The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Honors College Winter 12-2014 Fan-Funded Film: How Audience Participation Is Shaping The Future of Motion Pictures Renee E. Moody University of Maine Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors Part of the English Language and Literature Commons, and the Mass Communication Commons Recommended Citation Moody, Renee E., "Fan-Funded Film: How Audience Participation Is Shaping The Future of Motion Pictures" (2014). Honors College. 253. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/253 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors College by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. FAN-FUNDED FILM: HOW AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION IS SHAPING THE FUTURE OF MOTION PICTURES by Renee E. Moody A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of a Degree with Honors (English, Mass Communication) The Honors College University of Maine December 2014 Advisory Committee: Margery Irvine, Lecturer in English, Advisor Steven R. Evans, Associate Professor of English Michael J. Socolow, Associate Professor, Department of Communication and Journalism Sarah Brookes, Assistant Professor of Communication and Journalism Edith Pratt Elwood, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Honors College (Sociology) © 2014 Renee Moody All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT A look at intellectual property rights in the Internet Age. Fan-Funded Film examines the omnipresent issue of piracy and the financial strategy of crowdfunding. Both have existed in film for decades, but have increased dramatically in recent years. Through the use of several theories and real life examples, I explore the problem of piracy's popularity and how audience participation through crowdfunding could be the answer.