Mahalakshmi Karthikeyan: Director in Dublin, Ireland.

Hi, We are looking to finance our feature film - this is approximately 90 minutes long and runs 105 A4 pages in script. We are planning to pitch this to potential investors/financiers.

What is the best way to pitch our films - My understanding is we have to have a pitch deck ready which can be used during our discussion with financiers. I have included the following points in the deck

(Correct me if this is not even required)

• Concept (Synopsis with 1-line logline and 3-4 minutes trailer)

• Talent - Individual Profile (Extended Bio, IMDB Link, awards etc.,)

• Team (Writer, Director, Cinematographer, Producer)

• Production (Overview/Details, Schedule/Time Lines, Location, Technical Details, Crew)

• Market Analysis (Research and Analysis, Market, Audience Research and Analysis, Demographics, Target Analysis)

• Projected Investment and Return on Investment

• Sustainability (Reduce environmental impact, how the leftovers are disposed)

• Call to Action

• Contacts (Email and Phone)

What would be the ideal time to enagage financiers (30 min or 1 hr) ?

What else is required to make a best impression at the first attempt and ensure our film is considered for financing ?

Any thoughts, ideas are welcome.

Regards.

Hello: I'm a screenwriter/director who is looking to partner with a fellow screenwriter (and hopefully avid cinephile like me) on a feature film script I have written. I need to do another draft on the script and think it would be wise to get a fresh set of eyes from a fellow screenwriter to review it and help me restructure it. The film is called "Wild Cherry Tree". Its a road movie about a guy from New Jersey who travels to Ireland to seek out a man who may have been his deceased mother's former lover. Perhaps his biological father. You can think of this as a cross between "Sideways" and "Broken Flowers".

It is also a personal film. My best friend lost his mother to AIDS and traveled to Ireland to spread her ashes. The character in this is also spreading his mother's ashes and coming to grips with his own marital failures.

The script is completed and runs 105 pages. I will be attending two film festivals in January (Rotterdam and Berlin) and pitching the script for potential financing. But, I want to do another draft on it and tighten up some missing pieces and make it stronger before those festivals.

Ideally, I would love to partner with a screenwriter who is not only interested in co-writing this script with me, but also several others that I have lined up. I'm looking for a long-term collaborator and writing partner who wants to work together long-term. I have just started my own production company (at least on paper), with the focus on making feature films in both the US and abroad.

A bit about me: I studied film at the University of Colorado and at NYU. I have made three features previous to this, including a documentary and two mumblecore films, which were more improv-based. "Wild Cherry Tree" is a return to the traditional screenplay structure for me. I'm always of the mindset: seek financing for your films, but if you don't get it, go out and shoot it yourself.

Hope to hear from you and best of luck out there!

Hello Mahalakshmi -

Welcome to the community! I'm Amanda Toney, the Managing Director at Stage 32. Since 2013 I've been proud to oversee Stage 32's Next Level Education, which provides you the most up-to-date tools necessary to become a better creative.

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Hi Mahalakshmi. I'm RB, Founder and CEO of Stage 32. As a screenwriter, producer, actor and filmmaker, I know first-hand the challenges all creatives face finding work, landing representation, launching projects, securing funding and simply making the connections that will make a difference in their careers. That's why I created Stage 32. Since our launch in September of 2011, the community has grown to 1,000,000+ members representing every country on the planet making Stage 32 the social network uniquely populated with the most creative people on Earth.

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RB

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