Now, as we wrap up, I just want to ask you, is there anything else that I haven’t asked you, or that you would like to share? I always ask filmmakers, what do you want to talk to us about that I haven’t asked?

Elise: My next film? Yeah, I do like, I love doing this so much. My goal was always to finish this film. It’s proof of concept of what I can do as a director, and then have people hire me to direct their documentaries, preferably that are already funded. But no, I mean, I think you’ve covered so much. I could talk for hours and hours about this topic, but instead I have to go get in a Halloween costume and work at my son’s school’s Halloween party.

Christian: That’s beautiful.

Elise: But no, I mean, I think I just hope this film can be made. It’s actually also the week of the Chicago International Film Festival, which is always very inspiring for me. And I went to see a documentary yesterday, and the filmmaker was there after. And I want to be that person. I want to be doing the talkback after the film, because I want to be able to share all the stuff, the hours and hours and hours of footage that we have that isn’t going to make it in the film, and the personal time and energy and emotion that has gone into it too. And I love that when you’re at a festival, they allow that to come through when people ask you questions after.

Christian: It will happen. Elise, I’ve believed in you from the beginning. I know it will happen, and it will happen in its due time. So keep the faith, keep working hard, and I will be cheering you on when you are at your first film festival. For sure.

Elise: Awesome.

Christian: And all right, everybody...

Elise: Oh, sorry. The link for the Kickstarter. Sorry to...

Christian: Oh, yeah. So go ahead.

Elise: The Kickstarter link, there’s so many ways that you can get to it, but you can just go to Kickstarter and search UnScarred. But you can also do tinyurl.com/UnScarredKS, with a capital U and a capital S, UnScarred, and then a KS. UnScarred KS. tinyurl.com/UnScarredKS.

Christian: And you’ll find it below, in our comments. So we’re going to put it everywhere, and you’ll see it on our social media, and everybody’s going to be sharing it, so you’ll be able to find it. And if you have any questions, you can email me at Christian at Documentary First, and I’ll be able to help you find it, for sure. All right, everybody, thank you so much for listening to Documentary First, where we believe everybody has a story to tell and you can be the one to tell it. Bye, everybody.

Hey, everybody. This podcast is brought to you by Documentary First Productions, and we need your support so that we can keep preserving history. If you could go over and grab some merch or watch our films at documentaryfirst.com, you’ll help us keep making awesome documentaries and sharing the stories that matter, and also bring amazing filmmakers and their wonderful films to the world. So thank you so much for listening, and thank you for visiting documentaryfirst.com.

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