Why do indie film makers always want to make these big budget film project out of the gate. I had a guy who wants to make a $20M project... and he wanted to write, direct and star in it. Really? Here are 8 simple steps to getting $20M for your movie project. Do you really want to know how to get financing? it's easier than you think. STEP ONE: Write a check for $10K out of your own pocket, and make a FEATURE length film. Do the best you can with what you have. Then take the film to AFM and/or to the Caan MARKET (not the festival) and sell it for whatever you can get, but make sure it's at least a good enough deal to make $10,001 dollars. come to the realization that you can't write, direct, produce AND star in all your movies... it's just too much work and you need to focus on one talent. Take the movie that just broke even and leverage the fact that you have a movie that was released and off to step 2. STEP 2: start asking around for $50K and repeat STEP ONE while earning more than $50K, using a professional writer and director. Then , STEP THREE, repeat at the $100K level, using a professional writer, director and a producer to help you. STEP FOUR, repeat at the $500K level using a WGA writer, a Director and another producer to help you, along with SAG actors. STEP FIVE repeat at the $1 M level using a WGA writer, a DGA director and SAG actors. STEP SIX, repeat at the $5M Level as a Union Film, with a WGA writer, DGA director, A team of good producers, SAG actors and Real post professionals. STEP SEVEN: Repeat at the $10M level. as a Union Film, with a WGA writer, DGA director, A team of good producers, SAG actors and Real post professionals. STEP EIGHT: Repeat Step 1 at the $20M level......with a good production company on board as co-production partners, with a Union Film, with a WGA writer, DGA director, A team of good producers, SAG actors and Real post professionals. NOW, you can make YOUR movie the way you want to and raise enough capital to do so, because you are now marketable and bankable. Any other way is pure and complete luck ( or you are sleeping with someone) ...or most likely, a path to simply wasting your time and everyone around you...
Producing : Do you really want to know how to finance your film? Really? - Because if you want to keep your head buried in the sand.. please don't read this.. it'll just piss you off. by Georgia Hilton
Other topics in Producing:
Check out Trending Discussions
Register / Log In
Can't they just get the job done with CCM?
1 person likes this
that's a lot of letters 0__0
1 person likes this
There are always exceptions to the rule like Sylvestor Stallone and you fail to mention all the nepotism that goes on in Hollywood even if you have a great IMDB track record. There's also those who "wear many hats" first time out who have won Academy awards. I due agree that your method is the standard and part of paying your dues, but there's also a little bit of luck involved.
Who do I need to sleep with? Only females please:)
2 people like this
This was a terrific thing for me to read this morning - thank you so much for sharing it - I love the 'eating the elephant one bite at a time' scenario - there is always room for magical thinking in addition to this process and we need to make room for that in our lives, but to have this step by step approach is a wonderful foundation and it's empowering to make the wheels go 'round - I wish you the very best on your projects!
5 people like this
Side note: Don't waste time on shorts.... nobody buys short films... make a 90 min feature film and take that to the film markets like AFM, Berlin, Caan, Awards for the most part are useless. And IMHO film festivals (with the exception of the top 3 or 4) are just great big parties where film makers have a lovefest with themselves. The top 3 or 4 festivals... well you stand a tiny chance of making a sell there if you have a great FEATURE film, if that great FEATURE film actually got in, if the screening time is not next to a better great FEATURE film, and if you get a bloody standing ovation while the agents and buyers are watching your great FEATURE film, and if are willing to do a deal in the lobby. notice I don't say SHORT. SHORTS ARE A WASTE OF TIME! Are you trying to be an "artsifartsy film maker" or are you trying to make a living as a PRODUCER or DIRECTOR? DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME ON SHORT FILMS! Did I mention that you shouldn't waste you money, time and energy on a short film chasing awards or on any "Film Festival". Go directly to the film markets with a FEATURE length film. If you are serious about making this a career... MAKE FEATURE LENGTH MOVIES!
@Jacqueline - knock yourself out following Martyn's advice... I'm sure he makes a living as a "filmmaker" making short films... ;)
1 person likes this
@Martyn - please I beg you... don't waste you money and your time. If you want to make money, make features.... stupid small cheap features, but make features. get it sold, take whatever you get and finance the next one with it. No one is going to give you money to make a feature, until you are markable and bankable enough to do so. If you make a feature and you sell it. That the very first step to becoming marketable. ( sure there is always a tiny chance you can find an Angel investor or 2... but there's a better one just throwing your money at the lottery )
1 person likes this
Just a thought. Ms. Hilton is responding to many of your remarks from the position of an expert. I don't doubt she is one, and I certainly don't want to diminish her position as such. Obviously, she ahas a good deal of information to share with us and her post is very well thought out. However, I just read this interesting bit about "experts" that I would like to share. The following quote is from a book by Dan Gruber entitles the "Separation of Church and Faith". "Most 'experts' and 'authorities' uphold the prevailing view precisely because they are "experts" - that is, they are knowledgeable in what has already been thought and what has already been done. They are 'authorities' because they are recognized by others in their field who hold the same view, but cannot discern, express, and demonstrate it as well. They are experts 'in' their field; they do not see their field from the outside." In my words ... there is more than "one way to skin a cat!" Get outside the box, maybe you will succeed at reaching your goals ... maybe not. To follow the crowd means you will come to the same ending as they do and we've all seen that picture before. Or perhaps, it would be better understood if you look at the story of the people behind Cirque de Solie. If they had followed the 'norm' they may have been successful, but I don't think they would have been as successful. And if you've never seen a Cirque show - you owe it to yourself. They certainly live 'outside the box.' Follow your dreams, but remember to keep your feet on the ground ... work hard, make friends and live life to the fullest.
3 people like this
My first 30 minute film was produced for less than 3000 dollars. We recently signed a worldwide distribution deal with a cable Tv company. It is NOT about money it is about a great story, allies with like minds with similar goals and the guts to market it yourself if need be. I pitched the film for 2 years while waiting for it to come out of edit stagnation. The first company that saw it bought it.
2 people like this
Congratulations! You are correct, it isn't about the money. But don't tell that to the guys who think it is. If they ever find out that it is about following your dream, they will have a fit. Just a side note: My son is a World Record Holding Escape Artist (http://www.jonathonbryce.com/Jonathon_Bryce/Home.html) was looking for an agent when he was very young. A kindly "old" man, named Dave Jackson, took an interest in Jon. He asked Jon what success meant to him. Jon's reply was, "Being famous and making a lot of money!" Mr. Jackson then gave Jon some of the wisest advice he has ever received. He told him that success had nothing to do with money or success, but with being able to do what you want. Jon, at that time was pursuing his entertainment career as an Grand Stage Illusionist. Although he had moderate success with his illusion show, it wasn't what he really wanted to do. He set all of his magic aside and sold all of his large stage illusions about 5 years ago and went back to where his dreams began, ESCAPES! He performs all of his escape in full view of the audience so you actually have the opportunity to watch him perform the escape. Escapes that are done behind "the curtain" are almost always a magic trick. Don't misunderstand, magic tricks are awesome also and if the audience is entertained, that is what they came for. However, Jon doesn't want to be considered a magician. Success to him has become something more than just the money. It has become the reality, that whether he is making money or not, he is doing what he loves ... escaping from things. P.S. If he did what the "experts" told him to do, he would have joined a long list of other magicians, who also have received acknowledgment as escape artists, in being just like everyone else. As it is, he is the first person to ever be buried alive and successfully dig himself out. He did it by not listening to the "experts" and by looking for his own way of doing the bit.
1 person likes this
Great post! It may also be worth noting that some steps may need to be repeated until you get it right. For me, my step 1 is crowd-funding (currently for feature film "Psychotica"). I wish I could write a $10k check, but hopefully step 1 will be my step 2.
the article is great, but I think "luck", that everyone sees, is Robert Rodriguez ,and Rick Linklater, because they were so pervasive with their luck" , right out of the gate!, in the 90's, and technology has changed , No one is messing with the 10k first movie, anymore, cause everyone doing it on YOUTUBE , an no one really wants to work on some youtube vimeo movie, to get you to the next step , they are SKIPPING that step cause, they don't have time, and everyone really wants to get a "face" in their movie,and make the 200k movie, at least thats all I hear, before they get to your 3rd step, cause they want to get it into the 8 important film fests, before they have the reputation to get to the step of "Union shoots" cause that is all they really want to be, (and they really don't understand that the movie biz is a very repetitional business), I say no, most young filmmakers really don't know the "formula", of becoming a KNOWN film maker from the unknown filmmaker masses to make the big budget film.
1 person likes this
I remember a get rich quick scheme that had the same kind of nonsense. Trade a penny for two pennies, and keep going to double it, until you have a billion pennies. Seriously, have you examined one real filmmaker who made it this way? I've read a lot of biographies, not one has played that book. Have ten k in your own pocket? Good for you. Is Stage 32 going to be another one of those places where self-appointed experts give bad advice?
1 person likes this
Great advice. Slow and steady is the way to do it.
But it's the hard way to go!! I'm always in a hurry, my team pulls me back and hold the production standards HIGH.
1 person likes this
I do shorts only to test possible project ideas for features. I make a living making other peoples TV shows, videos, and movies. I also produce my own here and there. If you are a filmmaker looking to just have some fun, or make art. God bless you. I'm not. I love making movies, but I also pay my rent making movies. There is no get rich quick schemes in this business. Sure, you can get lucky...But for most of us it takes hard long hours of work and many years to get anywhere, so I hate to waste money and I loth wasting time. Second to that I hate to see people who just don't get it spend years chasing something that just isn't going to happen, so I try to help point people to a path that they CAN achieve. Do-able steps and a reasonable process to work up to the potential of getting funded by others to make movies. And if you are going to take money for others to make a movie, it had better stand a good chance of making money. I recommend you watch all the very very first movies of some of the most famous filmmakers today. Simple, cheap, to the point, films. that the only thing i'm recommending... I'm NOT TELLING ANYONE how to run their lives. What I am doing is trying to get through to the people who send my company scripts, projects, emails and phone calls telling all about their amazing script that they wrote, want to produce, direct, and star in for $20M...with absolute no background in what it takes to make a $10K movie, let alone a $20M film.. Get pissed if you want to, disagree if you want to, make all the fun films you want to, and have a great time making art if you want to. But, if you want to make a living making movies then you need to stop wasting your time and money and start getting real about the steps necessary to get to those $20M movies. Until your film is sold you don't have a movie. If you are rich enough or have rich enough parents and friend to finance a life of shorts and art flicks go to town and have a blast! I on the other hand am talking to PRODUCERS, DIRECTORS, WRITERS, and ACTORS, who do this for a living, I'm not talking to or about indie fimmakers who do this for fun.
yeah its not about money, but for me to finance future project ideas, im guna have to go down the feature film way. i got about 8-10 film projects i want to do. unless money grows on trees im gonna have to make features to see the other 1s possibly being made.
YOU ROCK ;-)!!!
@Ozzie- woman please, tell me something i dont know lol jk :
:P
1 person likes this
Good Advice to take and think long and hard about what you really want to do. When you settle down on that One thing you really want to do, then put 100% into that and as you get work then start connecting with people you actually meet in the real world. There has been too much fantasy searching on the internet by people trying to make real connections here, when real connections happen in the real world. The internet can be a great tool for many things, but not everything.
2 people like this
3 to 5 people, one location, dialogue driven, suspense/thriller/ and yes... slasher... the perfect first film.
And to do all this you'll need eight amazing stories that are worth telling right? ....because cinema is about 'Storytelling'.Very impressive to see that someone can write a check for 10,000 just like that,got to be an amazing story in the first place! Interesting method Thanks Georgia
business skills are important.
Ditto
1 person likes this
I like the overall concept here, though the step ladder approach isn't always necessary. I just made two cheap features and signed both to a sales company, without having to send them to any markets. Just some hard work on social media and festivals, building up buzz. I'd also add that if you want to have a leg up, be a filmmaker who can write; it's easier to pitch a director who brings scripts to the table, versus is reliant on the works of others. Also, I basically agree on the unmarketability of short films, though one of mine has a good chance of being on TV in the UK this year, which won't be bad for my career if it happens. It's a good idea to come at the industry from different directions (I also make reality TV pilots and pitch scripts), and see what sticks. The key is to keep making things, and make them on shoestring budgets, and to put your heart and soul into what you make.
your very wise if you don't sell that 10k film which is hard cuz that is soooooo much out there. Then hope you have a rich uncle
Well I don't think the point is to make money off of shorts, I use short films to work and network to get paying gigs, and I improve my knowledge of changing technologies and changing times because some folks don't understand that you change with the times, I,- in my (So called career,) career had many changes from 16mm features, to super 8mm shorts and commercials and Video 3/4 inch tape industrials, to vhs and super vhs, then to Hi 8mm then DV, and HDV and then HD hard drive camcorders, and then to the now, Sd Cards P2 cards, and then to DSLRs CF and Redone etc, ( now I have to admit ) I don't like the DSLRs cause they are not very condusive with "run n Gun" style shooting, but the real point is short films and the budget with the quality of the film due to the changing ease of making films short or commercials and features, you still have to work for clients with the type of style and camera they want to work with but most filmmakers have to come to terms with the fact that there is sooooo much competition today that filmmaking is not unique any more and it is more difficult to make one that sells so you have to lose a lot of money working for free to gain a reputation of not being a flake in the community you work, good luck on your productions!
there is pretty much close to zero ways of making money on shorts. In fact I advise not every going there. But if you are going to make a short. then make it to learn with, or to test a projects concept... don't make it thinking your going to make money with it.
1 person likes this
Because some of us are very supersticious like me!!!
Hey Everyone ( 5 days left ) don't forget to send a little thank you to my KICKSTARTER project. We're making a movie --in public for indie film makers the whole way -- with a $50K budget and doing only those things a first time film maker can do to help you with ideas and concepts to make your FIRST film a financial success. we've written what amounts to a 1 act play set in a box ( the cheapest feature you can shoot and distribute... a very cool box though - a real WW II submarine at battleship Cove naval museum... there are some fun rough edits of stuff including our U-boat scene. ( all done with friends for free ) Here's the link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2103655780/subconscious-feature-film Its all about the best quality project a first time filmmaker can do on a realistic budget, time, and with friends... The cast and crew are working for deferred, we've begged favors and called in my friends to help make a movie, and we're donating 25% of the profits back to Veteran support Organizations such as GallantFew.org and BAttle Ship cove memorial foundation. So please help us make a movie with you and for you.
you can follow the action at http://www.facebook.com/subconsciousthefilm and on our official website at http://www.subconsciousfilm.com
Here's an article about my upcoming feature SUBCONSCIOUS and Mike Beckingham's first leading roll... (Mike is Simon Pegg's younger brother) http://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/archive/2013/06/26/10508288.Mike_s... yup... another favor for the film...
Where do I get the $10,000?
earn it, borrow it, or get it from friends and family, and crowd funding. If you want to make your first film.. the money has to come from you. Until you are a marketable and bankable film makers you'll have to finance your own projects.
If I could do that, I wouldn't be living in a homeless shelter. Thanks for playing the "I Can Speak Like Mitt Romney" game.
I was hired to work at my grad school colleague's film company last year, but he stiffed me and fired me. I am medically limited to a desk job and was writing and editing for him for $8.65 an hour. 1,761 job applications later, and all I was able to get was one freelance editing job that is now over with. I am very limited because I lack my own editing setup.
1 person likes this
I have an article for you, we'll call it, So you Want to be A Movie Producer? Or just a media producer. Never mind financing, That's all taken care of, try producing Indie films in an area like Idaho or Utah. Limited talent agencies to cast from, limited outside resources like external writers, grips etc, Don't worry both our films will get there, the third being started this fall, the movie bio of country music legend Waylon Jennings, anybody want to help? Naw there ought to be a article written this producing thing is mental hard work.
1 person likes this
I feel your pain..