How much did you sell your movie for?

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DeanShaw

New member
Hi guys first post and probably the most difficult of subjects to tackle tactfully so I won't bother and simply cut to the chase.

Of all of those film makers who have sold a movie to a distribution company what was your offer and how did it compare to your expectations and film budget.

My theory being if someone is prepared to spend $1 million, $10 million or $100 million on a film they must be confident they will get their money back..

And if we downsize a little to say $20,000 budget is this realistically achievable to think we might get it back if the story and concept was half decent.

Thanks for your input....
 
You gotta be kidding? Why don't you ask folks to copy you on their tax return?
Most film production companies are private companies (not public) so they never announced what their earnings are. Barry Green has been very generous on here discussing film distribution. Check out his posts.
 
Thank you..... bruiser?

I was wanting to get a real idea of the sort of success anyone had from selling their movie. Did it make it's budget back? Did they realise the potential they thought their movie had?

it's great to talk about lens choice, HVX v's FX1 and all the in between but what some of us really need is a little clarity concerning the business elements.

incidently how did you give yourself the name bruiser? are you accident prone?

I will check that guys thread out thanks.....
 
Are you talking about shorts or features, theatrical sale or DVD? Something else? I probably don't have a lot of useful answers but you need to clarify what you're asking a bit.
 
DeanShaw I am proud of you for asking this question straight up. If we knew what folks were actually getting from straight to DVD movie releases we would be able to better judge the market. I would love to know what people sell there movies for, but don't be to disappointed if nobody shares that info.
 
DeanShaw said:
My theory being if someone is prepared to spend $1 million, $10 million or $100 million on a film they must be confident they will get their money back..

And if we downsize a little to say $20,000 budget is this realistically achievable to think we might get it back if the story and concept was half decent.

Thanks for your input....
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Well your theory is a bit off the mark. In most cases people do not spend $1m $10m etc of their own money. They use OPM (other people's money) so they dont have to be that confident. That being said almost every one that makes a movie "hopes" to get the budget back for their investors and then make money for them and themselves also. The hard part is convincing investors that your movie will make them money.
At $20,000 you should have no trouble making some money if your story and production value is half decent.
 
ozduc said:
At $20,000 you should have no trouble making some money if your story and production value is half decent.
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But at $20,000, that's likely to be a problem, unless you're doing some sort of intriguing B horror that will sell no matter how crappy it is. It seems like the sweet spot for most true indie film is in the $100k - $250k range. I'm basing this on anecdote only, of course.
 
Do they always buy the license right out? I read somewhere that you can do royalties and stuff... Which in my opinion would be better since theres really no cap on what your getting back... Right?
 
It's been discussed here quite a bit.

First order is absolutely to have an agent who can be present during your distribution negotiations. It's like showing up at a dive bar with Patrick Swayze from Road House. There might still be a fight, but you've got a pro - a kung fu master pro - in the room who's only interest is your financial advance in the matter. Your payday is literally his payday, so your interests are paramount.

The backend on features is very hard for the producer to track and, naturally, harder to collect on. This is the industry secret that everyone knows about - studio accounting practices can leverage myriad project-related and unrelated fixed-costs against any given projectto the point where the net is diminished or eliminated completely.

Front-end cash is always best, though back-end can always be a part of the larger deal. I can tell you more about TV money than feature money, but point number one is the cardinal rule in both cases. Bring Patrick F-ing Swayze every f-ing time.

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The truth is out there.... Thanks guys for putting in your input, someone will crack under the pressure and spill the beans.

And we will all be better off for it.
 
Thanks Dougspice I checked out your stills read your description of your movie. I got a feel for what your doing just from looking at the still shots. How long from the moment you decided to do this movie did it take to start 'rolling' and did you raise the funding yourself or did you have people willing to part with their money?

And a little cheeky but what ball park is your budget?

Thanks in advanced for your support
Dean
 
This isn't as hard as you guys think it is.

Let's look at the recent release of the short SCI-FI release The ORE.

Budget: $3K

Direct to DVD release and marketed online for $14.95 ea.

Factor reproduction and packaging at max $4 ea. (which is ridiculously high on purpose) so profit of at least $10.95 ea. (since shipping is extra).

Break even point was under 300 units.
 
ya but who is going to buy it? where does one advertise? Whos gunna pay for a short? ( maybe dvxers, but how else does one promote? )
 
Marketing is key to distribution. That's why studios pay up to 50% of budget in additional marketing expenses. I was a producer on a feature film 2 years ago. Cast had several members of the Sopranos in it, very nice shot on 35mm film, etc. Budget was around $650K with lots of deferred in it. Couldn't find a buyer so it is now in self distribution on CustomFlix and by extension Amazon. It is currently selling 6 copies a month at $14.95. How long to break even before deferments? How long to make money to break even after deferments? How long before you show a return to the investors? And then how long to make enough money to say you make a living at it?

How many of you actually go to CustomFlix to buy a movie or download those movies from UnBox? That is the issue - you don't know the movie exists, that's marketing. There are a lot of infastructure distribution models in place, but none of them offer marketing because that requires $$ -

Every indy film needs to make sure they have some money in the budget for marketing - This topic always makes for a nice debate.

Michael
 
PaPa said:
ya but who is going to buy it? where does one advertise? Whos gunna pay for a short? ( maybe dvxers, but how else does one promote? )
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You should have told them about that before.

For some teensy weensy little reason I don't think they would believe you any more.
 
Michael - if a $650K movie with known stars didn't get distrib it probably wasn't very good. I see that movie breaking even if it did well at fests and got good reviews.

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