Financing / Crowdfunding

Do you think Donald Trump's tariffs on the film industry will affect you?

Anyone who wants to make a movie should know something about film budgeting. Understanding how much a film will cost to make, and being able to prepare a realistic budget is the first building block of transforming your script into a brilliant film. It doesn’t matter whether you’re making a self-financed microbudget feature or a multi million-dollar indie looking for financiers, knowing realistic costs before production begins is key to getting your film finished.

So, how much is your film going to cost? There are many items that filmmakers overlook, and many errors start with not knowing how to break down a script. This lab will begin with a formal script breakdown, which will flag potential big-ticket items, then we will use that vital information to inform every decision to create a budget tailored to your script; all the way from hiring cast and crew to getting the film distributed.

Payment Plans are available- email edu@stage32.com with any questions! You can sign up here: https://www.stage32.com/education/products/create-a-professional-budget-...

Hey all — I’ll be speaking at Stage 32’s “Art of the Deal - Innovative Financing for Indie Filmmakers” panel at Cannes this year, focused on creative financing strategies for indie filmmakers.

Curious to know — what burning questions do you have around raising capital, international presales, working with financiers, or navigating tax credits? I’d love to tailor my portion of the panel around what matters most to the community.

Sandra asked Alexia:

"What advice would you give indie filmmakers in pursuing these new potential additions [tax incentives] to their budgets?"

Have you applied for tax incentives? What was your experience like?

https://youtu.be/7WWC2tbiY68

Trump’s tariffs… what everyone is missing.

“100% Tariff on all movies coming into US that are produced in foreign countries.”

That’s the core of the US president’s post that set off a firestorm in the industry.

On one hand, this could be the final bullet as speculation over who would be affected ran rampant:

* Sony Pictures (Japan-owned studio)

* Netflix (worst case scenario estimates: $3bn in costs, 20% reduction in earnings)

* James Cameron (Avatar is created in New Zealand)

* Hollywood productions shot worldwide (A Minecraft Movie, Gladiator II, Avengers: Doomsday, etc.)

* Hollywood films shot partially overseas (Thunderbolts*, Mission: Impossible).

* Oscar Best Picture Nominees (only 3 out of 10 films this year were shot entirely in the US)

* Indie films that can no longer afford to shoot in the US

* On the other hand, Hollywood is in dire need of a bailout.

COVID, labor strikes, an M&A hellscape, and the wildfires have crushed margins, resulting in an exodus of shoots to foreign countries where labor is cheaper (IATSE reports 10K+ job losses in 2 years) and tax incentives are higher (30% in Hungary, 25% in Bulgaria).

Plus, interest in moviegoing post-COVID has waned with the streamers/social media giants gaining an asymmetrical advantage to keep people home and glued to their phones/screens. Case in point: the 2019 domestic box office was $11.4bn, with the highest post-COVID total down 20% ($9.1bn in 2023).

Hollywood’s special ambassadors, Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone, and Mel Gibson, are no strangers to this. Gibson’s Passion of the Christ 2 is filming in Italy, and two of Voight’s latest films, The Last Gunfight (2025) and Shadow Land (2024), were made in Bulgaria.

Last week, Voight made the rounds with the Motion Picture Association, pushing lawmakers to adopt a federal production incentive (w/ no mention of tariffs). The MPA drafted two one-pagers urging Congress to create manufacturing-linked incentives for domestic employment.

If the administration really wants to help the industry, skip the punishment.

Instead, create incentives big enough to change the calculus. For instance, if the U.S. adopted a federal tax credit similar to the $7.5bn program proposed by CA Governor Gavin Newsom (23x larger than CA’s current $330M credit), the potential ROI on investment will be massive.

When CA spent $109.5M in this last round of its tax credit program, funding 51 projects (including 46 indies, which we covered in depth), they generated $347M in wages and $578M in economic activity and employed over 6,490 cast and crew.

Scaling that out, a $7.5bn incentive would generate nearly $24bn in wages and $40bn in economic activity.

Imagine this money being re-distributed to the states that have seen a mass exodus of production, like California, New York, and Georgia. A federal film fund bump that pays out 10-20% on top of the state’s incentives could be the lifeline that gives producers the confidence to return home.

That’s how you bring the business back.

What do you think of this assessment?

Will this undermine US tax incentives, or act as an incentive to produce in America, if European Producers want access to the American market?

Hey everyone, I could really use some guidance.

We launched our crowdfunding campaign for A Fetish of Flesh with a ton of momentum and early support. In the first few days, we saw an incredible wave of pledges and engagement. Things were looking really promising.

But recently, we hit a pretty big setback.

One backer pledged $5,005 — a huge amount that initially helped boost our confidence and visibility. But when I refused to give this person administrative access to the campaign (something I feel strongly should stay with the core team for everyone's safety and transparency), they pulled their entire pledge.

Just like that, we lost $5,005 in support.

It stings—not just financially, but emotionally. Still, I stand by the decision to protect the integrity of this project and our community.

For those of you who’ve been through crowdfunding before:

How do you bounce back from a hit like this?

How do you rebuild trust and momentum when something so public happens?

If you've got advice, encouragement, or just an idea to keep things moving forward, I’d be so grateful to hear it.

Thanks for sticking with us. We’re not giving up—we’re just figuring out the next move.

After more than a decade in packaging, sales, and financing, I’ve found that one of the biggest shifts indie filmmakers can make, one that changes the entire trajectory of their projects, is to stop thinking like only creatives and start thinking like dealmakers.

Financing your film isn’t just about raising money. It’s about aligning interests, building trust, managing risk, and most importantly, understanding what makes your project attractive to each potential partner, whether that’s a private equity investor, an international distributor, or a grant panel.

Here are a few questions I always encourage filmmakers to ask when preparing to raise financing:

- What materials do you have prepared to share with financiers, and what makes your project package strong and effective?

- Can you clearly articulate the financial structure of your project in one page?

- Are your budget and vision aligned, or is there a gap that makes investors nervous?

- What’s the why now for your story or your specific connection to the project, and how might that help you attract collaborators?

I’ll be speaking more about this in Cannes during Stage 32’s panel “The Art of the Deal: Innovative Financing for Indie Filmmakers” alongside some incredible professionals who’ve been in the trenches of private equity, co-productions, and international finance.

If you’re heading to Cannes, I hope you’ll join us on May 17th. And if not, I’d still love to open the conversation here.

What’s one question or challenge you’re facing when it comes to financing your project?

For those who haven't been following along, earlier this year Robert Rodriguez launched his crowdfunding project out of a new Production banner "Brass Knuckle FIlms" to create movies at his Austin based studio. His team set out to crowdfund a movie to be made this year, brought to us by fans. With an initial goal of $1.5 million, RR & co. hit their goal this week, then subsequently opened up another $500k to be invested, only to reach $2 million investment within 24 hours.

The whole experiment has been interesting to watch. From every investor, all 2K+ getting to submit a written movie pitch to Rodriguez, to how it all came together ahead of the fundraising deadline, then how with a few key marketing plays, they were able to even expand the investment so quickly. The hype has grown tremendously and it'll be exciting to see how the next steps play out as it moves into production.

In tandem with Eli Roth's The Horror Section fundraising a $5M goal ongoing right now. It presents a VERY interesting opportunity for name directors with production infrastructure in place to get fans involved and make new movies in a relatively fast pipeline. Chime in if you invested or are following along as well. Would love to hear your thoughts from what you've researched/are seeing!

(https://republic.com/rodriguez)

"The Venice Gap-Financing Market is a platform for selected projects that aims to support the european and international producers to secure financing for their projects (Fiction Films, Documentaries and Immersive Projects) through one-to-one meetings with potential and pertinent international professionals (producers, sales agents, distributors, financiers, broadcasters and funds). All the invited professionals are decision-makers.

This call is open to European and International projects for the following categories:

Film and Documentary: up to 27/33 feature films and international narrative or creative feature documentaries, including 3 Biennale College Cinema Projects, from all over the world will be selected. There is no genre limitation and it's open to animation feature films;

Immersive Projects: up to 10/12 VR projects from all over the world will be selected.

This 3-day event will present up to 45 selected European and International projects and Immersive Projects, as well as projects developed through Biennale College Cinema."

https://mailchi.mp/labiennale/venice-gap-financing-market-2025-deadline-...

I've spent the last year working on a financial strategy that applies fixed-income principles (like principal protection) to independent film. The goal? To reduce investor exposure and make early-stage media IP more attractive to serious capital.

The traditional investor models in film often put all the risk on the financier — which is one reason it’s so difficult for independent producers to get high-quality content to market. We believe there are smarter ways forward.

I’d love to open up a conversation around this — has anyone here explored non-traditional film finance models that offer investors more downside protection? Have you had success raising from accredited investors outside the traditional producer/investor path?

Happy to share what we’ve been developing offline or 1:1. Always open to connecting with others thinking differently about film finance and capital strategy and how to make this antiquated finance system better. We all know a lot ofg good content never sees the light of day because the finance models don't favor independent producers.

Your thoughts!

Michael Bennett