I am an even bigger fan. Most people probably already know this, but just in case - because they hosted the video on Revver with an ad at the end, they have the potential to earn money whenever it is watched. If someone watches the clip all the way to the end, Creative Commons will get a split of the advertising revenues. How it all works is here.
The video itself is quite creative, much more interesting than most fundraising pitches that I've received from nonprofits this year. I'd much rather watch an animation about the relationship between the White Stripes and Creative Commons, than read a boring appeal for my year-end donations. I'm even more impressed that CC head-honcho and (much more popular) fellow blogger Larry Lessig has agreed to personally write a thank you to every donor. Not a form letter either - doubt you'll get that much from many other nonprofits. Nor will you see as much "impact" from them either - and I say this as someone who runs a nonprofit. Not many of us have had the success, the impact on policy (or anything else for that matter) as Creative Commons has had in just a few years. Kudos.
Importance to Filmmakers:
But this campaign is even more important to me for what it suggests about fundraising for others, not just nonprofits. Filmmakers can take a tip from the CC folks and apply this kind of fundraising to their film projects. Instead of maxing out your credit card, perhaps you should make a cool viral video, post it on Revver and similar sites, and use the money to make the feature. You can even link them back to you to donate more, watch longer versions, etc. While you may not make tons of money, it's a lot more inventive than most strategies I see the majority of us trying to use to raise funds for our films, projects, etc.
