Kickstarter has helped establish an effective crowdsourcing model for startups, and now Tugg.com has begun to show how filmmakers and exhibitors can benefit from a similar approach. Tugg.com allows people to set up movie screenings where customers pay for reserved tickets, and the screenings only happen after the advanced sales cover expenses. Indie filmmakers are using the online booking site to organize screenings of their projects.

“Borrowing a page from Kickstarter, the site allows anyone with a functional credit card to organize screenings and if customers buy enough tickets to cover all the screening’s expenses, the event gets confirmed,” reports Wired. “If advance ticket sales fall short, the screening gets canceled and nobody loses money.”

One reason crowdsourcing independent film screenings can succeed in today’s market is because of the decreasing costs of distribution. Whereas traditional films were expensive to distribute because the physical film was costly, digital technology costs just a fraction of the price.

“The ability to marry crowdsourcing capability with theatrical distribution is an extremely modern opportunity that only arose in the last 18 to 24 months as theaters transitioned from film projectors to digital projectors,” explains Tugg CEO Nicolas Gonda.

The crowdsourcing method also appeals to theater owners who are guaranteed a full house. They can even schedule the screening on an off night.