I Need Money Money Money

E

eriks

Member
I've made several films. Each film gets better. I've been winning awards. Everything is great. But only one thing stops me from making more than one movie a year- MONEY MONEY MONEY- HELP.

I scrounge up a little from local resturants and businesses maybe $2-$300 dollars but its not worth the time I put into it.

Any suggestions
 
Well unless you can find a major investor, you're just going to have to keep scrounging up money from businesses.

Another option is an ebay auction. A buddy of mine made a few hundred from that
by asking for 20$ donation tickets, and the buyer would get executive producer credit on the film. He sold quite a few apparently.
 
dj200423 said:
Another option is an ebay auction. A buddy of mine made a few hundred from that
by asking for 20$ donation tickets, and the buyer would get executive producer credit on the film. He sold quite a few apparently.
Click to expand...

That's a great idea. It reminds me of a story I saw on 20/20 the other week on a guy who bought a house with a paperclip.
 
No offense, but people who finance films don't care about how good your films are or how many awards they've won. They only care if your last film made the investors money. So if you want investors to give you money to make a film, you need to convince them that they are going to get that money back, plus a little more.

Now, if you're a really good salesman, maybe you can wing that without having a success behind you; but usually that only happens when your last film made a profit.

Do you have a project ready to go that you are trying to get financed? Could you walk into some potential investor's office tomorrow and pitch him the script; show him concept art, storyboards, ect? If you have an absolutely air-tight pitch with great visuals, great conversation and of course 'a really good script', you might be able to find some investors who can turn into your executive producers.

Everything depends on your ability to convince him/her that they are going to profit financially from you making your film. I don't know what kind of films you are making, but if they aren't commercially viable, it's going to be much more difficult getting money. If you're making shorts, art films, experimental stuff; anything that can't be packaged and sold to people, no one is going to want to give you money and you'll have to finance your own stuff.

Remember that studio executives at big companies, independent executive producers (investors), all want the same thing. They want to make money and they need good stories in order to do that. If you have a great, fresh, high-concept idea for a feature film, they want to do business with you. Heck, if you approached me and pitched me the 'greatest story/script' I've ever heard; I'd probably want to put money into it and go make it.

So, look hard at what kind of films you're making. Are they commercially viable? Do investors stand a good chance of recouping their monies? If you've got the script, you can make it happen if you pitch and sell it right. Those top-dollar studio executives are only there to find the best property they can (supplied by filmmakers) so the studio can profit. The same goes for private investors, if they can give you $20K to go make a film and you're gonna sell it for $80K and give them half...who wouldn't want that deal. So package that next project well and convince people that you're gonna make them money.
 
Daniel Skubal said:
Well unless you can find a major investor, you're just going to have to keep scrounging up money from businesses.

Another option is an ebay auction. A buddy of mine made a few hundred from that
by asking for 20$ donation tickets, and the buyer would get executive producer credit on the film. He sold quite a few apparently.
Click to expand...

Funny, coz I tried the same thing, until I realized there were too many "producers" worth very small amounts of money. So I tried to gradually convince the better sponsors to buy more "tickets" (so i could cut down the total number of sponsors). I have managed to cut them down to just a handful of reliable sponsors now (producers, I should say). Got the money, and will be making a feature soon. Almost over pre-production.
 
how much $$ are you thinking ??

"A buddy of mine made a few hundred from that
by asking for 20$ donation tickets, and the buyer would get executive producer credit on the film"

a friend of mine asked for $20 or more ( payable thru paypal) on his web site .. persons would recieve exe.producer credit and a 10 min trailer on DVD in the future ...
after 3 weeks he was talking to his lawyer about other matters and mentioned his site - lawyer looked at site and gave him advice - change it and return ALL $$ to persons ...
he now consults with a lawyer on fund raising ideas before he put's them into motion ...
 
Last edited:
Yes, technically the ebay thing or website thing counts as a public offering. A public offering means you have to have the securities and exchange commission (SEC) involved. Which is something you want to avoid on a tiny little film.

I've solicited investment from personal friends, neighbors, familiy, and acquaintences, which makes a private offering and doesn't require federal involvement. I've also applied for and received grant funding for a film so if you're fortunate enough to be a woman or a minority, you've got a good chance at that as well, particularly if you have a solid reel and a nice script you'd like to make.
 
Can't you fund it yourself? I mean if you're trying to get investors to put the money into it, you have to be pretty confident that your movie will make money, so wouldn't you want some of that money?

I know this is an overused example, but it's the only one I can think of off-hand. Robert Rodriguez just saved up all the money himself and made his own movie, because he was very confident that it was going to make money. I don't see why you'd need investors on a no-budget feature film.

If you're trying to go for a $30,000+ feature then I can see why you'd need them.

I wish that someone would hand me a few thousand bucks and let me go make a movie with it, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way, and you gotta treat it like an investment.
 
Last edited:
A lot of these posts have referred to selling your movie. Are you implying selling as in DVD Distribution sales or what? Who are you selling to? I know this may sound like a dumb question but just think about it!

Brandon
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top