Funding Intro

Crude is a crowd-funded film. Deliberately so, because we want to remain utterly independent. So we can make the film we wanna make and also control the distribution. Plus, if the film makes a shedload of cash, we want it to go to the people who made it, the people who funded it and the people who starred in it. Not the middle men.

We raised the first £50,000 in December 2004 selling 100 x £500 "shares" to individuals and groups we know. That cash went on 12 filming trips to France, India, Singapore, Cornwall and Podington, resulting in 87 hours of footage. It also paid for six researchers, three HDV cameras and a Spanner’s editing equipment. Plus it produced the four-minute trailer which was good at the time.

Despite getting sidetracked re-editing a feature version of McLibel in 2005 (a happy diversion as it sold to mainstream TV, got amazing reviews and massively increased Spanner Films’ profile), we then raised another £200,000 from 40 people investing £5,000 each. These people got 0.25%

Now it's June 2007 and we're opening up the final round of funding. We need a further £300,000 to finish the film. Please read the FAQ and budgets to see. If you've got no cash yourself, maybe you have a rich friend who could be persuaded?

We'll leave you with a quote from Mark B, the very first funder of Crude:

"It's a real thrill for me to be in at the ground floor of a film which could have a seismic effect on public perceptions of the oil industry and the wider system that it serves. My advice is that if you're in a position to move some of your money into something that will make things better, do it. We may be the last generation of this species who still have the opportunity to turn things around."