Martay
Veteran
Definitely have been through a horrible deal before. Not that they made a lot of money on my movie but they've made some and I've made NADA.
In a better place now after many years of trying to learn the ropes.
-Martin
Revealing your Budget: why and why not?
- Thread starter Kholi
- Start date
Definitely have been through a horrible deal before. Not that they made a lot of money on my movie but they've made some and I've made NADA.
In a better place now after many years of trying to learn the ropes.
-Martin
Martay
Veteran
Well. I understand your want to be ready for this kind of question. I might handle it by saying that while the film is still in post-production the full budget isn't finalized.
Remember I mentioned nerves of steel. This is where you need them. It depends on how comfortable you are at knowing the value of your movie.
You can calculate your $ outlay + unpaid labor + added value through favors + small return for investors on the final figure and set a theoretical (but hopefully accurate) budget # that you could describe in a range.
Like, "Sub-250K" or whatever. I don't think I'd reveal it without a huge amount of comfort with the distributor and also would hope to have more than one possibility in play as well.
Again, I like Barry's answer, but I can't say I would have done that even 1 year ago. I happened to be in a good position now that I can take such a stance on budget, so it's easy for me to give that advice at this moment. I do believe it though. I just don't know when I was able to muster the nerve to take it.
So, I empathize with you in that regard.
-Martin
I was asked the budget of my film when the sales agent agreed to take it on. I gave a number that was 62x my actual budget to take in consideration for all the different roles I played and all the favors thrown in. There was no question at all to that number since the production value as well as other considerations help up in the finished movie. I also had all foreign elements PAL, HD at 23.976, 25, and 29.97 as well as subtitles and timing info with all audio stems for all frame rates available too. So they didn't question it at all.
Martay
Veteran
Of course investors need to know the budget. If they don't see the wisdom of keeping the budget under wraps after they invest, then they're risking their own $ in terms of recouping or ROI...they need to be aware of that as a practical matter.
And what investors are going around advertising other project's budgets? If you're asking about what's to stop someone who doesn't invest from letting that information out.
Investment opportunities should be confidential, so even if they pass there shouldn't be a danger of them discussing the budget with others.
-Martin
your investment package should have a proposed budget and break down of everything they're going to be spending their money on anyway. i'd think typically your investors would listen to anything you tell them not to do that may jeopardize their investment...unless you're dealing with some filthy rich cokehead with money to blow & wants bragging rights on how much he just spent investing on a movie
