Raising money for Indie film company... first feature!!

Eliza-Jane,

Do you have some sort of track record you can trade on? A few short films that you can show potential investors so that they have some idea of what you can do?

Don't forget that you've got to sell yourself as much as the film. People are going to put up their hard-earned cash, and they'll want to see that the end result is at least competent with some small chance of seeing a return.
 
For Mattykins:
It certainly is just business to shoot, and decide whether to rent or buy. My personal input was covering more of the long-term (more than one production). Say you have a 30k budget for a film, and you rent the set-ups you mentioned for 4.5k per a couple weeks shooting. That is cheaper than buying, no doubt. However, say you get another film right after with the exact same budget, and you use the same gear. Now you're up to 9k for both, which at least covers the camera cost and maybe some parts of other gear. If you bought it in the first place, you'd own it that whole time. Plus you could sell it after a few productions for (conservatively) 50-70% of the cost. And/or you could rent it while you own it. Basically you end up with some good cash that, while it may not be immediately available during production, it could be generating income as soon as post, and on into distribution. So I guess the real question is not about bottom line, but more about how confident you are that you'll continue to find work for that camera? Just a counter-thought...
 
The key to finding funding, even from people you know...is having a project in development that they care about, and want to support. You think "duh of course..." but your more likely to get more donations if they not only support you, but support the project. Films with a cause normally get that kind of funding easier.

Because I made sure lots of people knew about my film, had a website explaining what it was, what our goals were, etc. we received somewhere around $5000 in funding to help with the production. People also spent money on food and things of that sort.

You wont be able to get funds for the whole thing though, don't count on that.
 
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