A Little Bit About Me:
Hi, I’m Andrew, the founder of MovieMania, a business based in York which specialises in Film & TV Memorabilia. I absolutely love sourcing Cinematic Rarities for avid Film Fans around the World. My obsession started when I was 15. I built Jurassic Park in my Parents garden & operated my own cinema in the garden shed. When I turned 18, I attended my first auction in London & purchased a small background Prop used in the 1999 Film ‘Sleepy Hollow’. I couldn’t quite believe I owned something used in an iconic Film, & it gave me a real buzz. I also loved the energy in the Auction Room, & knew it was something I would like to go back to. When a friend offered to buy the prop from me for a tidy profit, I realised I could make a living from these fascinating artefacts. I had originally wanted to work in the film industry, but also wanted to run my own business. I formed MovieMania thereafter, as it amalgamated both passions, & I gradually began building a customer base as well as a knowledge of appraising, authenticating, valuing & preserving Film Memorabilia. It hasn’t been easy, though. Indeed no business is easy to grow, but sometimes life’s challenges make it even harder. My Father suffered a brain haemorrhage & I was his Carer from the age of 13. It was difficult to run a business whilst also attending to his daily care needs. But I somehow found my inner tenacity & continued. It is fair to say that without my business I would not have been able to face the profound hurdles we faced in respect of his illness. My business has always been my pride & joy, & it has always brought me a sense of fulfilment. When my Father passed away in 2021, I was in a very dark place. But again, the business helped me & gave me a purpose, & in 2022 it had the most successful year of sales since it’s creation. It has continued to grow, & I am therefore eager to take it to the next level.
The idea:
In addition to selling memorabilia through our website, we want to launch our own auction house. For twelve years I have sold memorabilia through other auction houses, and whilst this has given me a wealth of experience & knowledge of that particular marketplace, I haven’t been able to benefit in the way I would if I was the auction house myself. I have built up a large following both through social media & through sales, & therefore have both an infrastructure & an audience ready to benefit from our own memorabilia auctions. I very much want our auctions to ”stand out from the crowd” & I wish to fulfil the following aims:
a) Provide a sustainable initiative in the local community & also in the film industry where Film Studios are beginning to exploit the sale of their assets through memorabilia auctions. There are currently no local auction houses that specialise in the sale of Film & TV Memorabilia. The future development of this idea could propel employment & boost regional economic growth.
b) To host quality auctions that offer a niche range of desirable cinematic rarities rather than huge auctions that offer thousands of Lots & exploit bulk selling. Quality not quantity.
c) Offer a competitive Seller’s premium that encourages more Clients to consign memorabilia with us.
d) Provide innovative marketing campaigns & Pre-Auction Public Exhibitions that give our auction Lots plenty of exposure & attract bids.
How will the money be used?
In addition to accepting floor bids & absentee bids, auction houses take bids all over the world through an integrated live online bidding platform. One of the bonuses of using such a platform is not just the bidding technology, but the enhanced exposure, too. Companies that supply the bidding technology have themselves accumulated a colossal database of keen collectors & bidders, which every auction they stream has access to. I have teamed up with icollector, one of the world’s largest & most respected bidding platforms. The cost to implement & utilise the platform is in the region of $2,000 dollars, or £1,550 pounds. Pledges from the crowdfunder will be used to pay for this platform & enable our first live auction. Once we have fulfilled our first live auction, taken a healthy profit, & fully assessed the results with a view to what we could amend or make better, it will be my intention to do further auctions!
In exchange for a pledge, there are a variety of rewards. Or if you prefer, you can donate without the reward. Thank you for reading this, & thank you for your support!
