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Filmmaking resources for indie filmmakers, including, screenwriting, financing, producing and film distribution

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Five Things Every New Filmmaker Should Know

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Being a new filmmaker is like navigating rough waters. In fact, making movies is one of the few jobs in the world that, when done correctly looks extremely easy. If you know anything about the craft, you know making movies is challenging. However, do not let the idea of the work involved or the potential difficulty of the task stop you from making your first flick.

If it was easy everybody would be doing it right?

new filmmaker

Five things Every New Filmmaker Should Know

Here are a few tips I  learned while producing my first feature length film. These are the same things I think every new filmmaker should know.

1. No Such Thing as being too Prepared

You can’t really state this enough. Sounds like it would be common knowledge but the truth is a lot of film-makers/directors go into their projects not having thought out the little things that need to be done. Having back-up locations, what to do if an actor becomes unavailable, How to continue if money becomes an issue?

All these things (and more) happen and new filmmakers get stuck because of them but if you take a little time and prepare a “business plan” of sorts to produce your feature you can prevent a great deal of hiccups. This is extra work but worth it!

2. Don’t Sell Yourself Short

I have often said the biggest obstacle I’ve had as a new filmmaker was myself. I didn’t know that the statement applied to many people. We tend to talk ourselves out of the job before the job has begun and feelings of  “I’m not good enough,” or “I can’t do what they do” or “I’ll never make it!” These doubts flood our brains. This is a common thought process amongst most artist. Read this book: Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking.

The point is this. Get past it. Some people or going to like what you do and some people are going to hate what you do. But you’ll never have the chance to be good or bad if you don’t take the chance. Besides what the heck do people that never picked up a camera or written a script know about the process anyway?

3. Don’t Underestimate what you own

Another big derailing factor is, “I don’t have access to props, actors, locations, et al.” Wrong! You have things that you use everyday. You have access to things that your friends and family uses. Make a list (getting prepared again) of all the items and locations that you can use to get your movie done.

Having that list will get you mind wrapped around the possibility of your movie become a reality. Yeah, technically you don’t own actors but the point is you can get some for free. LOTS of acting websites, groups, classes and more out there! Believe me, many want to do project just to create a reel and be part of something. Use that to your benefit.

4. Keep From being Overwhelmed

Although it may feel like it there is no reason for you to swamp yourself with every little task on set and in post-production. Find help. Much like the actors, there are people out there that find working on a movie of any size sexy and will help for the experience. If you really work at it you can develop a small group of production staff to keep the wheels of your movie underneath and rolling.

5. Cut Your Losses Quick

Just because you’re getting work for free doesn’t mean that you have to deal with the possible crap that some people will general. This is the advice I wish I knew making my first. Sometimes people change their minds, schedules begin to conflict or any number of things may happen to play havoc with your production but remember your production is as important to the people that invested their time in it as it is to you.

You owe it to them and yourself to do what it takes to keep that project moving and sometimes that means making the hard decisions. Anything that becomes cancerous on your set (you’ll know it when you see it) get rid of it fast! If not it may just drag your production into the toilet.

If you’re a new filmmaker, you might want to check out the Filmmaker Action Pack.

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Brian Green is an independent filmmaker based in Atlanta, Georgia. Since 1999 has worked on and off in the television and film industry. His first movie, The Interrogation. (2011), was an official selection at the (2011) Bronze Lens film festival. It was brought to Atlanta television airing on Atlanta Shorts. Additionally he produced The End Agenda (2015).

What Is Your Movie Competition (And Why You Should Care)

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What is your movie competition? Do you know? Well one of the Filmmaking Stuff readers sent the following question about this topic:

Jason – I’m trying to put together a business plan for my prospective investors. I need to figure out who my competition is, and I am having difficulty. Do you have any ideas what my movie competition is?

– A Confused Filmmaker

Hi Confused,

Good question. Since the kernel of all industry is an idea, followed by a business plan, you’re not alone. When venturing into any market, one of the challenges is working to pinpoint your competition and figuring out ways that your business will compete.

movie competition

What Is Your Movie Competition And Why You Should Care

In the world of indie filmmaking, your competition comes down to two main categories.

  1. A digital store-shelf filled with millions of other films.
  2. Ignorance in the marketplace… Nobody knows your film exists.

On both accounts, you are responsible for helping your movie rise above the noise. The question is, what makes your movie so remarkable that your audience would give up two hours to watch it? If you can’t find a way to hook someone with your story, your movie runs the risk of floating forever in quiet obscurity.

For all these reasons, it is vitally important that your business plan also includes a marketing plan. I would also go on to say that your marketing plan should allocate at least fifty-percent of your budget towards the marketing, sales and distribution of your movie. If you would like to create a marketing plan for your movie, check out my how to sell your movie program.

Film Finance: 5 Tips to Find Out if Your “Rich Guy” is Real

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Film finance is all about trying to land an HNI (High Net Worth Individual) for your film.  And one of the main obstacles film makers face is qualifying if an investor is “Real.”

In other words, REAL means that he or she CAN actually fund your film. Real investors are not guys who know other guys.  Real investors are the guys that can actually provide the money to fund film.

film finance

Film Finance: 5 Tips to Find Out if Your “Rich Guy” is Real

So if you are looking for film finance, I present to you 5 tips for you to know in your quest to find who’s real and who’s not!

1. Google your prospective investor.  It sounds simple, and it is.  Do your research on the guy.  It’s easy to find out information if you just take the time and search for it.

2. Take into account what he’s wearing and what he’s driving.  Sometimes relying solely on image is a mistake.  In the world of film finance, sometimes the guy with the 3 piece suit is the phony and the guy in shorts and a t-shirt is the eccentric millionaire.  But where does he live?  What does he drive?  Many HNIs enjoy the comforts their money brings.  This method is not foolproof, but it does work 90% of the time.  I had a meeting with a prospective investor and he was missing some teeth.  His teeth were Real, but he wasn’t.

3. Does he pick up the check?  I say it over and over again.  If you are eating dinner/lunch with a potential investor and he/she doesn’t pick up the check, I can 99% guarantee that you will never get a penny out of them.  If they care so little about you that they cannot invest $50 for a meal, you ain’t getting their money.

4. If he starts talking about “money coming in”, he’s not real.  Had this happen many times.  Someone talks about some bank deals or commissions that will be upcoming.  Walk away.  Don’t get your hopes up… it never closes.

5. Is it too easy?  This is an interesting one.  If your film finance efforts seem to be going too easy, a red flag should pop up.  Closing money is not easy.  And if the guy doesn’t really look at your business plan or do his homework, chances are he doesn’t have the money to fund your project and he’s just pretending.

Here’s the key to film finance… You must ALWAYS be in research mode!

I start almost every film finance meeting asking a prospective investor questions about himself or herself.  I’ve also came to that meeting having Googled them and I usually know some info already. Pay attention… don’t be too anxious.  Analyze all the information you’re given and your ratio of closing will increase dramatically!

If you’d like more film finance information so you can find out how I raised millions to produce films – Check out the film finance guide.

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Tom Malloy is an Actor, Writer and Producer, specializing in independent film finance. He is the author of BANKROLL: A New Approach to Financing Feature Films, which is the best reviewed book on film financing, and is considered a “gold standard” in indie films circles.

How To Overcome Your BIG Filmmaking Challenges

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Over the past year, we have seen a lot of developments in the indie filmmaking space. New technology coupled with non-discriminatory distribution has enabled many would-be filmmakers to finally get a feature made and distributed.

While most of us in the indie filmmaking community welcome these changes – The downside to these innovations is the market is now saturated with backyard indies.

The other day I asked members of the Filmmaking Stuff Facebook community to describe their biggest indie filmmaking challenges. Minutes later, it became clear that the most glaring obstacles revolved around:

  1. Film Finance
  2. Movie distribution.

This seems right. Like you, there was once a time when I had no idea on how to finance, make, market, sell and distribute a movie. I remember spending countless hours reading everything I could get my hands on. Most of those filmmaking resources let me down. None of them helped me overcome my particular indie filmmaking challenges.

So I decided to address both points below and offer solid solutions you can utilize to get your movie made, seen and selling.

filmmaking challenges

Indie Filmmaking Challenge – Film Finance

You know you need money to make a movie. Your indie filmmaking challenge here is obviously finding the money. Read any filmmaking book and the solution almost always involves some ridiculous scenarios where you either hire a seasoned producer to raise the money (wouldn’t that be nice) or find someone with disposable income, like a doctor or dentist.

I’m sure you heard this useless crap too. I am tired of it.

So here is your non-magical solution to film finance. Notice I DID NOT say easy. What I’m about to share is not easy. I am sorry. If you don’t like a challenge, choose another profession or simply buy another indie filmmaking book that promises fame and fortune. But for those of you wiling to do the work, here are the steps for raising money:

  1. Write or acquire a great script.
  2. Break your script into a schedule and budget.
  3. Create a business plan that outlines how you will make, market and sell the movie.
  4. Have a lawyer draft a Private Placement Memorandum.
  5. Approach prospective investors and ask for the money.

While the entire indie film finance process can be broken down into five basic steps, it may take you months or even a year or more to get your movie fully financed. At this stage, your indie filmmaking challenge is to decide if you want to keep going, or perhaps save your blockbuster for another time and focus on making a smaller movie now. I personally think it’s better to make a feature than wait. But only you can decide what’s right for you.

Regardless of the scope and scale of your project, most prospective investors will want to know how they will benefit from your movie. Tom Malloy talks about this quite a bit in our film finance guide – But the basic thing to remember is that each prospective investor is looking for a different payoff. Some want a financial return. But some simply want to get involved in the movies.

It is important that you do more listening than talking. Figure out what the investor wants and then provide that. In all scenarios, investors will likely ask what your plans are for marketing, sales and distribution. And that leads me to address the next point in your biggest indie filmmaking challenge – Distribution.

Indie Filmmaking Challenge – Distribution

There was a time when film distribution required someone picking up your move in exchange for a tremendous outlay of cash. Those days are over. Thousands of filmmakers flood the market with cheaply produced backyard indies. DVD distribution has been replaced by VOD distribution. And traditional distributors (with minor exception) no longer offer minimum guarantees.

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The cast of Special Dead.

Sounds pretty wacky, right? Wrong.

Many traditional distributors still pretend it’s 1995 and avenues to the marketplace are limited. But this is not true. Getting onto iTunes or Amazon or any number of VOD outlets is simply a matter of choosing one of the popular encoding houses and shelling out a few thousand bucks.

I cover a lot of this in my indie guide to digital distribution. But the bottom line is, you no longer need a traditional distributor to grant you access to these marketplaces. (Especially if the deal is not good!)

Here are your steps to distribute your movie:

  1. Create a marketing plan and launch strategy. (This should be part of your business plan.)
  2. Get your movie onto popular VOD platforms like Amazon, iTunes and Pivotshare (and others).
  3. Come up with an advertising strategy that pays for itself and provides a profit.

Once again, I oversimplified this. Your indie filmmaking challenge with distribution is creating a strategy that makes sense for your movie. You need to move enough units of your movie to show a profit. Otherwise, you will be operating at a loss. And nobody wants to lose money… Because that’s not a real business.

If you’re like most indie filmmakers, you want me to prove that this works. You want Video On Demand Sales Projections to show your prospective investors. The truth is, most investors will see your projections as fluff. The reason is simple – Just because The Polish Brothers were able to have one of the highest grossing movies on iTunes does not mean that your movie will have similar success.

There. I said it.

More important than any VOD sales projections is figuring out how you will leverage VOD sales, to sell more movies. In short, there are some old fashioned direct mail formulas that will serve as an awesome starting point for actual scenarios. You can utilize these in your business plans. And savvy investors will understand.

You need to plan both your financing and distribution strategy as if you are your own mini studio. Because you are. If you plan to make, market and sell movies – you now have the technological firepower to take your filmmaking dreams to the big screen. And the best part? You don’t need to ask me or any other film professional for permission.

But you have to take action and make things happen.

What is your biggest indie filmmaking challenge? Feel free to tweet this and comment below.

 

 

How To Get Film Funding

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Are you looking to find film funding? You’re not alone. One of the most challenging aspects of film funding is getting investors to take you seriously. The reason you’re having trouble finding film funding, is because the risk of funding your movie far outweighs the reward. You need to change that.

how to get film funding

How To Get Film Funding

Gone are the days where you merely make a movie and hand it off to the highest bidders. These days, you are expected to create a marketing, sales and distribution plan for your movie from day one. Without it, your project becomes very risky. And you don’t get investors.

Fortunately there are two developments that will help your film funding efforts.

1. Film Distribution is Accessible.

Through companies like Distribber (disclosure: Distribber advertises on this site) you now have the ability to get your movie into the marketplace. This allows you to create a business plan and marketing strategy with a fully accessible sales channel. This is huge!

2. Prove Concepts With Crowdfunding

Sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo allow you to crowdfund. With crowdfunding, you can test your concept with a small campaign long before you get into the marketplace. This will help you determine if your movie has a market – before you dive into your project both feet first.

If your small crowdfunding campaign is success, you can leverage this with a comprehensive film distribution plan, complete with a sales channel. This will make finding film funding will be much easier.