Method and system for facilitating creation and promotion of creative works

Abstract

A method and system for facilitating the creation and promotion of creative works involves displaying or providing information about one or more undeveloped creative works, and receiving and processing requests for purchases of benefits relating to selected ones of the undeveloped creative works. Patron information is stored in a manner associated it with work under development selected by the user. Monetary amounts received from patrons relating to the undeveloped works are aggregated and, at a certain point, made available to the producer of the work to be developed. Patrons may be notified concerning availability of the selected and previously purchased benefits relating to the patron's sponsorship of the particular work. The benefit may be redeemed or obtained in a variety of different manners, depending upon the nature of the benefit.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method, comprising the steps of:
 providing, to a remote user over a wide area electronic network, presentation information concerning specific undeveloped creative works seeking financial sponsorship, said undeveloped creative works including motion picture works, wherein said presentation information includes a plot description of at least one of the undeveloped motion picture works;   receiving and processing requests for purchases of predefined benefits relating to a specific undeveloped creative work;   storing patron information and associating the patron information to the specific undeveloped creative work;   aggregating monetary amounts received from the patrons in a locked account for the specific undeveloped creative work until a predefined target amount is reached, whereupon all or a portion of the aggregated monies is released from the locked account to facilitate completion of the specific undeveloped creative work; and   automatically electronically notifying the patrons associated with the specific undeveloped creative work concerning attainment of the predefined benefits if the predefined target amount was attained and, if it was not attained, that a substitute benefit relating to a different specific creative work is available.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein said step of providing presentation information concerning the undeveloped creative work comprises the step of displaying presentation information about the undeveloped creative work at a computerized device in response to a patron request entered via the computerized device. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , where said patron request is received electronically over a distributed network from a remote patron computer. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein said step of providing presentation information concerning the undeveloped creative work further comprises the step of electronically disseminating presentation information relating to one or more undeveloped creative works to a remote user-interactive device. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein said presentation information is electronically disseminated by a web server coupled to a storage medium having stored thereon one or more web pages containing the presentation information. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein said step of providing information related to an undeveloped creative work comprises the step of storing, on a portable storage medium readable at a remote patron computer, software instructions for execution on the remote patron computer and data files comprising at least a portion of said presentation information. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein said presentation information exists in static form on a printed or portable electronic storage medium. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising the step of receiving electronic payment information from the patron. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising the steps of:
 collecting patron information including the name of the patron and the patron's email address; and   associating the patron information with the undeveloped creative work and the purchased benefit.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising the step of utilizing the patron's email address to electronically notify the patron concerning availability of the patron's predefined benefit or that the predefined target amount was not attained. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the predefined benefit comprises a copy of or discount relating to the creative work. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the predefined benefit comprises a discount relating to merchandise or service relating to the creative work, other than the creative work itself. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the predefined benefit comprises a copy of or discount on a creative work different from the undeveloped creative work or to other merchandise or services unrelated to the undeveloped creative work. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising the step of allowing selective access by patrons purchasing predefined benefits relating to the undeveloped creative work to updated or additional presentation information relating to in-progress development or completion of the creative work, said updated or additional presentation information being unavailable to the general public. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the updated or additional presentation information comprises audio, image and/or video data relating to in-progress development or completion of the creative work. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising the step of electronically notifying patrons associated with a particular undeveloped creative work concerning the updated or additional presentation information. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the predefined benefit comprises digital data relating to the creative work, the method further comprising the steps of:
 receiving through electronic means a request from a patron to obtain the predefined benefit; and   electronically transmitting the digital data to a remote patron computer.   
     
     
         19 . A computerized system for facilitating the creation and promotion of creative works, comprising:
 an administrative transaction handler for receiving and storing visual and/or audio information about specific undeveloped creative works seeking financial sponsorship, said undeveloped creative works including motion picture works, wherein said information concerning the undeveloped creative works includes a plot description of at least one of the undeveloped motion picture works;   a patron transaction handler for conveying the visual and/or audio information about the specific undeveloped creative works to remote computerized devices over an electronic network for presentation to potential patrons, said patron transaction handler processing requests received over the electronic network from the remote computerized devices for purchases of predefined future benefits relating to selected ones of the specific undeveloped creative works;   a storage medium for storing patron information and associating the patron information to the specific undeveloped creative work selected by the user;   an accounting engine that aggregates monetary amounts from the patrons for each of the specific undeveloped creative works in a locked account, automatically transmits an electronic notification upon attainment of a predefined target amount, and releases all or a portion of the aggregated monetary amount from the locked account when the predefined target amount is attained so as to facilitate completion of the specific undeveloped creative work;   an administrative interface providing viewing access for the artist associated with developing the undeveloped creative work of the monetary amount in the locked account; and   a benefit redemption processing engine having access to the patron information stored in the storage medium, for electronically notifying those patrons having purchased predefined benefits relating to a specific creative work concerning availability or attainment of their predefined benefits if the predefined target amount was reached and, if was not, that the predefined target amount was not attained.   
     
     
         20 . The computerized system of  claim 19 , wherein said patron transaction handler is configured to transmit to the remote computerized devices an identification of a plurality of categories of creative works, and to cause visual and/or audio information to be presented to users concerning only those undeveloped creative works in one or more categories interactively selected by the user. 
     
     
         21 . The computerized system of  claim 20 , wherein said categories include one or more of motion pictures, television productions, books, musical works, sculptural works, or still image visual works. 
     
     
         22 . The computerized system of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 means for adding and associating with particular creative works updated or additional audio and/or visual presentation information relating to in-progress development of the creative work;   means for providing selective access to the updated or additional audio and/or visual presentation information only for patrons having purchased predefined benefits relating to the creative work.   
     
     
         23 . The computerized system of  claim 19 , wherein said predefined benefit comprises a copy of or discount relating to the creative work. 
     
     
         24 . The computerized system of  claim 19 , wherein the predefined benefit comprises digital data relating to the creative work, and wherein said benefits processing engine comprises means for transmitting the digital data to a patron at the patron's request. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising the step of transmitting to said patrons a digital coupon that is redeemable electronically at an online website. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising the step of transmitting a key number to said patrons, which may be used by said patrons to redeem the purchased benefit online and/or at a point-of-sale location.