Financing / Crowdfunding

Rob Kelly Hi Rob, I don't understand the question. If an equity campaign is successful, then the question of how profits are divided is already decided - because that's part of the campaign. You have no real control over whether a distributor pays you honestly or not; but there should be a contractual right to examine their records. Finally, no distributor cares about your investors, if they are equity investors (assuming a corporation) because they have no say in contracts with them.

Exactly. So how does Equity investing work for the investor? If I invest 100 in a equity crowdfunding campaign, I recieve whatever percent of percieved profits. Great. themn I hear that the studio has ade a collosal amount more in distibution, whats the course of action?

As an investor... you probably have no recourse at all. Assuming a corporation or limited partnership or similar, you have equity (ie. shares) but as an owner you trade away your ability to affect management and deal with company contracts in return for shielding you from legal liability for company debt and wrongdoing. A shareholder has no standing to complain about a contract the company enters into, and no legal relationship with anyone the company contracts with. Your recourse would be to seek the matter to be addressed by the directors of the company, at the annual general meeting, assuming you have voting shares. There are other permutations, but they all kind of boil down to "no practical recourse."

I think that shooting a series first, with no distribution at all in any territories, and then pitching to broadcasters afterward is also quite unheard of in Canada and Australia, even the Asian countries. I don't know any examples of UK series that have launched that way. But like I said, I'm really not certain about the non-US indie TV market.

I would be happy to be educated in this space if you care to offer some UK examples for us!!

@Regina no you're probably right it is gonna be about finding a producer/company willing to go in with me on this. Onwards and upwards!

@Louisa, well I'm gonna hit up the next few raindance boozing and schmoozing events and try and get involved in other peoples projects anyways, mainly cos I need to get my eye in anyways. Been a while! It is all about who you know after all so gotta start somewhere...

OK cool, I occasionally go to those things so maybe I'll see you at one of them.

Agree fully with Amanda's comments above. Stephen is not only a friend, but someone I deeply admire as a teacher. Incredible mind and vision. Great share, Dimi!

More than welcome..I follow his posts and learn a lot from him..Also i like the way he structures his articles so they are informative with the graphs but also not overwhelming with the text so its beautiful balance between both..There is nothing like what he does out there for us indie filmmakers who are trying to make sense of things in our industry that is also available for free..I am also sharing his articles on my film group on facebook to get more filmmakers to look at what he does for us all..D

thanks for the share. very informative

Thanx for Providing this Dimi, it was an interesting read.

More than welcome..D

Hey Joe, thanks a lot for all those tips! Those are all really good, I'm going to start implementing them right away. I just watched your short film, really cool and congrats on making it! Really well done and a cool story. So you're looking to turn it into a feature now? Thinking about another crowdfunding campaign?

Well the near impossible happened. Someone completely random to me found my kickstarter and put in 8k last night, the day before it ends. I had pretty much given up on it...but it's going to make it! Thanks for all the tips!!!

Great job! Yeah some people just want to see your commitment before they support you. Well done.

Phenomenal news, Brent! Congratulations!

Congratulations! Contact me and I can share some resources.

My apologies, I read it wrong - I thought that you were after info on making a business plan to raise money to make short films... which are notoriously non-profitable.

haha I should have clarified. I think I got it somewhat figure out now :) Thanks for all your help and input!

Here are some resources. (Stage 32, Sba.gov and Score.org)

Awesome Tasha! Thanks! :)

Your Welcome Matt.

Good question! I also want to know! :)

shame here

Our fearless leader, Richard "RB" Botto has written a book on that exact subject.

John, my good man, you've beaten me to the punch! Here's the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Crowdsourcing-Filmmakers-American-Market-Presents...

thanks for the recommendations!

If you haven’t sourced your crowd before kicking off your campaign it will be an uphill battle but it can be done it you follow their suggestions and are persistent. Good Luck

I use Canva.com to generate free graphics for the thanks yous and shout outs when people donate. That extra touch really helps my campaigns be visual and less repetitive.

Check out Greeninbox, was super helpful during my seed & spark fundraiser

Good luck!

Sorry I don't but hearing from the group is education at best plus a right direction for 2021

Has the infected investment partner said they are pulling out all together? Maybe this is a just a case of wait for your champion to come back. Trust me, replacing a worker is easier than replacing an ally. If they believe in you and the project, then wait for your champion!

Thanks for the advise.... we have a meeting Monday with our banker to look at all avenues. I will let you know how it is proceeding. The good news, for the time being is... our Executive Producer believes in the project to the point I got a wonderful email saying that He feels we will achieve funding this year... production is set to start in March so I made need a "reel" angel!

Welcome! Stage 32 resources (blog and lounge.

Thank you

The distributor should be able to put together some projections - based on those numbers, you should be able to get debt financing of 30-50% of the projections.

When you start getting income results on your first feature, use that to project the anticipated return on your comedy feature to investors. Your distributor will most likely send streaming results on a quarterly basis.

credit cards, sell something of value. For my first feature, I sold my car and used savings to get started, build momentum, and build trust from strangers that me and my partners were serious about making a feature film. You have to believe you will make $$/or break even in 2-3 years after finishing a feature.