Curious to understand the process of finding investors for your film and securing the funds. Outside of looking at past track record of films, and the team behind it. What else do they look for? Marketing and Distribution plans, tax credits, ROI? What do you normally have to prepare before meeting with a potential investor? How often are you successful in getting funding? Is the process vastly different for new filmmakers vs established creators? How much do they care about the actual content?
Whats better? Crowdfunding or investments from individuals, private investors?
Apologies on all the questions. But very eager to learn this process.
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Thanks, Mark!
This is very informative and well articulated! I would love to ask you additional questions if that is okay!
Thanks
Richard
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Richard; my advice is to invest some time in Business School.
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Hey there Richard,
Chiming in here since I'm sorta the resident expert when it comes to crowdfunding for filmmakers (two published books on the subject, plus I'm Indiegogo's Film & Creative Campaign Strategist :-) I think that if you're realistic with your goals of what crowdfunding can and cannot get you, it's a very viable route. But, I will say that you will do more work for less of a raise than you would were you to go after traditional investors. The main thing that crowdfunding gets you that no investor has ever gotten a filmmaker before is an audience. That should be the ONLY reason someone chooses crowdfunding.
The fact is crowdfunding has now become a mandatory part of any indie production because of the audience-building factor, which must be done long before your actual campaign launches; otherwise, it comes across to potential backers that you're all about the money and not the community, and that's a surefire way to ostracize present and future backers to campaigns. It has to be about the backers.
What I recommend is doing a mix of grants (depending on the project) and/or equity and/or private investment (phase one) and crowdfunding (phase two, for a very specific aspect of the production.) So, to answer your final question, there is no "what's better" question here –– they are both viable avenues. The bigger questions is do you want an audience for your film once it comes out? If yes, crowdfunding is a must part of the process.
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Doug Nelson I have an MBA in Marketing. Done my time in B-School! thanks for the feedback!
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John T. Trigonis Thanks for the insight John! For the equity and private investments, what are they typically looking for? of course a film that can make them money (have a competnent and experienced team, etc) , but how would they determine that? How can I make it easier for them to invest?
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In my experience (I've also worked with some equity crowdfunding campaigns), a movie that is most likely going to make their investment back with some more is really all they care about with regard to equity. They definitely determine this by the team you've got on board, the talent (you need talent on board), and potential distribution already secured so they know the film will have an audience to which it can be sold to. Again, investment is all about selling a movie, whereas crowdfunding is more about getting audiences involved on a deeper, more meaningful scale than the green; they leave that to you; the audience just wants to see and be a part of a good picture.
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lawyer up before you ask friends & strangers for money and put up your own money into it. not of it but some $$ to get the ball rolling. Setup a corporation, business bank acct, pay quarterly taxes
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Richard, you asked "what are they typically looking for?" Your money.
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Yes
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Two more cents, Richard: If you're going the perks-based crowdfunding route, there's no need to consult a lawyer, since it's all about giving money in exchange of a perk, not an equity stake in the movie (that's standard investment or equity crowdfunding.) If you're going those routes, you'll actually need a lawyer on retainer.