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

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How To Meet With Film Investors Without Looking Like An Amateur

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If you’re looking to meet with film investors, you’re not alone. Go to any film festival and you will see dozens of other filmmakers looking for someone who can write big fat checks. The challenge is, most prospective investors don’t walk around with t-shirts advertising their net-worth. Even if they did, you’d have to shove your way through a crowd to even pitch your project. Ugh!

Here’s the good news. Meeting with investors is not a new concept for any industry. Many people who invest in film projects run successful businesses in other industries, OUTSIDE of Hollywood. For example, my first meeting with an investor was a local car dealer in my hometown. He was worth (as I found out) over sixty-five million dollars!

meet with film investors

How To Meet With Film Investors Without Looking Like An Amateur

Before you even seek out a meeting, you’ll need a clear vision for what you want to accomplish. More importantly, you’ll need to find a reason why your prospective film investor should care about you and your project.

When it comes time to meet with film investors, the process can be distilled down a few steps.

  1. Find and Qualify Prospective Investors –  Begin by asking around: “Who do you know who has money?” Go back to your hometown. Find out who runs successful businesses. Then get the business contact information.
  2. Contact Your Prospective Investors – Telephone your selected individuals at their place of business, and ask for a meeting. Let the person know that you are an entrepreneur and you’d like to meet. Don’t sell yourself short either! As a filmmaker working to make a film, you are absolutely an entrepreneur.
  3. Set Up A Meeting – When you go to your meeting, dress nicely and give a firm handshake. Be prepared with at least 10 thoughtful conversational points that reveal your passion and integrity. (I always rehearse the whole conversation in my car before I even go there.) Then shut up and listen.
  4. Build A Relationship – Do not ask for funding at your first meeting. The goal of the initial conversation is to make a friend. Then as the conversation flows, naturally you and your goals.
  5. Ask For A Second Meeting – If there is interest in you and your project, let the prospective investor know that you’re going to put together a proposal and come back. Maybe it’s going to the be right fit, maybe not.

You should set a personal goal for yourself. For example, in the next couple weeks, you can look to meet  at least one wealthy person who could potentially fund your film. And if you don’t live in a big city, that’s okay. Every small town has at least one wealthy individual willing to offer advice to entrepreneurs. Ask around and identify who this person is, then go from there.

If you’re looking to meet with film investors,  The Independent Producer’s Guide To Financing Your Movie might be worth checking out. It provides info and tactics on how to find and meet with prospective film investors so you can make your movie.

How To Make Your First Feature Without Going Bonkers

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If you’re making short films, sooner or later you’re gonna start brainstorming ways to make your first feature film. This makes sense. Production gear is cheap (well, relatively speaking) and distribution is accessible.

first feature

How To Make Your First Feature Without Going Bonkers

Consider the following tips before making your first feature film:

1. Spend the next months making a few more short films. This will grant you valuable filmmaking experience. This is your time to experiment. Play around with different camera angles, locations and edits. Honing your filmmaking skills through short films will prove super valuable when you begin filming your first feature film.

2. Read EVERY screenplay you can! This will teach you pacing and get you well accustomed to the standard three act structure. Scripts can also increase your film knowledge. When reading a script, envision how you would shoot each shot.

3. Allow the script for your first feature film is to evolve. Real writing begins with rewriting. As long as you have a deadline, it’s okay to refine and rewrite your feature film script until you get it right. Then when you hit your deadline, stop writing and start planning your film.

4. Go out of your way to create relationships with rich and successful people. You never know. The first millionaire I met was a local car dealer. And my buddy Tom Malloy met his first film investor at a poker table. Expanding your network never hurts. But you must be willing to put yourself out there.

5. Avoid anyone in your life who sucks your filmmaking energy. This is YOUR passion and YOUR dream! No one should get in the way or bring you down.

If you follow the above steps for six months, you will put yourself on the path of producing your first feature film. You’ll gain a new sense of confidence and this will put you ahead of the gazillion wannabe filmmakers who are not truly dedicated.

What are you waiting for? Get going and greenlight yourself. Anything is possible. But nothing is possible without action. Go out there and create your first feature film!

Cynicism Won’t Make Movies

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Getting your movie made can be frustrating. I know the feeling.

Over the course of a year, I get involved in hundreds of conversations with people with the hopes of making a deal. Most of the deals fall apart. And even though this is part of the game, every time I experience a setback, I spend a few days moping.

Then I find my next project and repeat the cycle.

Experience has taught me that if you consistently put yourself out there and make new friends and try to put together new deals, sooner or later something will work out.

Call it the law of probability. Call it par for the course. But never let yourself get jaded or cynical. Cynicism won’t make movies.

cynicism wont make movies

 Cynicism Won’t Make Movies

As a filmmaker, it’s easy to make excuses for why you aren’t making movies. Maybe you don’t have enough experience, time, money, connections, friends or [fill in the blank with your best reason HERE.]

A few weeks ago, I found myself watching a movie with some Hollywood acquaintances. At the end of the movie, one guy started blabbering on about why the movie was horrible and why the filmmaker should call it quits.

Then his wife joined in and suddenly everybody starts criticizing Hollywood, other movies and people.

The conversation escalated into a cynical bitch session with bullet-points as to why screenwriting work is hard to find. Keep in mind these are all people in the conversation make a very nice living in entertainment.

But based on the conversation, you would have thought they dug ditches for a living… Ugh.

If you’ve been in this game for any length of time, you probably met these people. If not, you will.

These people are frustrated with their current work. And instead of writing more and doing more to level up their careers, they find it easier to embrace cynicism.

This is a trap for all of us.

And the thing to remember is, cynicism won’t make movies.

Here is the filmmaker challenge:
For the next 30 days, force yourself to stop complaining and refrain from voicing anything negative.

The reason for this exercise is simple. If you can do this, you will stop talking and start doing. And the ongoing goal is to ask yourself the right questions.

One of my favorite filmmaking questions is, “Given the resources that you have now, what is the movie that you can make this year?” And if you would like some professional filmmaking tools, make sure you check out: www.MakeYourMovieNow.com

Stop Making Excuses And Make Your Movie

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It’s time to make your movie. You can do it. In fact, it doesn’t take a whole lot of time or money. It really just takes some creativity. A while back my filmmaker friend Jared invited me over to help out with a short project. This is not new. Over the years, Jared has been cranking out short movies.

make your movie

Stop Making Excuses And Make Your Movie

The reason for this? When Jared is between features, he likes to stay busy. In ways akin to a boxer training for the big fight, making short keeps Jared in top shape for the bigger projects.

Before he goes into his next project, he always asks himself an important question: “Given the resources that I have right now, what is the movie that I can make this year?”

It is important to make as many short movies as you can. They don’t have to be anything overly complex, but they should be fun. They should be challenging. Most of all, when you make your movie, you cannot be afraid to suck.

The reason for cranking out shorts quickly is to improve. This is a time to practice. Many of you could probably make better quality movies. The question is, why aren’t you? It’s time to make your movie.

Once your movie is complete, upload it to YouTube. Find out if you can get some viewers. Monitor the comments and feedback.

Filmmaker Tech Specs: For those of you interested in our tech – the camera as was a Cannon EOS and the scenes were lit with practical lights. Jared says he has about a half-dozen more shorts in the pipeline. So if you like this filmmaking stuff, make sure you grab a copy of the filmmaker action pack.

How To Build A Solid Reputation In The Film Industry

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To become successful in filmmaking, you must build a reputation. Everything that you do or say will either help you build your reputation, or demolish your credibility. Your goal is to surround yourself with a group of collaborative filmmaking friends who complement your vision. Then together, the whole of your group will push you forward.

There is strength in numbers.

A quick story about how NOT to build a reputation.

When I was in high school, I knew this guy who always tried to borrow money. He had this reputation for borrowing money from people and then never paying them back. I knew the guy pretty well, and he seemed cool.

So one day when he asked to a few bucks, I happily gave it to him. (I knew he probably wouldn’t pay it back, but I wanted to test the theory.)

“Great. I’ll pay you back Friday.”

Friday came and went. Then a month went by. And then a year.

The funny part was, there were a few times when he tried to borrow money again.

Guess what? I didn’t give it to him.

He did not build a reputation of someone who paid people back.

(To this day, that dude never paid me back.)

This story taught me a lesson that has served me well in the indie movie scene.

Another quick example:

I knew a guy who “borrowed” this woman’s slate. He said he would return it a week later. But then a week went by, and guess what? No slate.

People don’t forget. Ever.

Making friends and forming alliances with other in the movie industry is essential for your success. From the first time you set foot on a movie set as a production assistant, to a time when you start production on your fifth feature – you will need to enlist the help of other people. And if you do not cultivate a good reputation for yourself, from day one, garnering success will be considerably difficult.

The following actions will help make you more likable. Over time, being known as a hard working, likable person will help you navigate Hollywood in a more positive way:

ACTION STEPS

  1. Shake hands with a firm handshake.
  2. Smile. Seriously, people forget to smile a lot.
  3. Talk about uplifting and positive topics.
  4. Do what you say, promise 100% and deliver 20o%
  5. Never, ever, arrive late.

Reputation

Your reputation and how you present and sell yourself is everything. If people don’t like you, it will be very difficult to realize your filmmaking dreams. So you should start working today to become more likable, more well rounded and more helpful in everything you do.