Finding Funds for Your Film or TV Project
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About this ebook
Covered are these key topics:
• The overall film industry and trends in film production
• Deciding what to produce, preparing a script or treatment, determining your needed cast and crew, and coming up with a rough estimate of your budget
• Putting together the needed documents, including creating a schedule and budget, preparing a producer package, business plan, and private placement memorandum
• Creating a crowd-funding campaign
• Developing a trailer and sizzle reel
• Creating your marketing and promotional materials and getting a publicity buzz going
• Developing and presenting your pitch to prospective investors
• Closing the deal and getting your money
Gini Graham Scott
Gini Graham Scott, Ph.D., CEO of Changemakers Publishing and Writing, is an internationally known writer, speaker, and workshop leader. She has published over 50 books with major publishers on various topics and has written over 3 dozen children's books. Her published children's books include Katy's Bow, Scratches, The Crazy Critters First Visit, and Where's the Avocado? published by Black Rose Writing. She has published 8 children's books through her company Changemakers Kids and is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She does workshops on self-publishing and creativity. She also helps clients write books as a ghostwriter and self-publish or find publishers and agents. Her websites are www.changemakerspublishgandwriting.com and www.ginigrahamscott.com.
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Finding Funds for Your Film or TV Project - Gini Graham Scott
Copyright © 2013 by Gini Graham Scott
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, without written permission, except by a newspaper or magazine reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review.
Published in 2013 by Limelight Editions
An Imprint of Hal Leonard Corporation
7777 West Bluemound Road
Milwaukee, WI 53213
Trade Book Division Editorial Offices
33 Plymouth St., Montclair, NJ 07042
Printed in the United States of America
Book design by Mark Lerner
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
Print ISBN 978-0-87910-878-6
epub ISBN 978-0-87910-891-5
www.limelighteditions.com
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Getting Started
2. Putting Together Information for Investors
3. Creating a Crowdfunding Campaign
4. Marketing, Presenting, and Promoting Your Project
5. Closing the Deal and Getting Your Funds
Appendix
Resources
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
I’d like to extend my thanks to the many people in the film community in the San Francisco Bay Area and L.A. who encouraged me to write this book. They also raised many questions that helped guide me in deciding what to include.
Introduction
Finding funds for films involves a series of phases in which you decide what film you are producing; have a completed script; determine how much you need to produce it for the lowest possible budget and with an expanded budget; create the necessary materials to obtain the funds, which may include a business plan, private placement memorandum (PPM), and crowdfunding prospectus; and set up the necessary legal structure to receive those funds, which is often a separate LLC (limited liability corporation) for each film.
You may also need other kinds of documents to show you have the necessary commitments from actors and the top crew members and to show you have the team in place to make the film once you get the necessary funding. The actors may not matter for a low-budget film, but the budget, as well as the interest of distributors, can increase substantially if you do get actors with a name. But normally you need at least the major participants on the team: the writer, producer, director, and director of photography (the last two are sometimes one in the same). At this point you may also include any associate producers, executive producers (who usually contribute funds), and cinematographers.
Other materials to prepare to get funding include flyers and promotional materials to show distributors, producers, and investors, as well as marketing materials to promote your film through social and traditional media and to your personal contacts.
Then, once you have the necessary documents and materials prepared, you are ready for the next phase of finding funds: announcing, presenting, and promoting your project, while keeping in mind the legal limitations on what you can do when asking contributors for money. For example, if you’re seeking investors, you normally need to limit your offering to private qualified parties in order to conform to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requirements. Or if you’re using a crowdfunding approach, you can offer rewards in return for contributions, but you can’t ask for investments or promise a return. Should you approach family and friends, you have much more flexibility in what you say or do, although you should put all promises and expectations in writing to keep things professional and to preserve your relationships if the film loses money—or makes a lot!
This phase typically involves a lot of outreach, which means finding whom to approach and how, what to say in your letters and initial phone calls, and how to network to prospect for leads. Then, once you identify interested individuals or groups, you have to make one-on-one and group presentations, and you have to know how to follow up afterwards to close the deal.
Finally, you need to set up the appropriate banking and escrow arrangements to receive the funds so that you can properly disburse them yourself or with the assistance of a line producer, financial officer, or administrative assistant. For example, you might set up an LLC for your film with its own bank account. This way, you can keep track of what you pay out, keep on top of your expenses and stay on budget, and complete your film.
This book covers each of the major phases, from deciding what you want to film and choosing the script, through finding a team and crafting a budget, to reaching out to investors and contributors, so you have a realistic start to finding the funds you need:
Chapter 1, Getting Started,
focuses on deciding what you want to produce, optioning an already written property or writing the script, preparing a synopsis, determining the cast and crew you need, and coming up with a rough estimate of a high and low budget.
Chapter 2, Putting Together Information for Investors,
covers the major documents you need for different types of funding, which include a budget and schedule, business plan, private placement memorandum (PPM), and necessary legal documents.
Chapter 3, Creating a Crowdfunding Campaign,
deals with how to put on a crowdfunding campaign where you appeal for donations, rather than investments. It discusses the elements of a successful campaign using Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and RocketHub.
Chapter 4, Marketing, Presenting, and Promoting Your Project,
focuses on how to sell contributors or investors on your project, as well as how to find and then contact prospective investors and contributors both in person and online. There’s also information on pitching your project to the media and building your credibility and increasing interest in your project by engaging with the film community.
Chapter 5, Closing the Deal and Getting Your Funds,
focuses on how to follow up with leads, negotiate arrangements, close the deal, and complete any necessary paperwork, as well as how to set up a bank and escrow account for your money, so you can then use it for disbursing your funds once you get into production.
Finally, lists of resources and references offer books, websites, film finance organizations, and other information you’ll find helpful as you find your funds.
1
Getting Started
Deciding What to Produce
Deciding what to produce usually starts with a writer, producer, or director becoming intrigued or inspired by a particular idea—a newsworthy event, a personal story of courage or achievement, an article or book, or an earlier film ripe for a remake.
Whatever it is, you’ll need to put together a package including a script or treatment, synopsis, and analysis of the projected budget, and a list of the cast and crew needed under various high to low budget scenarios. In selecting a property, consider whether it will be practical in light of production needs and how to scale it to produce it for different budget levels. And because the timeline from inception to completing a feature film or documentary can vary greatly, from a few months to a few years or more, you’ll have to determine whether you have the time and energy to commit to the project.
Considering the Market Opportunities
In selecting a property for development, remember your initial inspiration or idea, and review film industry trends and the markets that will be most interested in your type of film. Consider what else is already out there on your subject. Is there an expanding level of interest in this topic, or is the market saturated? How can you make your film stand out from the competition? Also, think about whether the film is too timely (such as a film tied to current event), or whether there still will be interest in this topic in the few years it takes to fund and complete the film. Likewise, think of the market for your film. Is it for a general or niche audience? Will it appeal most to certain age, sex, ethnic, or other groups? Does the potential market appeal justify the production budget?
These are all questions to ask yourself in deciding on what to produce, as these are also questions to answer in writing your business plan and pitching your project to potential investors and contributors. They will want to see not only that your proposed budget is realistic but also that the film is likely to make money.
Preparing a Script and/or Treatment
Once you decide on the property to develop and seek funds for, the next step is getting a script and/or treatment, which you can obtain in one of three ways: write it yourself, hire a writer, or secure the rights to an already completed script or book. Investors and contributors will want to know that you have full rights to this property when they are investing or contributing funds.
Writing It Yourself
Even if you write the script or treatment yourself, include the payment to yourself as part of the budget. There are several ways to do this:
• Pay yourself the full amount for the script based on common industry standards for a script of that length for that type of film—for example, $5,000–$10,000 for a low-budget film script from a new scriptwriter. Experienced scriptwriters will often be paid more, say $15,000–$25,000. However, these amounts are far below the payments expected by WGA (Writers Guild of America) writers, where the minimum is $70,000, but for a low-budget indie feature or documentary, the lower figures are much more typical.
• Pay yourself a percentage of the budget raised for shooting the film. Typically, this percentage is around 3%, which would be $1,500 for a film with a $50,000 budget, or $3,000 for a film with a