Hooray for Hollywood and Crowdfunding.

Well the Academy Awards will be this weekend and I'm sad to be missing them again. That's the guy, above, who will win the Oscar for best actor Leonardo de Caprio.

He will win because he won the best actor at the SAG (Screen Actors's Guild) Awards.

It happens every year because it is the same people who vote for best actor in both awards – SAG and Academy.

I don't get a vote now but because I used to get a vote I would go and meet the stars at a screening of their movies; they cared, so they came along. A lot of actors say they don't care but they are usually actors who would never be considered in any case. I knew one guy who would go and read a book in Santa Monica rather than appear to take an interest. On the other hand I popped in to Dan Tanna's the first year I was there and everybody at the bar was watching the show in their tuxedos.

The last person I met was Jeff Bridges, who was a really nice and with great hair; I don't think he won for True Grit – but he might have done – and others that came along were George Clooney, Heath Ledger – oh and Leonardo de Caprio himself when he played Howard Hughes.

So I'll miss all that again this year.

I'll be starting a crowdfunding campaign – maybe this week so if you win a load of money with your bet on de Caprio come along! 

You won't get your feet wet.

If you haven't heard of crowdfunding – and why would you? - it's very simple.

Well the easiest way to explain is to look in Wiki – it's been going since 1997 and here's what they say:

Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people, today often performed via internet-mediated registries, but the concept can also be executed through mail-order subscriptions, benefit events, and other methods. Crowdfunding is a form of alternative finance, which has emerged outside of the traditional financial system.

The crowdfunding model is based on three types of actors: the project initiator who proposes the idea and/or project to be funded; individuals or groups who support the idea; and a moderating organization (the "platform") that brings the parties together to launch the idea .

In 2013, the crowdfunding industry raised over $5.1 billion worldwide.

I am not after any where near that but the main idea is to spread the word – so watch this space.