LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Los Angeles filmmakers Emmett Loverde and Jonathan Arkin are using a unique strategy to raise funds to make the short film "Good Business Sense": full-value gift cards from popular retailers.

Contributors to "Good Business Sense" can choose gift cards from major retailers like Starbucks, Subway, Best Buy, or Home Depot in the exact amount of their contribution. So a $10 contribution will receive a $10 gift card and a $100 contribution will receive a $100 gift card. Contributions can be made in any amount over $10.

Gift-card-based fundraising has long been popular with schools, bands, and athletic groups. Loverde and Arkin are hoping that as the holiday season approaches and many shoppers prefer the ease of giving gift cards as gifts, contributors will obtain their gift cards by supporting "Good Business Sense."

"Good Business Sense" tells the story of uptight businessman Bartholomew Braniff who is making the biggest boardroom presentation of his life: a proposal of marriage to the equally industrious Claudia. Everything is perfect -- the numbers have been crunched, the projections have been double-checked, and even the ring has been market-tested. But Claudia wants flowers and violins, not charts and graphs. Luckily their bumbling waiter is there to save the day.

"Good Business Sense" was originally written as a stage play which has been produced over fifty-five times worldwide. The play is published by Playscripts, Inc.

Production of the film has been budgeted at $30,000. Filming will last three days in Los Angeles. The team is hoping to attract several well-known actors, though that "wish list" is being kept secret for the present. Shooting will be on a high-end digital camera system at one of Los Angeles' famed upscale restaurants.

The filmmakers are also running a fundraiser at well-known crowdfunding site IndieGoGo, where they are offering more traditional perks for contributions like a copy of the "Good Business Sense" DVD, tickets to the premiere screening, a set visit, or even a small part in the film.

Emmett Loverde is a graduate of UCLA's School of Theater, Film, and Television and Jonathan Arkin is a graduate of USC's School of Cinematic Arts. The two have a long history of producing plays and films together and are assembling a talented and professional crew to create "Good Business Sense."

https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/1ccJc/ab/226ENd?

http://youtu.be/9aYba9xT230

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/good-business-sense-a-c...