When times are uncertain, people go to the cinema to be cheered up. They want small treats to give them a lift, instead of big splurges they worry they can’t afford.

We want to put a smile on people’s faces with a romantic comedy film that’s sharp, funny and packed with heart. A modern story about the perils of instant fame, get-rich-quick schemes and hanging onto grudges.

What's the film about?

Two lovers escape a blaze at a famous London hotel. Out of the flames steps a hero, carrying the woman who loves him. It’s romantic, heroic and a photographer slaps them on the world's front pages. Their moment even inspires a new fragrance. But then our hero goes back to his wife…

Our heartbroken heroine picks herself up and finds love with a different kind of man. The fire hero’s wife files for divorce. Years pass, the perfume's sales fall and our once-famous couple are offered a big fee to take part in a relaunch of the fragrance they inspired. It has train wreck written all over it, but times are tough…

When our couple go back into the spotlight, old grudges surface, insecurities erupt and our characters send the campaign into a tailspin. Thanks to social networking, they have nowhere to hide. They face a media firestorm, stumble into the world of high finance and make a huge hash of things. Digging themselves out of the mess throws up life-changing choices.

What's special about it?

It's a story for our times, with well-rounded characters like you and me — people who have problems they’ve created themselves. It’s emotional, sharp, funny, smart and stylish. It isn’t soppy, prissy or a one-trick pony. Boy meets girl, loses girl, wins girl back is not enough for a great romantic comedy. And we want great.

Every terrific film has a crucible which traps the characters together until they sort out their demons or face ruin. Ours is the perfume campaign. Why? Because fragrance is about memory and memory is at the heart of our story. Our videos will show you what we mean…

Why perfume is our secret weapon

We have a £5.5m budget; it’s a big-screen story that begs to be shown in cinemas. Agents love it. They want their clients in it. But they want the funding in place before they commit. And investors want key cast in place before they commit to funding. It’s the challenge of independent filmmaking in an industry that’s undeniably high risk.

We have a secret weapon — the perfume in our story. Making it into a marketable product means it can contribute to the film's budget. We’ve always wanted to make it real and we’ve found a first-class boutique perfumer who’s up to the task. John Stephen of The Cotswold Perfumery makes fine fragrance for niche markets and he’s made fragrances for the Queen, Prince Charles, Elton John and Ozzie Osbourne.

So we want life to imitate art. John is creating the fragrance just as it happens in our script — to reflect one special moment that starts the story rolling. John’s fragrance will stand on its own merits, definitely no marketing gimmick. He’s as passionate about creating a great fragrance as we are about the film.

Sales of the new fragrance will contribute to the film’s finances and that makes it easier for us to lock down our funding. But it’s also a chance for John to create and that’s an opportunity not to be missed.

Our story features the influence of the crowd; we feel that’s the future. So one of our rewards is a chance for a limited number of backers to choose the fragrance that will represent our story.

It’s a win-win, it’s fun and we know we can deliver our rewards in a reasonable time.

Our referral contest

We've got a great reward in a referral contest. We'll take the three people who share and generate the most contributions to BAFTA in Piccadilly for a great dinner with the team.

We have great teams set up for the film and the fragrance, all working toward the same end of fragrance and film double act. We'll build on this and partner with other companies, but this is us so far…

The film team

Susan Feehan: writer/producer and owner of Caterpillar Films; her company motto is IMAGINE CREATE INSPIRE. Sue is an experienced journalist who has written five feature film scripts, three of them romantic comedies. All of Sue’s scripts have been optioned and gone through development with producers, including the late John Daly, producer of Platoon, Terminator, and The Last Emperor.

Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter; Sue's blog is at susanfeehan.com.

David Mason: line producer — the man who has to milk every ounce from the budget and account for how it’s spent. David has credits on TV movies and TV series including Mansfield Park, Eastenders, Hornblower, A Room with a View, Murderland, Doctor Who, Whitechapel and Red Dwarf.

imdb.com.

Pip Short: producer, Pip has credits on TV series and movies — All Creatures Great and Small, Pride and Prejudice (TV mini-series), Eastenders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Holby City, Among Giants and Little Voice.

imdb.com

The perfume team

John Stephen: perfumer and owner of The Cotswold Perfumery, a family business started by John’s father. The company specialises in fine fragrances for a niche market, an area where small business can compete with the world’s largest. John believes that using the highest-quality raw materials is the only way to go. He runs training courses in perfumery and has created a perfume garden at the perfumery where the plants are selected for aroma, not appearance.

cotswold-perfumery.co.uk.

Carol French: brand and packaging designer and consultant. Carol’s task is to ensure that John’s fragrance looks as good as it smells.  She has worked on a projects from FMCG, gift packaging and new product development to small business start-up branding. Most recently she branded The English Cream Tea Company.

frenchcreative.co.uk.

Jayne Redgrave: graphic designer. Jayne is behind the film poster and graphics for The Kiss; she has worked with 20^th Century Fox, MGM, Paramount, Universal and Disney on the kind of projects you’ll all have seen. Jayne will work with Carol on the look of the perfume at the heart of our reward package.

LinkedIn.

FAQs

How do we know you’ll deliver the rewards?

If we fail to deliver, the chances of us being able to raise finance again are slim to zero. The internet is great for spreading the word, for good or bad. Our reputations are vital to us. We’re in this for the long-haul, not short-term gain.

Bear in mind that we’re prepared to make a perfume so we can raise the money to make a film… That’s how much we want to make this project happen. Accountability is a big thing for us. We’ve structured our rewards package to include only offers we know we can deliver in a reasonable time. They're tangible, fun and deliverable.

What's wrong with credits, DVDs, visits to the set, walk-on parts?

We’ll be expressing our gratitutde in many ways — Facebook, Twitter... But we can't guarantee visits to the set, DVDs and walk-on parts at this budget level. It’s a mainstream commercial film aimed at cinemas. It brings insurance issues that may outweigh the value of pledges or make them difficult to deliver. As our cast comes on board, we’ll continue script development, so walk-on parts may get written out. We’ve included only rewards that we can guarantee.

Can I smell the perfume before pledging?

No. We hope you'll want to see the film made and take a leap of faith that it will be fabulous. We've picked a great perfumer with a terrific track record; we trust him to deliver his best work.

Why is the perfume a UK-only reward?

We're not allowed to send perfume to individuals outside of the UK, only to companies. We aim to make the perfume a product that can be sold in its own right around the world, so all is not lost and we'll keep backers posted of its progress. In the meantime, we have other great rewards like the posters, storyboards and the amazing bubble bottle — all of them limited editions and available for delivery outside the UK

How do we know you’ll get the film made?

Right now, you don’t. If we were raising the entire budget through crowdfunding, we could offer that guarantee. But we're prepared to enlist expert help to create a fragrance so we can make a film… We feel this gives us an edge in locking down the rest of the money. Until we get The Kiss made, you’ll have a great reward.

So why don't you ask for more?

It seemed sensible to start with a target that gets the fragrance created, branded and taking its first steps out in the world, helping the film to get made. We'll happily take more as we're aiming for the perfume to contribute between 10-20 per cent of the film's budget.

Who will be in the film? Who will direct it?

Right now, we don’t know. We’ve had interest in lead roles from actors you'd know, but getting commitment from agents is tough until funding is in place. What we can say is we’ll have fine actors, many of whom you’ll know and love. Where a director is concerned, we'll choose one who wants to make the same fillm as we do. It’s a crucial decision.

Why don’t you go to a big studio or production company like Working Title?

We could. But a company like Working Title has more than 30 projects in development. Much as they might like the project it won't be top of their list. We feel it ought to be made now and in a certain way; we want it done with style and boldness. We don’t need a huge budget as the script speaks for itself. We’re open to expanding the team, we’re just getting on with keeping the momentum going. We’ll team up with like-minded partners as needed.

Isn’t crowdfunding more suitable for edgy, lower-budget films?

We don’t see why it has to be limited. We believe in the power of the crowd to make things happen. We want to kickstart a tired genre with a rom-com that has more bite than most; we also want some of our audience to be able to sit in a cinema one day, hearing the laughter around them, enjoying the film and knowing they were instrumental in making the film happen. We want them to know they were part of a new fragrance launch, helping it to become more than something mocked up for a film shoot. That influence is empowering. The whole point is to break old patterns, not to let them restrict us.

Are you interested in traditional sources of funding?

Yes, we are. But we think there's room for a mix. This will be a British film, qualifying for UK film tax incentives. We had an original, fun idea and we’re running with it. Our crowdfund is also about raising awareness for our project, building a buzz around a new approach that's original, even for crowdfunding. Creating a new product so it can appear in a film before that film has been made…it’s original. Why not demonstrate some of that ingenuity? Imagine how original and ballsy we want to be with the film…

Why don’t you ask for the entire budget?

It’s a lovely idea. But since we have to spend money creating the fragrance rewards, then pay tax and VAT on the pledges, we'd have to ask for an enormous sum. We’re ballsy, not bonkers. Creating the fragrance through small pledges demonstrates to potential investors, talent agents and distributors alike that there’s an audience that wants to see the project made. It inspires confidence at a time when investors are a bit more cautious than they might otherwise be. We’re confident and want to show others why they can be confident too. 

Maybe backers will just want a new perfume, not the film?

We feel they’ll want to see the film made by a group of creatives so obsessed they’ll create a perfume as a novel way of getting to make a film. And they’ll realise the perfume is a great, tangible reward for making a pledge. A reward made by a gifted perfumer dedicated to his craft. They’ll be pledging for him to take the character off the page and into the real world. That’s what they’ll want. It’s a big project, packed with creative people.