Do horror indies make a profit ?

Randall_Oelerich

Randall_Oelerich

Veteran
Most (90%+) feature independent films 'never make a dime', so I have heard, but then most indies are dramas. What about feature horror indies-- does anybody have any knowledge on if they make a profit for the filmmakers, and if so to what degree? Or are most indies vanity projects? If an indie were to make it to the theater, from what I understand once the theaters and distributors take their pie pieces, the whole pie is gone and just a few crumbs if that remain-- but that is normal, because that just gets buzz out for DVD rental, etc (they other revenue tiers after theatrical). Just hoping to hear from any indie filmmakers here on what experience you have had with making any money off a feature indie, particularly the horror genre.
Randall
 
Jordan Scott Price said:
Kind of related -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_Inside_(film)

"The film received extremely negative reviews from critics, and audiences alike. It has been suggested that the ending in particular may be the worst in the history of cinema. Despite the negative reaction, the film topped the box offices on its opening weekend."
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Yes, I have been following this film. But we may have another situation like Paranormal Activity, or Blair Witch, where the studios, theaters, and distributors made a bucket of cash, but what did the filmmakers get ($)? Paranormal Activity and Blair Witch, for example, were sold to studios for stupid cheap amounts, so everybody made a bucket of cash except the filmmakers. Heck, even Robert Zemeckis has not seen a dime off Forest Gump because of all the bookkeeping magic the studios play, the $ the theaters take, the $ the distributors take. I am just trying to get some truth about the average high quality (theater quality) horror indie feature-- what $ can its filmmakers expect, if the horror is very good? For example, Cold Prey is a nice high quality indie slasher horror, $500,000 budget, has made about $5M in worldwide box office; so I have to wonder what $ the filmmakers see (even though they made that film for free basically, as it was funded by the Norwegian government).
 
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If you want a more detailed discussion about distribution, etc. try Filmspecific.com. Just join for a month and read and download everything lol. I think at the end of the day before you get into the profits, you need to figure out two things 1) genre and 2)if you can make a good film. Not trying to insult you, I don't know your talents and skills. A lot of those indies I bet were poorly made so they never had a shot. But in general action, sci fi and horror are in some demand. Dramas not so much and comedies don't necessarily sell well overseas. Sci fi, horror and action translate easily to foreign markets because I think it is more a visual than dialogue experience.

Good luck!
 
prexdealer said:
If you want a more detailed discussion about distribution, etc. try Filmspecific.com. Just join for a month and read and download everything lol. I think at the end of the day before you get into the profits, you need to figure out two things 1) genre and 2)if you can make a good film. Not trying to insult you, I don't know your talents and skills. A lot of those indies I bet were poorly made so they never had a shot. But in general action, sci fi and horror are in some demand. Dramas not so much and comedies don't necessarily sell well overseas. Sci fi, horror and action translate easily to foreign markets because I think it is more a visual than dialogue experience.

Good luck!
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For the sake of discussion, yes I am assuming (1) genre = horror, and (2) the film is a good or very good, cinematic theatrical quality, very good to great screenplay, great soundtrack, cinematography, acting, titles, color grading, editing etc.
 
I do notwork for Filmspecific.com but I do know there is a lot of info. It has been recommended by others on this board. With all respect, if you are going to invest enough money to make a quality film wouldn't it be worth a small $25 fee for info about distribution? It has lists of distributors, it has a lot of weekly conference calls. There are models on how to make a $1M film. Issues like bonding, pre-sales, etc are also discussed.

People have spent $25 on a book about filmmaking without batting an eye. Another point is this site has been around for a while clearly some people believe there is value there. There are some free materials you can access to check it out. There are posts about bankable actors, etc. But if $25 is too much to get educated, I dunno what to say. Nothing is guaranteed and some learning isn't free. Not trying to sound preachy or anything.
 
prexdealer said:
I do notwork for Filmspecific.com but I do know there is a lot of info. It has been recommended by others on this board. With all respect, if you are going to invest enough money to make a quality film wouldn't it be worth a small $25 fee for info about distribution? It has lists of distributors, it has a lot of weekly conference calls. There are models on how to make a $1M film. Issues like bonding, pre-sales, etc are also discussed.

People have spent $25 on a book about filmmaking without batting an eye. Another point is this site has been around for a while clearly some people believe there is value there. There are some free materials you can access to check it out. There are posts about bankable actors, etc. But if $25 is too much to get educated, I dunno what to say. Nothing is guaranteed and some learning isn't free. Not trying to sound preachy or anything.
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I agree it probably is worth the $25. My point was that $25 per month seemed quite overpriced. I have a yearly membership to donedealpro.com for $25, and a yearly membership to imdbpro.com for about $10/months.
 
kevin baggott said:
just what the world needs another horror film for a filmmaker to make a buck. jmho
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I do not think I said it was just to make a buck. Supernatural horror is a genre I particularly like. That and romcom. I might go either route for indie, or both. But horror is a proven genre for profitability, and to be honest one has to make a profit as a filmmaker in order to make a second or third film. Unless one is blessed with inheriting a family fortune (I am not in that category).
 
Filmspecific.com is VERY worth it. I thought it was priced too highly myself but committed to a 6 month membership...in retrospect, one month would have been fine and definitely worth it.

You want to get away from the talkers and start hanging with the do'ers? Head over to filmspecific.com

Kegan
 
Kegan said:
Filmspecific.com is VERY worth it. I thought it was priced too highly myself but committed to a 6 month membership...in retrospect, one month would have been fine and definitely worth it. ...
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Thank you Kegan, that helps. I am sure I will do a one month there and then harvest as much information as I can.
randall
 
Kegan said:
Filmspecific.com is VERY worth it. I thought it was priced too highly myself but committed to a 6 month membership...in retrospect, one month would have been fine and definitely worth it.

You want to get away from the talkers and start hanging with the do'ers? Head over to filmspecific.com

Kegan
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I didn't want to say like that - but ya.:shocked: I agree Kegan lol.

Randall don't expect a ton of daily posts. People don't post that often - I mean post whatever you want to ask people will respond. But it is like a library - lots of knowledge and resources you just got to dig around - all about mainly the business side - sales, packaging and distribution.
 
prexdealer said:
I didn't want to say like that - but ya.:shocked: I agree Kegan lol.

Randall don't expect a ton of daily posts. People don't post that often - I mean post whatever you want to ask people will respond. But it is like a library - lots of knowledge and resources you just got to dig around - all about mainly the business side - sales, packaging and distribution.
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I was a member there for a month. The resources you get are well worth the $25. Main reason for not renewing is lack of interaction. The forums were dead (joined Aug. 2011) and that is what I was looking for the most. Interaction between filmmakers and founder (Stacy Parks). I'm a forum guy. Not a twitter 140 response kind of person. I like asking lots of questions and interacting with fellow filmmakers. There is some new content that's being promoted right now that makes me want to go back in and give them another try.
 
Yeah, I don't think any indie could possibly be in this just to "make a buck". If you want to "make a buck" get a job working for a studio. It's a massive risk and a massive amount of personal effort and investment to make any sort of film. I don't think hoping that whatever film you want to make might be profitable is a bad thing.

Man wants to make horror movies, let him make horror movies. :D
 
:) sure go ahead make yer horror film. i doubt my 2 cents was gonna stop anyone. I was just saying.
I often see peeps reels with the most grotesque imagery shot on the newest camera and folks saying "Hey it looks great! What steadicam did you use? When the farm girl tied up in the barn gets her spine removed was that cgi or...."
And personally - though i don't see why anyone would care - but I dont believe the old arguement - "yeah - you make the thrash to learn how to make a film - then you'll suddenly come up with ordinary people or andrei rublev - or whatever."
I don't know what is prompting me to get into this old arguement.
And I certainly don't come from money either as someone might have suggested. I moved furniture for 20 years in order to buy time to write scripts. Anyway - peace to all. :)
 
I think horror/thriller has a huge place in the indie world.. Im an action/martial arts film fanatic myself but would take thriller/horror over any genre anytime.. even the older ones.. and like me, alot of people watch those "B" movies knowing that they arent the greatest but not everyone wants hollywood cgi'd gorefest either for every single film.
just my 2 cents
 
I don't know anything about Filmspecific.com, but the somewhat high monthly fee might be because a lot of people only sign up for a single month, glean what they need from it, then drop it.
 
David W. Richardson said:
I don't know anything about Filmspecific.com, but the somewhat high monthly fee might be because a lot of people only sign up for a single month, glean what they need from it, then drop it.
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I asked filmspecific.com using their Contact_Us form. Let's see what they say. This is what I asked them: "Why is your subscription fee so high? I pay $25/year ($2/month) for donedealpro.com and $120/year ($10/month) for imdbpro.com membership. Respectfully and yet seriously I would like to know."
 
kevin baggott said:
:) sure go ahead make yer horror film. i doubt my 2 cents was gonna stop anyone. I was just saying.
I often see peeps reels with the most grotesque imagery shot on the newest camera and folks saying "Hey it looks great! What steadicam did you use? When the farm girl tied up in the barn gets her spine removed was that cgi or...."
And personally - though i don't see why anyone would care - but I dont believe the old arguement - "yeah - you make the thrash to learn how to make a film - then you'll suddenly come up with ordinary people or andrei rublev - or whatever."
I don't know what is prompting me to get into this old arguement.
And I certainly don't come from money either as someone might have suggested. I moved furniture for 20 years in order to buy time to write scripts. Anyway - peace to all. :)
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I am not into splatter/gore horror. My preference is supernatural-thriller-horror.
 
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