Proposal samples?

[wildstriker]

Hi,

I'm currently writing a proposal for a film. But I can not seem to find any samples on the internet for guides. I was wondering if you might know where I can find samples of a film proposal that highlights the usual like the expected life cycle of the film, target audience, budget, finding sources, etc.

Comments will be appreciated.

 

[Fahad]

so you're asking for a business plan sample?

here:
http://www.mankindfilms.com/Business_Plan.pdf

be warned though, although it has all the necessary parts of a business plan, IT'S NOT A GOOD ONE. it's good to give you an idea of what to do.

here's a few more links you might find interesting.

specific to movies:
http://filmprofit.com/?page_id=546

they has free samples, but they charge you for more.

however, looking at any business plan will give you an idea of how to approach this film proposal. how about this site:

http://www.bplans.com/

 

[wildstriker]

so you're asking for a business plan sample?

here:
http://www.mankindfilms.com/Business_Plan.pdf

be warned though, although it has all the necessary parts of a business plan, IT'S NOT A GOOD ONE. it's good to give you an idea of what to do.

I don't see anything wrong with it to be honest. I noticed the writer was being colloquial in the beginning and ending lines, but other than that I looked okay to me.

Is it okay if you or anyone explain the shortcomings of that proposal?

Thanks anyway.

 

[Fahad]

hi wildstriker,

yeah i should've said "in my opinion". i read it a while ago, but i forgot the key points that i noticed.

i'll check it out again and let you know.

also, no offence to the filmmakers who made this. this is just my personal opinion.

 

[Fahad]

Ok, first of all, I have to say that this business plan is a great resource, for anyone wanting to make a film. It does have all the necessary bits in it, but the information contained within isn't solid.

but i am glad it's out there. it serves as a great template, and we can learn from the mistakes contained in it.

These are the few that I'd like to comment on:

The Audience
Like all truly good comedies, the appeal of SOMBFAI is universal. Yet it also zeroes in on several key audiences, sizeable enough to assure fiscal as well as artistic success of this movie.
Across the Americas, there are over six million moviegoers with at least some native heritage–and they are a natural audience for SOMBFAI. Across the world, there are millions of aboriginal people who, like North American Indians, have experienced first hand the disruptions and depredations from centuries of colonialism – and they, surely, need a laugh. Add to that the millions of Europeans, especially in Germany, who fetishize Native Americans, and you have a potential worldwide box office.

So, what they’re saying here is: they don’t know exactly who their audience is, save for people of Native American heritage and some German moviegoers.

3.1 Competitive Comparison
We happen to believe that there is no competition in the entertainment industry--only hard work, right marketing, skill in the delivery of a performance, strategic placement of a finished product, maximization of audience acceptability, and then, the final ingredient — the benevolence of the entertainment gods. The audience is like a big pie. Somewhere in that pie are those who will like what we do. All we have to do is satisfy them and we can enjoy our piece of the pie. The only one we’re in competition with is ourselves. Make a good movie. Tell a good story. All movies are different. If there are two or more good movies playing in the same Cineplex, moviegoers will see them all if they are good, unless the moviegoers don’t like a particular genre. If you don’t like westerns you won’t go to a western no matter how well it is made and how good the story line is.

This part suggests that, for example, if this movie was playing alongside a mega blockbuster in 3D, has no bearing on the number of people attending their movie. Also, it assumes that moviegoers will watch all good movies at a theater regardless of their income, demographic, and the fact that they already spent money on the blockbuster. There are a lot of people who do not go to the movies. There are a lot of people who don’t pay to watch a movie more than once every few months.

All of the potential market is not even taken into consideration. They haven’t even done historical analysis of past comedies, the movie industry, Native American-themed movies, and etcetera. This brings me to this part:

5.2 Sales Forecast
It is difficult to forecast sales for a motion picture. The distribution of revenues shown below makes the assumption only two hundred prints will be made and the film only exhibits for thirty days and is then taken off the market. Of course film lasts forever along with revenues. See next page for the breakdown in the form of a pie chart.

This part, as the previous, didn’t take into consideration historical behavior of the market-none whatsoever. It’s assuming already that they have a hit, before making it, and assuming also that they will be able to successfully distribute the film. I can spend a few hours between www.the-numbers.com and an excel spreadsheet and at least come up with some sort of projection.

5.3 Distribution of Revenues
Two hundred theatres at $10 per seat times 400 seats showing for thirty days with three showings
per day extrapolates to gross revenue of $72,000,000. The breakdown of this is shown on the
following pie chart.

Again, why have they assumed that they'll sell 400 seats? There is no hard data to support this. Where are these numbers coming from? Are they going to have a consistent audience throughout the movie's theatrical run?

Profit/Sharing
The audience, and no one else, will determine the amount of profit SOMBFAI will generate. The movie business is a word-of-mouth business. This makes it a uniquely honest business. All the advertising in the world will not make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. If the audience likes the picture, a certain amount of advertising is necessary to inform the audience of locations and playing times. The producers believe SOMBFAI is a good story; a silk purse. Simply put, our first concern is to return the investors’ money. As a rule of thumb, the Picture generating $100,000,000 worldwide would produce a profit of 50% or $50,000,000 for the investors and producers.

In the above part, they are suggesting that advertising comes AFTER an audience likes the movie. Also, what rule of thumb are they talking about? And, from where did they get those figures?

All in all, it’s a very vague business plan. Not to mention, it’s full of fluff words that, at least for me, are not conducive to convincing someone you have a good idea.


That’s pretty much what I thought of it.

 

[craigbowman]

Having done a quick thirty second scan...

1. There are no name commitments.

2. No presales or any kinds of other deals arranged with distributors. That's an indicator that their industry status holds zero credibility.

3. No references to profits of any kind from past projects.

4. No reference to any investors of any kind from past projects who could be contacted.

5. Their marketing plan isn't a plan but more of just a general covering of the usual verbal diarrhea on distribution windows.

6. No reference to any funding commitments of the producers themselves. If they don't believe in the project enough to put any of their own funds in why should anyone else.

They might as well be first timers because they certainly don't demonstrate anything that would make me think they have any kind of traction.

 

[wildstriker]

They might as well be first timers because they certainly don't demonstrate anything that would make me think they have any kind of traction.

But do you think its a good proposal if the proposal was written for an assignment at school/college/university?

 

[Fahad]

But do you think its a good proposal if the proposal was written for an assignment at school/college/university?

nope. if i showed that to my professors they would probably not accept it. and if you copy it word for word, you'd accused of plagiarism. and they'd definitely be harder to convince with that plan than actual investors, meaning that academia is stricter about form and content. even with actual investors, they'd probably see right through it.

as i said, that business plan had all the right headers in it... but the content is flawed.

i'm not sure how in depth your school requires your proposals to be. i'm a business major, so everything i propose has to be based on data.

if i were asked to make a proposal for a film (which is a business venture), this is where i'd start:

IMDb.com

for example, you could see the top rated movies and have a good idea about the movies the popular culture likes.

www.the-numbers.com

you can use that site to figure out how much was spent on a movie, and how much it grossed. from that information you can have an idea about what kind of movies tend to gross more than other types. also, you can discern which distributors are more successful over time than others (and why? i.e. what kind of movies to they distribute).

all these can help you develop a good proposal (which is an argument for your film to be made).

then, if i want to get real in depth about it, i'd look up data on the number of moviegoers over the last few years. then i'd look for information about the most effective marketing methods over the last few years, how much that would cost, etc.

and, regardless of how in depth the actual proposal is, just looking up this data and having a good idea will give you a stronger position when you are orally presenting the proposal (and to answer questions).

it really would be worth the effort.

i hope this helps, and i hope i didn't confuse you.

good luck.

 

[JonathanLB]

Total side note to this post, but Craig -- producers don't put up funds for movies if they are any good. Only bad producers do that Any professional producer stays in business by knowing a number of investors and ways to raise capital and they commit their time and expertise to a project, not their own money. It's way too risky of a business for that. It has little to do with "believing in the project" and everything to do with the inherent uncertainties in the filmmaking process and trying to find distribution.

I invested in my own movie, because nobody else would most likely or if I found investors it would have taken me a year or more to get the project off the ground if I was lucky. I'm not that patient. I'd rather risk my money on something I wrote and am directing, but if I had the choice I wouldn't do it again. Even if I'm confident my 2nd film will be great, and the first was a hit, I'd still rather be paid a writing fee and a directing fee with maybe some back-end participation for developing the project (after investor money is repaid) rather than sinking my own money into another film. You know if you keep doing that, eventually your luck will run out. It's like even if you're a great poker player, if you start with $200 and go to the table and you win $800, you don't want to come back the next day and move up tables and play with all $1,000. You want to play for $200 again and build your bankroll. If you keep risking everything you have, no matter whether you're the greatest player in the world, eventually, you will lose because it's a game (like any other, really) with some element of chance. Filmmaking is no different. I could make 10 films that each time going into them, I'm confident we have a great script and it'll turn out fantastic. But maybe 2 of those times the filming is not smooth and I don't feel I got my vision, and as a result the films are tough to sell. Maybe 3 more times out of 10, I thought I made a good film that I was happy with and we thought would be marketable, but distributors disagree and we end up losing some money. The point is no matter how much you believe in something, if possible, you want to avoid investing in it when it's a large chunk of money *for you*.

Let the people with high risk tolerance, venture capitalists for instance or hedge funds with tons of money, throw their money around. $200,000 or $1 million or whatever is nothing for a lot of people, it's just sitting around somewhere, but for most of us that would be either everything we have or way more than we have

 

[craigbowman]

... producers don't put up funds for movies if they are any good. Only bad producers do that ...

I guess that makes Lucas, Spielberg and a host of others 'bad' producers in your books. Even Disney himself had everything he could personally scrape together into Snow White.

Every business plan must stand on its own and I never make assumptions about anything. Whenever anyone wants to ask for money to invest in their business, I will always ask what they have into it themselves.

 

[wildstriker]

Ok, first of all, I have to say that this business plan is a great resource, for anyone wanting to make a film. It does have all the necessary bits in it, but the information contained within isn't solid.

but i am glad it's out there. it serves as a great template, and we can learn from the mistakes contained in it.

These are the few that I'd like to comment on:



So, what they’re saying here is: they don’t know exactly who their audience is, save for people of Native American heritage and some German moviegoers.



This part suggests that, for example, if this movie was playing alongside a mega blockbuster in 3D, has no bearing on the number of people attending their movie. Also, it assumes that moviegoers will watch all good movies at a theater regardless of their income, demographic, and the fact that they already spent money on the blockbuster. There are a lot of people who do not go to the movies. There are a lot of people who don’t pay to watch a movie more than once every few months.

All of the potential market is not even taken into consideration. They haven’t even done historical analysis of past comedies, the movie industry, Native American-themed movies, and etcetera. This brings me to this part:



This part, as the previous, didn’t take into consideration historical behavior of the market-none whatsoever. It’s assuming already that they have a hit, before making it, and assuming also that they will be able to successfully distribute the film. I can spend a few hours between www.the-numbers.com and an excel spreadsheet and at least come up with some sort of projection.



Again, why have they assumed that they'll sell 400 seats? There is no hard data to support this. Where are these numbers coming from? Are they going to have a consistent audience throughout the movie's theatrical run?



In the above part, they are suggesting that advertising comes AFTER an audience likes the movie. Also, what rule of thumb are they talking about? And, from where did they get those figures?

All in all, it’s a very vague business plan. Not to mention, it’s full of fluff words that, at least for me, are not conducive to convincing someone you have a good idea.


That’s pretty much what I thought of it.

And what about the rest? Are the topics that you haven't picked out good? Sorry if I ask too much. I just wanted to get this as correctly as possible.

 

[Fahad]

well, those were just a few examples. however, those samples reflect everything else in this proposal.

and don't worry about asking to much, if you don't ask you can't learn.

i have a question for you, though. i assume you're in school... if so, this proposal is due in, a week, 2 weeks?

that's not a lot of time for this, but it is doable. you're going to have to be an expert at googling and extracting information from websites very quickly, and wikipedia should be your bestest friend.

as i said before, i don't know how detailed your proposal has to be, so the following might be too much for what you need.

to get you started, here's the list of contents of a basic business plan (from wikipedia):

1) cover page and table of contents

this is self-explanatory

2) executive summary

this is a summary of the following, your argument. although you'll have an idea of what to write in this, it'll be the last thing you write. it must contain the cost. basically, all the bottom line information goes here.

3) business description

here, you have answers to these questions: what are you selling? what kind of movie is it? what's the legal structure of the production company? what's the market for movies in general, and your kind of movie in particular? what's the general business environment? what's the general financial structure? who's running it?

4) business environment analysis

this just means you describe: the competition, the cultural atmosphere, the legal environment (e.g. insurance requirements), and the political environment (SAG issues, for example).

5) industry background

describe: how much movies are making these days. how much the movie industry makes compared to other industries. the average returns on movies. the stability or volatility of the movie business. it's growth or decline. status of industry-level competition (e.g. video gaming, internet, etc.)

6) competitive analysis

you need to describe who your competitors are within the market. this includes everything from hollywood to some other aspiring filmmaker. basically, describe anyone who your potential audience might favor instead of you. and why?

then you do a "SWOT" analysis on your own proposed plan. this stands for:

strengths

for example, your movie has a compelling story no-one's thought of before! or, your movie has a unique visual style that people will find intriguing.

weaknesses

your movie lacks a big budget. or, your distribution options might be very limited.

opportunities

this is where you turn your weaknesses to your advantage. e. g. although your movie lacks a big budget, all the necessities for making a quality film have been taken care of. your composition is spot on, your cinematography is high-class, your audio is flawless, etc.
another example: although distribution options are limited, we have accounted for costs to enter the film into numerous festivals where it will get the exposure it deserves.

threats

examples: someone has the same idea and is filming right now. there might be a political upheaval in country X, so we won't be able to shoot on location. etc.

but in the end, show how you plan to keep these threats under control.

7) market analysis

how are movies sold, distributed, made, costs, what's the competition doing, etc.

8) marketing plan

how are people going to access your film? you have to answer at least the following:

Price: how much are you going to sell it for?
Place: where are you going to sell it?
Promotion: how is anyone going to know about it (advertising)?
Product: how is your product something that people will buy?

9) operations plan

how are you going to make your film? what are the steps? this should cover everything about:
pre-production, production, post-production, and distribution. scheduling and everything.

10) management summary

who's going to run the production? what are their qualifications/experience? who's responsible for what department? etc.

11) financial plan

how much is all of this going to cost? how is the money going to be spent? on what is it going to be spent? if it can be done for cheaper, you'll find out in this section.

what are the returns? based on what projections? based on what assumptions?

12) attachments and milestones

any charts and progress reports relevant to the above would go here.

 

[wildstriker]

well, those were just a few examples. however, those samples reflect everything else in this proposal.

and don't worry about asking to much, if you don't ask you can't learn.

i have a question for you, though. i assume you're in school... if so, this proposal is due in, a week, 2 weeks?

that's not a lot of time for this, but it is doable. you're going to have to be an expert at googling and extracting information from websites very quickly, and wikipedia should be your bestest friend.

as i said before, i don't know how detailed your proposal has to be, so the following might be too much for what you need.

to get you started, here's the list of contents of a basic business plan (from wikipedia):

1) cover page and table of contents

this is self-explanatory

2) executive summary

this is a summary of the following, your argument. although you'll have an idea of what to write in this, it'll be the last thing you write. it must contain the cost. basically, all the bottom line information goes here.

3) business description

here, you have answers to these questions: what are you selling? what kind of movie is it? what's the legal structure of the production company? what's the market for movies in general, and your kind of movie in particular? what's the general business environment? what's the general financial structure? who's running it?

4) business environment analysis

this just means you describe: the competition, the cultural atmosphere, the legal environment (e.g. insurance requirements), and the political environment (SAG issues, for example).

5) industry background

describe: how much movies are making these days. how much the movie industry makes compared to other industries. the average returns on movies. the stability or volatility of the movie business. it's growth or decline. status of industry-level competition (e.g. video gaming, internet, etc.)

6) competitive analysis

you need to describe who your competitors are within the market. this includes everything from hollywood to some other aspiring filmmaker. basically, describe anyone who your potential audience might favor instead of you. and why?

then you do a "SWOT" analysis on your own proposed plan. this stands for:

strengths

for example, your movie has a compelling story no-one's thought of before! or, your movie has a unique visual style that people will find intriguing.

weaknesses

your movie lacks a big budget. or, your distribution options might be very limited.

opportunities

this is where you turn your weaknesses to your advantage. e. g. although your movie lacks a big budget, all the necessities for making a quality film have been taken care of. your composition is spot on, your cinematography is high-class, your audio is flawless, etc.
another example: although distribution options are limited, we have accounted for costs to enter the film into numerous festivals where it will get the exposure it deserves.

threats

examples: someone has the same idea and is filming right now. there might be a political upheaval in country X, so we won't be able to shoot on location. etc.

but in the end, show how you plan to keep these threats under control.

7) market analysis

how are movies sold, distributed, made, costs, what's the competition doing, etc.

8) marketing plan

how are people going to access your film? you have to answer at least the following:

Price: how much are you going to sell it for?
Place: where are you going to sell it?
Promotion: how is anyone going to know about it (advertising)?
Product: how is your product something that people will buy?

9) operations plan

how are you going to make your film? what are the steps? this should cover everything about:
pre-production, production, post-production, and distribution. scheduling and everything.

10) management summary

who's going to run the production? what are their qualifications/experience? who's responsible for what department? etc.

11) financial plan

how much is all of this going to cost? how is the money going to be spent? on what is it going to be spent? if it can be done for cheaper, you'll find out in this section.

what are the returns? based on what projections? based on what assumptions?

12) attachments and milestones

any charts and progress reports relevant to the above would go here.

University. And yes its 2 weeks. Not very long I know.

Thanks for this. Some of the topics you've listed isn't mentioned in my brief. But I will look at them.

 

[Fahad]

no problem.

just don't go in to too much detail if you're not required to.

 

[wildstriker]

Was wondering, does anyone know whether if its appropriate to have one section of the proposal where you talk about other similar films and their box office and marketing?

 

[Fahad]

probably under market analysis

 

[FilmBoy77]

Having done a quick thirty second scan...

1. There are no name commitments.

2. No presales or any kinds of other deals arranged with distributors. That's an indicator that their industry status holds zero credibility.

3. No references to profits of any kind from past projects.

just to play devil's advocate here.....

1) how often do name talent (of any significance) actually "commit" to unfunded projects on indie films? the first question out of just about every talent agent's mouth will most likely be "whats the budget?" and if you're still trying to get money then you cant answer that question with any guarantees.....so why would they commit?

2) why would this be a deal breaker? a lot of presales depend on whos attached...and if you dont even have the money yet how can you make a presale? especially with the way the economy is now and even less movies going out unless you have some really STRONG TALENT attached how likely is a presale?

3) maybe this is their first project (i dont know) i'm sure every first time filmmaker who got funding for their first movie didnt have any references or profits from past movies either.

as far as producers putting up their own money as well with investors, i've heard a lot of producers actually do do that as well. IMO if you dont have the capital do put up any money that doesnt mean you believe in the project any less....just means you're not in a position to invest. stock brokers dont invest their personal savings with every client they have when they bet on wall street. why should this scenario be any different? the investors have the capital, the producers have the product (the film)...the investor loses out the most if the film fails REGARDLESS...but then again anyone investing in films didnt fall off the boat yesterday and knows it's a very high risk high/low/no return business.

 

[craigbowman]

Bringing up relevant points in examining a business plan doesn't mean any of them are deal breakers.

When you write a business plan, you need to at least cover basic relevant issues. How else will you communicate to potential investors, (who despite what people might wish aren't stupid), that you have done a thorough job in researching the plan.

Whether or not someone has a name actor or not isn't the issue. Its something that's not shown and not elaborated on. Of course we know its something that's difficult to get until you have funding and a budget. However, that is never talked about in the plan, so in fact it begs the question.

So all the arguments you raise to the points I brought up, (hopefully this will help you to get better insight as to why the plan isn't a very good one), are things which should actually be covered in the plan.

I would hope at some point, people who wish to be independant producers would spend a few years at least making some kind of minimal effort at getting some business skills.

Its not surprising that indepandant producers have such a difficult time writing business plans as it seems they have just as many problems effectively reading them.

 

[FilmBoy77]

i see where you are going, however you listed those above points as if they are hard and fastened requirements.

my only point is that if they dont have name actors, references to previous investors, or presales setup in advance or connections with distributors before they even have the investment doesn't mean they dont have a good business plan. i didnt read the business plan, only your comments which kind of came off like these are required....but i get what you are saying in your last response pretty much that if they dont have these things then they should spell that out within the plan. which makes sense.

i've just seen and talked to a good amount of filmmakers at festivals and things like that who got a substantial amount of funding without having those three things is the only reason it caught my eye...and one thing i notice they said was key in getting their funding even over their business plan was whther or not the investor(s) believe you can deliver the goods or not once they meet you. you can have the best business plan in the world but if they get the vibe you can't do half the crap you copy and pasted in there then you're back at your dayjob the next morning.

 

[dalethompson]

Be detailed in your plan as much as you can be but don't fudge numbers at all just to make it look good. You can estimate to a certain point but be very conservative with estimating and only do it if you absolutely have to. When it comes to budgeting, it can get tricky, so make sure your numbers are reflective in what you really need to make your film. For everything else, details are important and do the opposite of the business plan that was shown earlier in this post, it's horrible. If you submitted this business plan to anyone, you'll most likely never hear back from them, it's just not done very well at all.