Adding Team Members and Collaborators

How to credit team members, manage co-creator permissions, and handle external collaborators on your Fund campaign.

Adding Team Members and Collaborators

Credit your team without giving up control.

A campaign credited to a single person reads as a vanity project, even if it is not. Crediting your team builds trust, distributes the marketing workload, and rewards the people doing the work. This guide covers how to add team members in the builder and what permissions each role grants.

Jump To

1. Why team credits matter 2. Roles supported by the builder 3. Adding team members with BlockReel accounts 4. Adding external collaborators 5. Permission levels 6. Team member acceptance flow 7. Removing or changing team members 8. Attached talent and cast 9. Producer credits as rewards 10. Legal considerations

Why team credits matter

Backers fund people more than projects. A campaign page that shows five named team members with linked profiles, prior credits, and headshots converts measurably better than the same campaign credited to one anonymous filmmaker. Three reasons:

• Trust. Five identifiable people with real backgrounds are harder to dismiss as a scam.
• Reach. Each team member has their own network. A team of five typically generates 3-5x the pledge volume of a solo creator with the same effort, because team members share to their own audiences.
• Accountability. Backers see who is on the hook, which raises the bar for everyone and reduces the risk of disappearing-creator scenarios.

If you are working solo, partner with at least one collaborator before launching. Even a producer who is mostly there in name and reputation makes a meaningful difference.

Roles supported by the builder

Standard film roles are pre-listed in the role dropdown:

• Director
• Producer (and variants: Executive Producer, Co-Producer, Line Producer)
• Writer (and Co-Writer)
• Director of Photography
• Editor
• Production Designer
• Composer
• Sound Designer
• Cast (Lead, Supporting, Featured)
• Casting Director
• VFX Supervisor
• Costume Designer
• Custom (free-text)

Pick the most specific applicable role. "Custom" should be used sparingly; it is for genuinely unique roles, not for inventing titles.

Adding team members with BlockReel accounts

In Step 6 of the builder, click "Add Team Member" and search by display name or email. If they have a BlockReel account, they appear in the results.

For each added member:

• Their avatar and display name auto-populate
• You assign a role
• You write a 1-2 sentence bio line (e.g. "Cinematographer on [prior film], 2024 ASC student award recipient")
• They are notified via email and in-app

They appear in the team section of the campaign page once they accept (covered below).

Adding external collaborators

For collaborators without BlockReel accounts:

• Click "Add External Collaborator"
• Enter name, role, optional bio line, optional external profile URL (IMDB, personal site, LinkedIn)
• Optionally upload a headshot

External collaborators are credited but do not get backer messaging access. They cannot edit the campaign or post updates. If they later create a BlockReel account, you can convert their entry to a linked team member.

We strongly recommend that key collaborators (especially Director, Producer, DP) have BlockReel accounts. The linked profile gives backers a richer trust signal and gives the collaborator messaging access.

Permission levels

Three permission tiers for team members with BlockReel accounts:

1. Credit Only (default).

• Appears in the team section
• No edit access
• No backer messaging access
• Receives email notifications about campaign milestones

2. Co-Creator.

• Everything in Credit Only
• Can edit the story and update reward tier descriptions
• Can post updates to the updates feed
• Can reply to backer messages
• Cannot change funding goal, duration, or payment settings
• Cannot disable rails or change country attestation

3. Owner (default for the campaign creator).

• Full edit and admin access
• Can add and remove team members
• Can change reward tiers (within constraints)
• Receives payouts (unless payouts are routed to a different connected account)

A campaign can have multiple Co-Creators but only one Owner. To transfer ownership, contact admin.

Team member acceptance flow

When you add a team member:

1. They receive an email and an in-app notification 2. The notification shows their role, your bio line for them, and an Accept / Decline button 3. On Accept: they appear publicly on the campaign page 4. On Decline: they are removed from the team list. You are notified. 5. If they do not respond within 7 days: they appear publicly with a "Pending acceptance" tag. After 14 days without response, they are removed.

A pending-acceptance team member does not block your campaign from launching. The team section just shows fewer accepted credits until they respond.

Removing or changing team members

Before launch: remove freely.

After launch: removing a team member requires admin approval. The visible removal of a previously credited collaborator can look concerning to backers; we ensure it is intentional and not retaliatory.

Changing a team member's role (e.g. promoting Co-Producer to Producer) is allowed at any time.

Attached talent and cast

If you have confirmed cast attachments, credit them in the team section under the appropriate cast role. Two cautions:

• Get written permission first. A casting attachment publicly listed on a campaign page is a public commitment. Verbal "I'm interested" is not enough; you need a signed letter of intent or attachment agreement. See the Casting Attachment Standards.
• Match the level of commitment to the public claim. If a recognizable actor is "in talks" but not signed, do not call them "starring in." Use language like "in development with" or simply do not credit them yet.

Misrepresenting cast attachments is one of the fastest ways to draw a takedown request and damage your professional reputation.

Producer credits as rewards

A common reward tier offers backers a Producer or Executive Producer credit on IMDB.

Before offering this:

• Confirm with IMDB's credit policy. Crowdfunding-based credits are accepted by IMDB if the producer made a substantive financial contribution. Tiers under $250 are usually borderline; tiers $1,000+ are usually accepted.
• Decide your cap. Unlimited Executive Producer tiers dilute the credit. Most successful campaigns cap EP credits at 10-25 across all backers.
• Specify what level. "Producer" vs "Executive Producer" vs "Associate Producer" vs "Special Thanks" have different industry meanings. Use the right one.

Crediting too many producers makes the credit roll look like a phone book and reduces the credit's value for everyone. Keep it tight.

Legal considerations

• Get release forms. Before publicly crediting any team member, get a release. Most accept verbally; some need it in writing.
• Right of publicity. Using a recognizable name or likeness without permission can trigger right-of-publicity claims, especially in California.
• Profit participation language. Do not promise team members specific profit splits in the campaign page unless you have signed agreements covering them. Public promises can be enforced.
• Union compliance. If you are crediting union talent (SAG-AFTRA, DGA, WGA), the public campaign credit may trigger union jurisdictional questions. Talk to a production lawyer before launch.

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Next: Media Assets and Specs covers poster, gallery, and video specs in detail.