18 Steps to GROW your Filmmaking from Shorts to Features

Every filmmaker wants to see their work on the big screen.  However, given the state of the indie film theatrical market, very few filmmakers can pull it off outside of the festival circuit.  Especially for their first films.   It requires a lot of skill, and an idea that appeals to a wide audience, ideally an audience you already have an in with.  So how do you scale your films to that point?  Well, this blog can get you started.

In order to get a theatrical run for your film in today’s day and age, you need a distinctive voice, flawless technical execution, great writing, an audience you know how to reach, and some level of recognizable name talent.  But those things don’t come cheap.  Here’s a roadmap starting with what you can start as soon as you finish reading this blog. 

1. WATCH A LOT OF MOVIES.

I know, this is about filmmaking, but in order to develop your voice you need to consume the work of others.  If you consume the work of others, you’ll find things to emulate.  There’s no reason not to do this.  Many professional filmmakers I know try to watch 2 movies they have not seen a week and at least 2 movies they have seen in order to revisit and better understand the craft. 

2. MAKE SHORTS AS QUICKLY AND CHEAPLY AS YOU CAN

In order to develop both your Voice and your skills, you need to churn out some content.  Assuming you’re working full-time, you may want to try to make 12 limited to no budget shorts in a year.  One per month.  This will let you hone your skills and develop your work.  Don’t spend any money on this. 

3. GET CRITIQUE ON YOUR WORK.

The Filmmakers Subreddit as well as many groups on Facebook offer the ability to share your work for the purpose of critique.  Getting critique from other filmmakers will help you both develop your network, as well as your skills.  This can be a tricky prospect, but I've seen some decent feedback happening on the R/Filmmakers Subreddit.

4. SCALE UP FOR A BIG SHORT.

Now that you’ve honed your craft and developed your voice, you should try to make something of a calling card.  This time, instead of spending a month on it, spend 3 months on it.  Limit yourself to a few locations, but get a bigger crew and spend a little money on this.  Continue to grow your presence on social media while you’re at it.

5. SUBMIT THAT SHORT TO FESTIVALS TO BUILD YOUR BRAND.

You need more than rapid iterations to scale your brand.  You also need validation.  Start submitting to local fests so you can attend them and build your network.  As you’re submitting, make sure to continue to build your brand and your engagement on social media.  Do everything you can to get press once you get into festivals.  You probably won’t get major press, but you should definitely reach out to the smaller local papers. 

RELATED - 6 Rules for contacting Press 

6. START WRITING YOUR FIRST FEATURE, WEB SERIES, OR OTHER SALABLE PRODUCT.

As you’re doing this, start fleshing out the concept for something bigger. Something more than skill building.  Something you can actually sell.

7. AFTER YOUR FESTIVAL RUN IS DONE, DO ONE LAST SHORT.

This one is for all the marbles.  Make the short in the same genre and generally same feel as your feature.  It doesn’t have to be a proof of concept short, or the short to get the feature financed, it has to show you can pull off a feature.  Spend between 3 and 6 months making it perfect. 

8. SUBMIT THE FILM TO GENRE FESTIVALS AND BIGGER FESTIVALS.

Now that you’ve got what will (hopefully) be your last ever short, time to start making relevant contacts in the corner of the industry you seek to inhabit.  Submit your film to the relevant festivals, including one or two big ones then finish your big project script.

9. CROWDFUND YOUR NEXT BIG THING.

Yeah yeah yeah.  I know everyone hates crowdfunding.  However, if you do it right, you can fund a large portion of your movie for free, and get a huge piece of validation to help you, close distributors and investors.

10. SHOOT AND EDIT A FEATURE FILM

Expect this to take a year, but make sure you finish it well and in a technically adept way so that you can get distribution.

11. SUBMIT THE FILM TO ALL THE FESTIVALS YOU GOT INTO BEFORE, PLUS THE MAJORS

The reason you did your last two festivals was to make contacts, time to start calling them in.  Submit your film, and travel to all the ones you can.  Only wait for one major before giving your premier to a tier 2 festival. 

12. GET DISTRIBUTION FOR YOUR FEATURE OR WEBSERIES

This product won’t do you much good if no one can buy it.  Distribution is hard though and it helps to have good people on your team.  If you’re already here, check out my submissions portal through the button below.

13. MARKET YOUR WORK

After the festival run is done, make sure you work with your distributor market your movie. If they’ll let you this process will take a while

14. REPEAT STEPS 9-13

Make another feature.  If you can, double the budget.  Go back to the same people you worked with before if you liked them and they did well. ​

15. MAKE A BRAND FOR YOUR COMPANY

You should also consider monetizing your intellectual property in another way, like starting to brand your production company by creating T-Shirts for your crews, and other perch for your friends.

RELATED: 4 Reasons Niche Marketing is VITAL to your Indiefilm Success

16. HELP OTHERS MAKE THEIR FIRST FEATURE

If you want to be successful you’ll need to have a strong network and weird considerable influence.  No one can survive as an island in this industry, and helping others build their resumes and work can pay huge dividends.
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17. GET AN AGENT, OR REPEAT STEPS 9-13

If you want to scale up, you’ll need help.  An agent can help you immensely.  You’ll need to live in a hub to get one, or at least have a MAJOR win at some film festivals. 

18.  RINSE AND REPEAT STARTING WITH STEP 9. 

Unfortunately, there isn’t a single roadmap to make this work. No one could give an 18-step process for foolproof success in any industry, and the film industry is particularly tricky.

The best we can do is more a flowchart and a series of steps until you can catch a big break. The real key is making a sustainable life while you wait for that break. It’s not easy, but it can be possible.   

If you liked this, share it. It helps a lot.  Also, sign up for my mailing list to get a bunch of free goodies including an ebook, whitepaper, investment deck template, festival brochure template, and a whole lot more. Get it today!

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Why I started a YouTube Channel

I started a Youtube Channel!  I’ve been debating whether or not to do so for a while, but I wanted to make sure I did it right. With the release of this blog and this video, I’m now going to be releasing around One video a week, and maybe more in the future.  Why am I doing this?  You can read on to find out, or just watch the video below.

There’s this misconception that youtube is for amateurs and people who haven’t found their way into the real film industry yet.  So I’ve already had a decent level of success in film, why am I starting one? While there is a bit of truth behind that misconception, the notion is outdated.  It’s best to view YouTube as it’s own social media platform, where some things work and others don’t.  After all, if Will Smith isn’t too big for youtube, there’s no universe in which I would be.

All of that only answers why not start a youtube channel, but I still haven’t stated why.  After all, I am busy with my work with film representation and distribution, writing blogs and books, speaking, appearing on podcasts, and more.  How is it worth my time to start a YouTube Channel?  Well, here are the 5 reasons I’m doing it. 

I practice what I preach

I’m continually advising my clients to expand their social media presence.  If you don’t build a brand and a community around your work, you won’t be able to build a sustainable career in the film industry at this present time.  YouTube can be fantastic for engaging with your community and can be a great tool for building your online presence. 

Experimentation is necessary for growth

In order to grow your independent film career, you need to take risks and experiment.  Some of them end great, and others end terribly.  The only thing you can do is to keep trying and measure your results as you do.  In lean methodology, this is summarized in the build, measure, learn feedback loop.  If you don’t build it and test it, you’ll never figure out what works. 

Social media is constantly changing.

Pretty much any serious user of any social media platform knows that all of the major platforms are constantly changing.  Facebook and LinkedIn recently changed the Functionality of their share tools, so I’m looking for more ways to get in front of eyeballs. The other thing here is that diversification of the platforms you put out content for will help you make sure that your presence remains strong even if certain platforms change in a way that adversely affects you. 

I’ve been blogging for a long time, but not everyone has time to read as much as they’d like.

At this point, my collection of blogs and books is fairly vast.  I believe I’ve written around 170 individual blogs across various platforms plus 3 books over my time writing.  While I did make one audiobook, These Vlogs and livestreams are likely to be something you can listen to as much as watch, at least to start.  That may change over time, as it’s likely I’ll start to implement graphics into the videos if this gets enough traction. 

My life goal is to make the Film Industry a Sustainable investment class.

​That may sound like a complete non-sequiter, but a HUGE barrier to that is filmmakers not understanding business. By helping to make the knowledge filmmakers need to build their own sustainable careers and companies practically ubiquitous, we can help overcome the knowledge gap and move closer to that goal. Until Alex Ferrari’s FilmTrepreneur came along, very few people were doing this on YouTube, despite there being a dirty of knowledge related to filmmaking.

So that’s why I started a youtube channel. Thanks for reading, but next time you should probably watch the video and listen to it. If you like the idea, check out my channel, subscribe, and ring the notification bell so you know when I drop a video. You can find that via the button below. Also, if you’re super psyched about this, please share this post or any of the videos themselves. It definitely helps. See you Next week!

The SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT Asset for growing your Indiefilm Career RIGHT NOW

Last week I wrote about how distribution has changed over the last several years.  This week, I thought I’d expand on the number one most important thing for independent filmmakers when it comes to building their brand and marketing their movies. What is it?

AUTHENTICITY

Gone are the days when you could simply push out your product with a cool poster and bomb trailer that had nothing to do with the film and expect to make a lot of money.  If you’re going to be a creator, especially one who focuses on selling content to Gen Z millennials like myself you’re going to have to make sure you’re authentic about it. Here’s why

Authenticity makes you more relatable

Most people (especially younger people) have been watching insane amounts of media from a young age.  As such, we’ve learned to tell when someone is full of it.  Most of the time, we can tell when people are playing a character (even if that character is TOO idealized a version of themselves) and when they’re not telling the whole truth.  The rise of youtube and social media has shown us that millennials crave authenticity. If you want to relate to your audience, you’ll need to be authentic. 

Authenticity helps you build stronger relationships with your community and fan base.

Similarly, if you’re not authentic, it’s very difficult to build a relationship with your audience or your community.  It’s not the 80s anymore.  You can’t just blast out music and ads in a pink windbreaker, puffy shirt, big hair, and striped socks and expect people to buy your movie.  Every brand tries to build a relationship with its potential customers using various social media platforms.  However, you can have the advantage, if you’re careful about it. 

Major brands are such a large collection of people it’s not possible for them to maintain an authentic, personal brand.  As such, they generally need to spend a huge amount of money on advertising and sponsorships to keep moving their products. ​

You, on the other hand, need only be authentic and work to speak for your audience in a relatable and non-condescending way. 

Authenticity helps you organically grow your brand reach

Paid growth on social media is expensive.  Authentic, valuable content has more viral reach, and as such it will help you grow your brand, your impressions, and as a result your audience.  If something seems extremely corporate or sponsored or unrelatable, nobody is going to share it. Most filmmakers can’t afford the fees to boost content regularly enough to build their entire brand by it. 

Authenticity correlates to higher reviews

I talked about this at the top of this blog, and in much more detail in this blog. But you can’t just sell your film as something other than it is anymore. If you do, the reviews will suffer. If you made a wonderfully written break in narrative time thriller and then it gets marketed as a heart-racing action film, people are going to be pissed. I would be too, if I was expecting Commando and got Memento.

Thanks so much for reading! If you want to know more, you should join my mailing list for blog digests of blogs just like this one, as well as an awesome film marketing resource pack. That button is right below. I don’t just write about film distribution, I also used to run a US distribution company, and I still represent films to bigger players to myself. If you still need distribution for your film, you should consider submitting it. I rep on commission and there’s no submission fee.

Why Film Distributors & Sales Agents Need to know about your Social Media.

I try to stay active in at least a few Facebook and LinkedIn groups, and one question that comes up more often than I thought it would is why distributors need to know your social media numbers.  The argument that generally follows is something like “Just because people follow us doesn’t mean they’re going to buy our movie.” For the most part, we get that you probably have a lot of filmmaker friends, and your filmmaker friends are often surprisingly difficult to get to buy your movie.  That’s not the only, (or even the primary) reason why we need to know about your social media.  Here are 6 reasons why

1. Film Marketing works better if we’re amplifying your voice rather than creating it. ​

Your distributor is likely to be releasing multiple films around the same time as yours.  That’s just the nature of the business.  We generally need to have at least 5-7 films that we’re promoting or getting ready to release at any one time in order to continue to pay our overheads.  As such, if you can amplify the successes we have for your film, it’s likely that they’ll have a much greater effect than if we just sent out the announcements on our own.

You sharing big announcements and successes of your film with your community will not only have some level of an impact on sales, it will also help build awareness of the film which will help the broader marketing done by your distributor be effective at helping your film capture enough attention to break out of the white noise caused by the sheer amount of content being created. ​

2. We need to see you have the ability to build community.

Being a successful filmmaker requires a lot of the same skills required to build community.   (Check the Community Tag below for more on why.) Your social media is generally the easiest way to understand that.  Again, this is not JUST about sales.  It’s also about how personal you are and likely feeds into how easy you are to work with.

3. We need to see you understand and engage with your target market.

The most important thing in selling your film in the current market is authenticity.  If you try to write about a niche you’re not a part of, it probably won’t be very well received by said niche.  We look at your social media to make sure that you do have ties to those communities, as it means that your work is more likely to be authentic.

Unfortunately, we don’t have the time or sometimes the inclination to be a part of all the niches and subgroups we’d like to truly understand.  As such, it’s not always possible for us to accurately assess the authenticity of any film targeting a niche or sub-group that we don’t take part in.  Seeing that you take part in those groups can be a good indicator for us. 

4. If you’re a filmmaker, you’re a public figure.  We need to see how well you manage that.

If we end up with a breakout success on our hands, your social media will get some additional scrutiny.  We want to see if there are some bombshells that could cause problems for us later on.  Most of us don’t go back too far, but we do take a look to assess whether or not it’s likely that something bad might come out.

5. We want to understand your brand to see how it will be to work with you

As I said before, filmmakers need a brand. For most people, the way they manage that brand is through social media.  We want to see what you do with it.

Further, we want to see if you tend to do nothing but troll, shitpost, or rant about politics all day.  We also want to see if there’s a major sign of mental instability in your posts.  I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that on its own, but we will be working with you in some capacity for a few years, and we need to ensure that the working relationship will be healthy and productive.

6. We’ll help you find new customers, but it’s more effective if there’s a base to start from.

Finally, as I alluded to at the top our voice and marketing is best used to act as a megaphone to hone to get your message out there. If you already have an engaged base, our job will be much easier. It really is as simple as that.

Thanks for reading. I hope you found that information useful. If you did, you should consider joining my mailing list on the left. In addition to monthly blog digests segmented by topic, you’ll also get a resource packet including templates for submissions to distributors, lead tracking sheets, and even templates to make your investment deck. deck. Also, if you found this because you’re in search of a distributor, I don’t just write about it, I have been one in the past and I currently still know most of them. Click the lower button to learn about my services.

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5 Ideas For Email List Giveaways for Indie Filmmakers

Traditional marketing wisdom states that you should offer something of value to your potential customer prior to trying to sell to them.  However, this value proposition is different when you’re talking about making a film versus selling a software application.  It has to be something of value to your customers, and since most of your customers are not going to be other filmmakers you’re going to need to think outside the box and offer something that people who only consume content are going to be interested in.  Here’s a list of some ideas to get you started.

1. An unreleased short film

Unfortunately shorts don’t tend to have much value of their own.  Their primary purpose is to build the skills and the brand of the filmmaker who’s making them.  Luckily, this can make them ideal for giveaways behind an email capture.  You’re giving the consumer a taste of you style, as well as developing your relationship with them for the future. 

It’s important to note that these shouldn’t be your film school exercises or camera tests.  This should be thesis-level work if it’s going to have any value whatsoever.   If it did the festival circuit and racked up some awards then it’s likely to be a good giveaway that actually provides a decent amount of value. 

2.  A concept piece for the film you’re currently working on.

If you made a short film as a proof of concept for the feature, this can be a great giveaway once you get closer to the release.  That is, unless you have spoilers for the feature in the concept film.  If you do, you might need to re-edit the piece slightly. 

Timing this can be difficult.  I would make sure that the film is at least about to hit the first window of release before offering the concept video as a giveaway. 

3. Behind the Scenes featurettes.

With the DVD market in decline, its become much harder to get the old DVD extras than it used to be.  But even if you’re planning on having a full film distributed via transactional video on demand, (TVOD) that doesn’t mean you can’t make more content available on your website for those interested enough to seek it out.  If they are that interested, they’re exactly the sort of person you want on your email list, and they’re probably happy to join it. 

4. A copy of a script for a feature film you’ve already distributed.

This one skirts the line of being more for filmmakers than the general public.  However, if you have a film that’s already 2-3 years old, giving away the script as a value add can be quite valuable.  While most filmmakers are aware of the Internet Movie Script Database (IMSDb) but most of the general public is not.  This seems like something that could be novel to your ardent fans, and costs you very little to generate. 

​All of that being said, don’t post this as an email giveaway if it’s not already distributed. 

5. Concept art and Character Bios from the film.

The people you want on your email list are your community and your early adopters.  The rabid fans who can’t get enough of your work.  These are the sorts of people who would also love to see your concept art, behind-the-scenes photos, and more detail about the process of making the film.  Character bios can be great for this.  If you can make these little things into a behind-the-scenes featurette, then all the better.

Thanks SO much for reading!  I practice what I preach, and since my target demographic is primarily filmmakers, I give away a free resource package.  Join my email list and check it out! The package has an e-book with exclusive content, a whitepaper, a template collection, tons of research links, and money-saving resources, plus a monthly blog digest for continued education that fits your schedule.

5 Steps to Grow Your Filmmaking Email List

At least as of right now, if you’re going to sell anything on the internet, you need to build your email list.  Since most filmmakers aren’t really marketers, here’s a basic guide to building your email list of potential customers so that you’ll have an easier time selling your film once it’s time to distribute it.

1. Provide Value in the form of content.

Marketing is telling people how great you are.  Content marketing is SHOWING people how great you are.  You need to provide a steady stream of content to your followers to really build your following and your brand.  This content can be something as simple as behind-the-scenes photos, bits about how the film production is going, or even quick little live streams talking about how everything is going on set.  You can also blog using your own site, or share your blogs on ProductionNext.com.

2. Offer an Exclusive Value Add in exchange for signing up for an email address.

If you want to sell something on the internet, you need to provide value before you do.  The product itself can’t be the value add, no matter how awesome you think your content is.  You need to build a relationship with your customer, and giving them a simple gift is a great way to start that relationship off on the right foot.  It’s good to think of this as a sample of your future value, similar to a Pink Spoon and a Sample at Baskin Robbins. 

​For ideas on what sort of giveaway to use, check back for next week’s blog.

3. Drive traffic to a form built using Mailchimp or another platform.​

Once you make the offer of the free giveaway, you have to capture their email.  Generally, it’s good to categorize people to help get them on the right list as well.  I use checkboxes on my list to sort by event location, and associations with film schools or bookstores.  I’d recommend that you do something similar, but be careful not to go beyond 3 sets of questions.  If you do, your rate of return is going to drop significantly. 

4. Have the confirmation email automatically deliver the Exclusive Giveaway.

The less work you have to do on this the better.  I recommend you have your email list automatically deliver a link to the final giveaway.  A setting on mail chimp will let your final opt-in take the new subscriber to a hidden page on your site where you can set up a download or viewing link for whatever you decide to use as a giveaway. 

5. Provide valuable content in the form of emails, as well as the occasional sales hook.

Finally, the work isn’t done after you get the email. You need to provide valuable content to each new member of your mailing list, as well as make the occasional sales hook. The way I strike a balance is by using simple Mailing Automation provided for free by Mailchimp. I use the automated mailings to send out blog digests to each new member on a monthly basis based on when they signed up. I keep adding to this automation when I have time, and I try not to include sales hooks in the first automated emails.

Anyway, Thanks so much for reading. If you like this content, you should check out my email list! As I said above, it gives your free blog digests organized by topic, as well as access to a free film market resource package and a whole lot more! You’ll also stay up to date on new releases and events from Guerrilla Rep Media.

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The Printed Materials you Need for Film Festivals and Markets

Most filmmakers only think about festivals when they’re getting ready to market their film.  There are lots of reasons that this line of thinking is flawed, however, it would take far more than a 600-800 word blog to even begin to touch on them.  However, if you’re going to have ANY level of success from your festival run, you’re going to need some really snazzy printed materials.  This blog outlines a couple of examples I’ve used personally and had success with.

Why you need Good Printed Materials

Just getting into a festival is no guarantee people will see your movie.  Generally, you have to spend a good amount of time and energy driving people to your screening.  One of the most effective ways to do that is by having them a tangible piece of paper that has all the information they’ll need on it. 

Generally, the cheapest thing you can hand them is a postcard, however, for festivals, I strongly prefer a Tri-Fold Brochure.  The Tri-Fold Brochure has more space for everything a reporter or reviewer may need to know about your project, all put into a piece of paper that can be easily turned and segmented to group relevant pieces of information. 

The point of getting into a film festival is less about getting people to see your movie, and more about validating your film and giving it a chance to get meaningful press coverage.  Both of these things are significantly more likely to happen if you can make a reporter’s job easier by giving them all the information they need in one compact piece of paper. 

Postcard Outline

Generally, you’ll want the promotional art for your project to take up the front of your postcard.  If you don’t want it to take up the entire front of your film, you could leave a space for screening times towards the bottom.  If you want to get more use out of these cards, you could also leave a space that can be covered with a return address mailing label on the bottom where you can put the time and locations of screenings at this festival.

On the back, I’d put a synopsis, information about the director, and maybe a little bit about how the film was shot.  You probably won’t have space for much else.

Brochure Outline

I’ve added a template for this in my resources section, but I’ll outline what I mean here.
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On the front panel, you’ll want to put the key art, where the film is screening (The mailing address label works well here too), and maybe your social media links or where they can purchase the film.

When they open the brochure, on one of the two panels you reveal you’ll want to put some stills from the film to add visual interest. On the other panel, they’ll see when they open your brochure, you’ll want to outline your production company, including your creed/mission statement and other projects you’ve made.

Then they open the other panel, you’ll want them to see photos and bios of your key cast and crew.

On the back panel, you’ll want a bit more art, a bit about what you’re working on next, the next steps for the film, and then a press contact and a link to download your EPK. If your film is available for sale anywhere, you’ll also want to include that there.

I actually a template of this format for MSWord and Apple Pages. You can find it in my FREE Resource package alongside other templates.

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13 Things you NEED on your Production Company Website

One of the things that most filmmakers tend to struggle with tends to be creating a website for their projects.  Given that it’s nearly 2019, your business needs a website, and it needs to be good.  However, many filmmakers’ websites tend to be hard to navigate, overly complicated, or focus more on the photos from the shoot than the subject of the project.  So, I thought I would create a post outlining some of the best practices in creating a website that I’ve come across.

Domains and Subdomains

So one of the first things you need to consider when creating a website is the domain.  Generally, I’ve found that creating a master domain for your production company and subdomains for your project is a very effective tactic.  As an example, this would look like www.myawesomeproductioncompany.com for the main domain and myawesomeproject.myawesomeproductioncompany.com for the subdomain.  Obviously, you wouldn’t want something as long as your subdomain, but that’s more to illustrate a point than a practical example. 

The exception to this would be to give a custom domain for the first year or two of release and then have that page redirect to a subdomain listed above.

There are a couple of reasons that I favor the subdomain layout.  One is that you don’t have to maintain as many domains.  Another is that it simply feels cleaner.  There are a few drawbacks to this approach though.  A lot of WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) design platforms like Weebly, Wix, and Squarespace don’t have great support for it.  As such, you may have to use a platform like WordPress or Drupal to build your site, and doing that requires at least a basic understanding of web design.  I used to use Weebly but I switched over to Squarespace.

Tabs and What they contain

The rest of the blog is an outline of what tabs your production company site as well as your project subdomains should include.  To start, I’ll list the tab on the page, then I’ll list major features on that tab, and then I’ll explain a little bit about why each of those features needs to be there.  But before we dive in…

Every Tab gives you the ability to join the mailing list

Developing your mailing list as a filmmaker is a really important piece that you absolutely NEED to do.  Your mailing list is a vital part of your community, and it’s one of the most effective ways to actually sell your products.  In general, you’ll give something of value away for free, I use my resource package.

The basics of your funnel should be that you move people from social media to your website, then from your website they join your list, then over time, you turn them from prospects into customers and from customers to repeat customers.  But in order to make that funnel work, you need to make it easy to join your email list.​

Homepage

Trailer
Sales/availability Links for the most recent project
Sales/availability links for your most popular project
Links to all your social media

For those of you who are very far from fluent in Webspeak, the homepage is where you land when you first visit a website.  As such, you want the most important information there.   Given this is the homepage for the company, you’ll want the trailer for your most recent and upcoming projects, and the sales/preorder link if it’s available.  If you’re running a crowdfunding campaign, this should be front and center on this page.  You’ll also want to make sure you include prominent links to your social media, just to make sure that you can get as much repeated contact with the people who visit your website as possible. 
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You may also want to include logos of all the places your company has been featured in the press. ​

About Tab

The About tab is where your key personnel get their bios and photos posted.  There are a lot of ways you can do this.  If you have a large staff, then you can do click-throughs for each of them.  If you’re like most startup production companies, you probably have 3-5 staffers at most. If that’s the case you can just do it all in one page.  

You may want to consider adding a mailto link, or you may not.  If you include a mailto link, you run the risk of being contacted by spammers.  But you also never know what may come of those links.  I’ve gotten hourly consulting clients just from the mailto links on this site.  If you want to split the difference, use something like Fname (at) Domain (Dot) com or use a captcha plugin.

Projects Tab

Includes links to all your project subdomains
​
This is a listing of all your projects.  I’d recommend having poster images of each as well as loglines, synopsis, and the number one sales link that you want to emphasize. 

Press Tab

This is where you keep all the press coverage your company and your projects have gotten.  I think some of this should be a feed with links to all your press, but you should also have a graphical representation of logos where you or your company has been featured. 

Blog feed for what’s going on with your projects.

I’m (rather obviously) a big fan of using blogs and content marketing to support your business.  If you’re reading this, it’s clearly been somewhat effective.  I think blogging about your journey as a filmmaker is a good way to keep engaged with your community.  They don’t need to be as long or involved as the sorts of blogs I do, but they can be a really effective way to grow your fan base. 

Contact Tab

Make yourself available for contact through your site.  Even if all you’re doing is putting a mailto: contact form.  You’d be surprised what can come of this.  I know at least a few sales agents use them to get the films they really want. 

Project Specific Site(s)

As I stated at the top, you should have a base website for your production company and subdomains for your projects.  Here’s what goes on for your projects.

Homepage

Trailers
Social Media Information.
Sales Links
Festival laurels/Awards

Just as with the Production Company page, you’re going to want to list everywhere that you can find the film online.  You’ll also want to show where you can find the film online.  In general, it’s better to link to the company pages rather than give each individual film its own social media account.  After a while, that just becomes incredibly tedious and cumbersome to maintain.  For more information on that, check out the blog linked below.

Related: Facebook Page Management for Filmmakers. ​

About page for key cast and crew.

This page goes into a lot more detail about the top-level crew on the film.  You’ll basically want all your department heads listed, with pointers to their IMDb, their chosen social media outlet, and maybe a brief bio. 

Contact page for distribution inquiries

Most of the better sales agents I know go after really good films. Make it easy for them to reach out to you. In your contact dropdown, list distribution inquiry as an option. Make sure that one goes to the relevant person, distributors do look for content regularly.

I hope this was a good resource for you. If you want more resources, I’ve got a free package for exactly that. It’s got an e-book, monthly content digests, a whitepaper, templates for Decks, promotional festival brochures, Sales agent contact tracking templates and form letters, and a whole lot more. Oh, did I mention it’s free? Grab it with the button below.

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5 Essential Elements of a Filmmaker’s Personal Brand.

Last week we outlined why your brand is so important to your career as a filmmaker. This week, we’re going to dive into how you begin to define your brand.  Your brand is the cumulative outcome of all the interactions anyone has with you or your company.  As such, this list is far from complete, however, these things are quite important when you’re getting down to defining your brand.​

1. What Genres you do primarily work in? 

If you start working primarily on thrillers, then it can be hard to effectively transition to something like family.  Generally, filmmakers and film companies will have certain genres that are heavily associated with their brand, even if that’s not all they work on.  An excellent example of this is Blumhouse, which primarily focuses on the thriller and horror genres.  After you’ve got more of an established brand, you can begin to expand into other genres, ideally with some level of stylistic relation to the ones you built your brand on.   

Your ideal audience is more important than any specific project or genre, but your audience will have a lot to do with your genre.

2. What elements of your style are similar or the same across your projects?

This is probably more important to keep consistent for your brand than genre is.  There are certain stylistic elements that remain largely the same across a director or even a high-level producer’s work. 

For Stephen Spielberg, there’s a certain wondrous quality that often feels very clean and expensive.  For Quinten Tarantino, his films generally have a pretty strong 70s vibe to them, even when they’re set far outside that time frame.  For Jerry Bruckheimer, most of his films are bombastic, with lots of special effects and explosions, and often feature a glorified music video in the film itself to boost soundtrack sales. 

3. What unifying themes or motifs do your movies have?

Generally, directors have recurring themes and/or motifs that occur throughout their work.  Hitchcock had a long-standing fascination with birds, eyeballs, and Freudian Psychology.  All of Kevin Smith’s movies seem to take place in the same extended universe and almost always feature Jay and Silent Bob.  Quentin Tarantino’s work almost always features lengthy banter that’s largely disconnected from the plot of the film but serves to flesh out the characters and is almost always incredibly entertaining and enlightening.

4.  What is your creed? (Mission statement)

Most business books call this a mission statement, but I personally prefer the tact that’s taken by Primal Branding in looking at your mission statement as a creed.  A creed is what you live by.  It’s why you exist.  It’s a deeply personal thing, and it informs every piece of content your company will ever make. 

Film companies don’t have these as much, so we’ll look for other examples to illustrate my point.  Apple’s mission statement is “Think Different” Google’s mission statement is to “Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.”  Google used to have a similar sort of tagline that was “Don’t Be Evil,” But they took that down recently.  For my other venture ProductionNext, the creed is “You do the Creative Part, we do the rest.” For Guerrilla Rep Media, the creed is to make that I don’t make movies, I help filmmakers MAKE MONEY with theirs.

5.  How do you engage with your audience?

As stated at the top of this article, a brand is the culmination of all interactions any potential customer or business partner has with a company or individual. In this day and age, it’s absolutely VITAL that any entrepreneur finds a way to effectively manage their interactions with their community and their customers. For most of us, that will rely heavily on our social media presence. You’ll need a strategy of what content you share when you share it, and how it both provides value to your potential customers and fits within your mission statement.

Thanks so much for reading!  If you like this sort of content, you should sign up for my resource package, it’s got an e-book, a whitepaper, and an evergrowing list of templates and resources. Plus, you’ll get a monthly digest of content just like this blog organized by topic, and a recommended reading list including an entire section on branding. Click the button below to sign up, and let me know what you think of this blog in the comments.  Also, if you liked it, share it!  It helps a lot.

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Top 4 Reasons to Crowdfund your Independent Film

Most filmmakers hate the idea of crowdfunding.  While nobody likes constantly having their hands out and asking their friends for money for a whole month straight, it’s something that most filmmakers are going to have to do early in their careers.  It’s very possible that most filmmakers will have to do it more than once.  But the reason you crowdfund isn’t just about the money.  There are lots of other reasons crowdfunding can be a boon for a filmmaker’s career.  Here are 4 of them.

1. It’s one of the Most Viable Ways to get First Money in.

The first money in is always the hardest.  In the past, the most common way to get the money was from friends and family.  More recently, this has been replaced with crowdfunding, although in practice it’s still primarily a friends and family round, it’s just a scaled-up version of it that handles taking in the payments for you. It’s also something you can do even if you don’t have a rich uncle. 

​But keep in mind, nothing worth having is free.  While this is one of the most viable ways to get first money in, it’s far from easy.

Related: Top 5 indiefilm Crowdfunding Techniques

2. It’s one of the Quickest Ways to get Money you don’t have to Pay Back.

But wait, Ben, haven’t you said in the past that a crowdfunding campaign’s preparation starts a whole year in advance?  Like in this blog linked right below this sentence?

Related: Indiefilm Crowdfunding timeline

Well incredulous voice in my head that sometimes comes out in the form of content on my website, I did indeed say that.  Not only did I say that, but I stand by it.  I stand by it due to the fact that the real, hardcore prep only starts about 3 months prior to the campaign, and the work before that is primarily engaging your community (which you should be doing anyway.) 

Generally, grant money isn’t very fast, tax incentives both tend to be rather slow and come with a lot of strings, and product placement tends to not pay out until the film is completed, and often isn’t even money that’s directly given to you.  Pretty much every other form of financing are things you have to pay back. 

Although it should be noted that you do have some pretty big responsibilities to your backers.  You need to fulfill the rewards you promised them, and you need to keep them up to date on your progress as you move through the various stages of development. ​

3. It’s a way to Engage with your Community at an Early Stage

One of the biggest things that set successful filmmakers apart from hobbyists in the current landscape is the ability to cultivate community around themselves and their work.  Crowdfunding can be a really powerful means to support this end.  Crowdfunding is a great way to identify and engage your early adopters and the core of your community.  It’s a great way to stay involved with them and make them feel like they’re an important part of your project.  In actuality, they are important parts of your project. 
​​
But engaging with your community is about far more than getting crowdfunding backers. Your core community of backers can become your most vocal advocates from the earliest stage.  If your work comes out well, they’re likely to share it with their friends and start your word-of-mouth marketing when it comes time to distribute your project.  They’re a lot more likely to do this than the average person since they’ll have been around since the beginning.  Their friends might even join your community the next time you crowdfund. ​

4. It’s Validation for your Project

One of the biggest things investors look for in a project is also one of the things that’s the hardest for filmmakers to provide.  Especially in the early stages of their career.  Having a successful crowdfunding campaign proves to investors that not only is there a market for this project, but that you know how to reach them.  This is a huge hurdle to overcome when approaching angel investors.

That being said, it’s important to keep in mind that the reverse is also true.  If a project fails its crowdfunding campaign, it’s incredibly difficult to convince an investor that there is an addressable target market.  Or, at least that you have the ability to address said target market.  So with that in mind, you should only try to raise what you know you can get via crowdfunding, and then plan to get the remaining sources via other financing methods. 

Thanks so much for reading!  If you liked this content, you grab my film business resource package. You’ll get an ever-growing list of templates, money-saving resources, and even an e-book or two.  You’ll also get monthly digests of blogs segmented by topic.

6 Reasons Filmmakers Are Entrepreneurs

Filmmakers often don’t like to think of themselves as business people.  Often, they’d rather be creative, and focus solely on the art of cinema.  Unfortunately, this is not the way to create a career crafting moving images.  In order to make a career, you must understand how to make money.  The easiest way to do that is to think like an entrepreneur.  here are 6 reasons why.

1. Filmmakers and Entrepreneurs both Must Turn an Idea into a Product.

At its core, the goal of both being a filmmaker and an entrepreneur is the same.  To take an idea, and turn it into a market-ready product.  For an entrepreneur, this product can be anything from software to food products, and everything in between.  For a filmmaker, the product is content.  Generally speaking, that content is a completed film, web series, or Television series.

This alone should be enough to see how filmmakers are entrepreneurs, but it’s not the only way the two job titles are similar

2. Filmmakers and Entrepreneurs are both creative innovators birthing something that has never been seen before.  

Every successful company does something no one else ever has.  Every successful film brings something that’s never been seen before to the market.  Some innovations are minor, others major.  Both sets of innovations are born by iterating on another idea that didn’t quite make their product in a way that the entrepreneur or filmmaker thinks is the best way. 

Innovation is at the core of both filmmaking and entrepreneurship.  Both involve intelligent and creative people who want to change the world.  Some through technology, some through storytelling.

3. Filmmakers and Entrepreneurs both must figure out who will buy their product.  

If either a filmmaker or an entrepreneur is to be successful, then they need to figure out who will buy their product when it’s ready to ship.  If they don’t know what their target market is, then it’s impossible to make enough money to keep the company going or help investors recoup so you can make another film. ​

Market research is key to this.  If you want to find out more, check out last week’s blog by clicking here. 

4. Filmmakers and Entrepreneurs both often need to raise money to create their products.

While everything else on this list is true nearly 100% of the time, this one is only true 80-90% of the time.  While some entrepreneurs and filmmakers can finance their companies out of pocket, most filmmakers need to consider how they’ll pay for the things necessary to create their chosen product. 

Both filmmakers and entrepreneurs must develop a deep understanding of fundraising if they’re going to be able to make their career in their chosen field a long-term sustainable one. 

5. Filmmakers and Entrepreneurs must both assemble a team to turn their idea into a product.  

No one can make a film or build a company all by themselves.  Both must build and manage a team of creatives and business people to create their product and take it out to the world.  Without the ability to build and lead a team to success, the film or the company will not succeed. ​

6. Filmmakers and Entrepreneurs must both figure out how to take their products to market.  

After coming up with an idea, figuring out who will buy their product, financing their vision, and assembling a team in order to create a product, filmmakers still need to get that product and figure out how to take it to market. For both, this is generally referred to as the distribution stage of the process.

For filmmakers, it’s relatively well-defined despite the information about it not being widely enough available. For entrepreneurs, their distribution plan will vary greatly by industry. But in either case, if the end user/viewer can’t access the product, they won’t buy it.

Thank you so much for reading.  If you’d like to become a better indie film entrepreneur, you should check out my FREE Indiefilm Resource package. it’s got a free e-book called The Entrepreneurial Producer, several templates to help you organize your operation including a pitch deck template, and monthly blog digests to help you expand your knowledge base.

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Indiefilm Crowdfunding Timeline

In crowdfunding as in filmmaking, preparation is key.  If you don’t adequately prepare for your campaign, then you’re not likely to succeed.  If you’ve never crowdfunded before, this can be a daunting prospect. Don’t worry, Guerrilla Rep Media is here to help.  This post is meant to give you a timeline to prepare for your campaign, starting further out than you might think.

It’s based around what I’ve learned raising 33,000 of my own in the early days of kickstarter, as well as what I’ve learned from speakers and advising clients running their own campaigns.

6-12 Months Prior to Launch

Begin interacting with online and in-person communities relevant to your target market

If you want to have a chance at people outside of your friends and family donate to your crowdfunding campaign, then you’ll need to become a part of those communities early.  If you show up and immediately start asking for money, you’re only going to lose friends and alienate potential backers and customers.  If, on the other hand, you become part of the communities you’re targeting early on then you may well end up getting yourself some new audience members who might just back your campaign.

Related: 5 Dos and Don't for Selling your Film on Social Media

It’s a lot of work, but the benefits may surprise you.  They’re likely to reach beyond your professional life, and into your personal life. 

3 Months Prior To the Launch

Begin to be really active in groups of your target market.

Essentially, this is an extension of the list above.  As your campaign approaches, spend more time engaging with people on those online communities you joined 3-6 months ago.

2 Months Prior to the Launch

Shoot Video

List All Potential Perks

Let People Know You'll be Running a Campaign

Get set up with your Payment Processor

About 2 months before your expected launch, you should get as much of the preparation out of the way as you can.  This includes things like shooting your video, listing your potential perks, and potentially even getting set up with the payment processor of whatever platform you’re using.

Many of those things take much longer than you expect them to, so doing them early will make sure that your campaign launches smoothly. ​

1 Month Prior to Launch

Start seeing what press you can get.

Create a Facbook Event for Launch

Finalize list of Perks

Organize Launch Party

A month out from your campaign is when your pre-launch should be going into overdrive.  You’ll need to issue a press release about your campaign to try to get some local press, make a Facebook event for the launch party to try to get some early momentum, finalize all your perks, and potentially organize a launch party to help get people excited about your project.  You may want to consider making your launch party backer-only, just to get the numbers up early on. ​ Let people donate at the door from their if you need to.

Related: Top 5 Crowdfunding Techniques

1 Week Prior to Launch

Do at least one press interview (if you can)

Promote Launch Day on Social Media

Confirm a few large donations to come in on lauch day: Ideally right at launch.

With your launch date less than a week away, you’ll want to see if you can get any press.  This can be anything from a local newspaper from the town you grew up in, it could be a friend’s podcast, or it could even be some old high school alumni newsletter.  The press will give you legitimacy and legitimacy means more backers.

While you’re doing this, you’ll want to spend a lot of time talking about the impending launch on social media and talking to some big potential donors about coming in in the first few hours of the campaign.  If people see more traction early on, they’ll be more likely to jump on board. ​

Launch Day

Follow-up with AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN to get them to donate.

If you have some large confirmed donors, then you need to follow up with them and remind them on launch day.  It matters a lot to get some big fish in right as the campaign starts. ​

First Few Weeks of the Campaign

INDIVIDUALLY email EVERYONE you can to ask them to donate.

Once you get your campaign started, you’ll want to INDIVIDUALLY email EVERYONE in your address book.  I’m not talking about setting up and sending out a mail chimp email, I’m talking about individually reaching out to follow up with EVERYONE who you have an email for.  One trick I’ve learned from a friend and Former Speaker Darva C. is that you should email 2 letters of the alphabet a day, over the first 2 weeks of the campaign.  Then email them again, starting on day 16 of the campaign. ​

It’s a grind, but making a film always required sacrifice. 

Midpoint of Campaign

Host an event to keep interested high.

It would be wise to have an event to keep your social media spirit high in the lull that is the midpoint of the campaign.  You have to keep the momentum going through the campaign, so having something like a midpoint event to talk about on social media is incredibly useful.  This event is one I would HEAVILY consider making backer-only, even if they’ve only backed you for 1 dollar. ​ You could also let them back at the door from their phone.

Last Few Weeks of Campaign

Individually email everyone you can AGAIN.

​Do the same thing that you did on the first 13 days of the campaign again. Thank the people who donated, and remind the people who didn't to donate again.  ​

Closing Night-Host a celebration (or commiseration) party!

Finally, at the close of the campaign, you’ll need to have a party, whether to celebrate your success or commiserate that you didn’t hit your goal. Either way, you’ll deserve a night of fun because you WILL be tired.

If this seems like a lot, it is. Even once you’ve finished raising, you still need to make the movie. My free Film resource package includes a lot of resources to help you make it and get it out there once it’s done. It’s got a free e-book, lots of templates, and a whole lot more. Click the button below to sign up.

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6 Tips to manage your Indiefilm Facebook Page

Your social media presence for your company is extremely important.  Likely, the most important piece of it is your presence on Facebook.  Facebook has the largest user base, and if you know how to use it you can tap into a huge part of your target market.  Here are 5 rules that will help you grow your Facebook presence. ​

Focus on a Page for Your Company, not your projects.

When you set up your Facebook page, it’s better to focus on a page for your production company instead of your film.  This way, when you move on to the next film, you’ll already have the audience you’ve created for your film.  You may have to create a page for individual projects, but you should focus on keeping the audience for your company page engaged.

Also, its getting more and more difficult to run a business through a standard profile. You can try it to increase organic reach, but you may end up hurting yourself more than helping yourself.

Always respond to Messages to your page

If you want to keep your reach up, you need to respond to questions and comments that come to your page via messenger. It can also lead to some really notable business opportunities and sales for you. At least, it has for me.

Don’t try to manage too much at once.

Just having a huge Facebook page won’t do you much good.  You have to use it as a way to engage the audience for your projects.   To do this, you have to regularly post content relevant to your target demographic. Finding or creating high-quality, engaging content is a very time-consuming process.  If you want to try to manage too many pages at once, you’re likely to burn out and not be able to continue regularly posting relevant content.

If you let too long pass between posts, your fan base will start to decay.  Further, when next you post, your posts won’t reach as far because Facebook’s algorithm won’t let them.  It’s much better to focus on managing one or two pages at the same time and helping those pages to grow within the platform.

Share useful content to relevant groups

One good way to grow your brand recognition online is to post valuable content to your page, then share it with groups filled with your target demographic.  I do this all the time.  In fact, there’s a good chance that’s how you found this article.  This content shouldn’t just be sales links for your film, it should be free content that provides some value to the group.  You can post the occasional sales link, but you shouldn’t do so more than once per week. 
​

Related:5 Dos and Don'ts for Selling your Film on Social Media

It’s important that you avoid being too spammy while doing this.  I have a list of 5 groups to share to each of my pages on a daily basis, to help ensure I don’t post to the same group too many times.   It takes some time to set up, but it’s the best way to avoid running afoul of group admins.  That’s not something you want to do. Trust me.  (Sorry if you’re one of the admins I’ve run afoul of, just trooping through this.

Always post videos natively

By this, I mean always upload your videos directly to Facebook, and don’t post a Vimeo or YouTube link.  If Facebook sees that the video is coming from Vimeo or YouTube, it will only get about 20% of the reach.  If, on the other hand, you upload it directly to your page, it will actually get a lot of prioritized placement in the feeds of people who like your content and their friends. 

Don’t put your movie on Facebook, put your trailers there and point to Amazon.

Finally, Facebook video is a great place to post a trailer, but not a great place to post your entire film.  First of all, you won’t be paid for posting your video to Facebook like you would be if you posted to Amazon Video Direct or YouTube.  Second, most people just don’t watch full-length films on Facebook.  They’ll watch videos that are only a few minutes long. 

As such, posting your trailer can be a great way to get extra attention on it, and then you can link off to a place where people can buy it or watch it for free.   Doing this can not only increase the number of people who watch your film, but might even increase your total audience. 

Thanks so much for reading.  If you like this content, you should consider liking my page on Facebook!  Here’s a link.

www.facebook.com/theguerrillarep.

Also, join my mailing list for more indie-film business content, plus a free e-book, template, and more!

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The 5 Rules to Running a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign

Since my exit from Mutiny Pictures Most of my work, these days is as an executive producer, consultant, distribution representative, and marketer. However, there was a time when I was a filmmaker and a regular (as opposed to executive) producer.  During that time, I raised a total of 33,000 on Kickstarter for two projects.   This blog gives you some of what I learned from those two campaigns.

​While those two projects never went as far as they could have due to a parting of ways between myself and my former business partner, there’s still a lot of information I learned in running these campaigns in the early days of Kickstarter.  Here are 5 of them.

​#1. Prepare

You CANNOT be successful in crowdfunding without preparation, and that preparation starts early.  Generally, your soft preparation for a crowdfunding campaign will start at least 6 months before you launch your campaign.  This soft preparation will consist more of being an active member of your community.  About 3 months out you’ll need to get ready to shoot your video, and about 2 months later you’ll need to get ready for pre-launch. 

I’ll be releasing a preparation timeline in a few weeks, so check back soon!

#2. Grow Your Network

About 80% of your donations will come from people you already know and interact with regularly.  This is why you need to become active in communities that will be interested in your film.  This can be alumni organizations, groups of people enthusiastic about the kind of film you’re making, and any other group of people that are tangentially connected to the film you’re planning on making.
​

#3. ​It’s a Full Time Job, Plan Accordingly

No matter how much preparation you do, when the campaign starts it will be at least one person’s full-time job.  You’ll need to personally thank everyone who donates, and you’ll need to spend a lot of time emailing basically everyone you know individually.  If you’re smart, you’ll do it twice.  Bulk emails aren’t going to do you anywhere near as much good as individual emails, and individual emails take a lot of time. 
​

#4. Try to Get as Much Press as Possible

The best way to add legitimacy to your campaign is to get mentioned in the press.  In order to get that press you’ll need to reach out to any editors and reporters you can that might cover you.  Note that I say editors and reporters THAT MIGHT COVER YOU.  If you know a reporter at Variety, you probably don’t want to email them about your campaign since they’re not going to cover it.  If you grew up in a small town with a local paper, you definitely do.  You’d be surprised what they’ll cover. 

This is something you can work with your prospective crew about as well.  Maybe you’re not from a small town, but your DP or production designer might be.  This can be a very mutually beneficial arrangement, it puts your crew in the spotlight and raises the profile of the film. 

It would be wise to send out a press release via one of the many press release sites.  This will help you generate at least a few articles on affiliates for NBC, FOX, and others that you can use to grow the profile and perceived legitimacy of your campaign.  It also has some SEO benefits, but I’m not sure that would help too much on crowdfunding. ​

#5. DON’T SPAM

Don’t post your campaign incessantly on all of your social media,  Make sure you continue to provide value outside of asking for money while you’re in your campaign.

If you use Messenger to send your campaign to someone, open up a conversation first.  Don’t just copy-paste a form email with no conversation back from them.   

Say hello to someone first.  Ask how they’re doing.  Then send them info about your campaign when they ask what you’re up to. Taking the time to show you care about what’s going on in their life will greatly increase both your conversion rate and the amount each member of your network contributes.

Thanks for reading!  If you like this, you should go ahead and grab my FREE Film Market Resource Pack. It’s got a free e-book of articles like this one to help you grow your filmmaking career, free templates to streamline investor and distributor conversations, and even a monthly content digest that helps you continue to grow your knowledge base on a schedule that’’s manageable to almost anyone. Get it for FREE Below.

5 Ways to Market Your Movie Besides Social movie

There’s a lot of advice on the internet, as well as on this blog about marketing your film using social media.  That’s with good reason, Social media is among the most cost-effective ways to market your project if you do it properly.  Further, it helps you maintain a long-term relationship with potential customers.  That being said, it’s not the only way to market your film.  It might not even be the most efficient way when it’s the only thing you do.  What follows are 5 ways to market your film other than social media.

For this blog, all 5 of these tactics can and should be used in conjunction with each other, and can greatly augment your social media marketing.

Before we begin, every once in a while I’ll take a question I get on Twitter and turn it into a blog.  This question came @AmandaVerhagen a while back, but I’ve not had time to adequately address it until now.  If you have a question about film distribution, marketing, financing, or sales, feel free to @Mention @TheGuerrillaRep and I might just write a blog to answer your question.  

Events

Hosting an event to spread the word about your project can be a great way to build excitement and generate interest in your project.  This can be something as simple as a happy hour at a local bar where you buy a few drinks for strong supporters, or as complex as renting an event space, supplying the booze, and having some people say a few words.  Ideally with entertainment.

What you do really comes down to how much time you have to organize and what your budget it.  The importance of the milestone you’re celebrating also plays a factor, although any milestone worthy of an event is also likely worthy of some time to organize it

Festivals

Shocking, I know.  However what does bear mentioning is that festivals are only as useful as you make them.  Getting into festivals can be a great way to expand your network and grow the reputation of the film, however the effect that will have will be limited unless you learn how to work the festival. 

Essentially, getting into a festival provides you a space where you can utilize every other item on this list to grow your notoriety, your film’s reputation, and your professional network. 

​Flyers/Givaways

​Having something tangible you can give away to people at events in festivals will help people remember you.  They’ll remember you even more if you attach something to the card that has some immediate value beyond the information you’re handing out.  This can be as simple as a tiny piece of chocolate attached to a card, a bottle of hand sanitizer, or even a small bottle of alcohol( if the demographic is right.)

Adding a giveaway will help you stand out in the minds of whoever you give your giveaway to .It’s easy to get lost in a pouch of postcards and flyers, but something as simple and cheap as a piece of chocolate can make all of the difference in how you’re remembered by the event goer. 

​Stunts

Pulling some sort of marketing stunt can be a great way to stand out and attract a bit of press.  Whatever you do, you’ve got to make sure you do it safely though. 

One of the most famous stunts at Cannes was when someone lit themselves on fire (in a fire suit) and then after they were put out, it was revealed to be an attractive your woman in a bikini who starred in the film she was promoting.  Rumor has it the woman later lost that bikini while being interviewed, but that’s another matter.  Also, that happened in the late 80’s/early 90’s, so the culture was different.

Your stunt doesn’t have to be as outlandish as that, but should be as memorable.  If you have a  war movie, you might want to consider throwing toy paratroopers from a rooftop you can gain access to.  If you’re promoting at Sundance, a woman in a bikini making a quick walk through the cold with premier tickets would certainly grab some eyeballs and some attention.  Especially if you can work in a joke about accidentally packing for Cannes. That said, make sure you have a trenchcoat and hot drinks on hand to help her out when she inevitably gets cold.

In any case, the goal of the stunt is to get eyeballs in a safe and legal way.  It’s to help you and your movie be memorable and to ideally attract a bit of the final item on our list. 

​Publicity

​Publicity is almost always the most cost-effective way to spread the word about your project.  However, it’s not always the easiest thing to get.  Generally, you’ll need a relationship with an outlet, something truly eye-catching, or a good publicist to get any substantial amount of coverage.  Sometimes you’ll need all three. 

There are a couple of ways you can disseminate a press release.  PRNewswire.com is relatively affordable, but it’s unclear how much individual press coverage you’ll get out of it.  It does still help with your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to at least a degree though.  

Generally, if you can afford a publicist, it’s the best way to go by far.  My favorite publicist is October Coast, they’re very cost-effective for the value they provide. While it’s possible to get big marquee press coverage from October Coast it’s unlikely. This means you probably won’t get you the big outlets like Deadline, Variety, or THR, but you will get dozens of relevant niche blogs. In general, you’ll need a higher-cost publicist, or if you’re lucky your distributor, sales agent, or producer’s rep will handle this for you.

EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: There may be a few more things I’ve learned from Running Mutiny that I’ll share in a new blog around the efficacy of paid ads and sponsorships. Comment if that’s of interest.

Thanks for reading! If you want more help financing or distributing your movie, the best place to start is my film business resource pack. It’s got templates, an e-book, and a whole lot more to help you grow your indiefilm company and career. Oh, it’s completely free, get it below.

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7 Realistic ways to Find First Money In on your Feature Film.

When fundraising for anything, the first money is always the hardest.  Investors don’t want to be the first in due to the investment seeming untested.  So in order for them to feel more secure, you might need to raise some of the money in other places.  Here are the 7 most realistic places for filmmakers to go to get first money in. ​

First money in isn’t meant to be the entirety of your budget.  It’s only meant to be about 10%.  Having raised 10% of your budget helps investors see that you’re serious, and aren’t going to require them to do all of the funding work themselves.  With that in mind, almost every item on this list is not meant to fund your entire movie, but more serve as a jumping-off point to help you raise the funds you need to make an awesome film. 

Highly Related: The 9 ways to Finance your Independent Film

1. Donation based Crowdfunding

I know most filmmakers really don’t want to hear about crowdfunding, but it’s still one of the best ways to serve as a proof of concept for a film.  It’s also a great way to get first money in.  Specifically for this example, I’m talking about donation based crowdfunding.  I’m far from an expert in equity crowdfunding, and while there’s potential in the idea, it’s unclear how it should be executed. 
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That being said, donation based crowdfunding can be an excellent way to get the project rolling, and get further into development.

2. Tax Incentives

Depending on where you’re planning on shooting, Tax incentives can be a great way to get a portion of your funding in place.  If you’re in the US, then shooting in Kentucky can get you as much as 35% of your budget.  Granted, that will go down to about 30% once you take out a loan against it so that it becomes real money instead of a letter of credit.  That loan will be fairly low interest, since Kentucky’s incentive is structured as cash.

There are a lot of things I could go into about tax incentives, but it’s more than I can cover in this blog.  I might make a future blog or video about it Comment and ask.

3. Grants

There aren’t a lot of development stage grants out there, and as such the few there are tend to be in very high demand.  However, if you can get some portion of you money via a grant from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation or some other development stage granter, then it cuts the risk for your investors and gives you first money in. 

Keep in mind, most organizations that give grants turn you down automatically when you first apply. It can be wise to apply multiple years in a row while you try to get this film, or other films off the ground. 

4. Equipment Loans

An equipment loan is a relatively low interest loan that uses any equipment you own as collateral for the money that’s being lent.  I understand that this is a scary prospect for many filmmakers (With good reason) but it can be a way to get money into the project at an early stage, and serve as your first money in.
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It’s also important to note that debts are paid off before equity is paid back, so your loan would be repaid and your equipment secured before any future investor got their money back.  Of course, this isn’t always the case, but it generally is. 
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5. Personal or Business Credit

There are a few people who will loan money for films based on your personal credit.  Sometimes it will be a business loan, sometimes it will be an insanely high limit credit card, but in the end it can be the money you need for development.  It’s not ideal, but it can be a way to get your movie to the next level. 

If you’ve been making corporate videos through your entity for a number of years your business may have enough credibility to take out a moderaate interest loan from a bank against your future corporate video earnings.

In general, this will be a percentage of your previous earnings according to you last few tax returns and whatever debt burden the business has from general operations. This is best used to offset time away from corporate work as an expansion into a new product line, I.E. your feature film.

This would most likely be considered an unsecured loan, which means it’s higher interest than the equipment loan or anything of the sort like that.

If you do go down this road, you should not forget that it often takes 12 to 18 months from delivery to a distributor to start earning royalties, and that’s not accounting for the minimum of 9-12 months to make the film and deliver it to a distributor. The interest over the course of a term like that might be hard to bear.

I should stress I’m not a lawyer or financial advisor. You should check with yours before acting on anything on this list, especially anything that’s debt base.

6. Wealthy Friends and Family

If you’re lucky enough to have accredited investors in your friends and family, then this can be a good way to get your first money in.  Investors normally invest in people as much if not more than projects, so approaching someone you already know is generally an easier ask than someone you don’t.  Since this blog is about getting first money in, having an investment from a wealthy friend or relative can be the quickest and easiest way to get over that hurdle.
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Of course, in order to raise money from wealthy friends and family, you must HAVE wealthy friends and family.  If your friends and family ARE NOT Accredited investors, then it’s best to include them in a donation-based crowdfunding round.  While the SEC (Securities and Exchanges Commission) has loosened requirements for high-risk and small business investments since the JOBS Act, they’re still very strict when it comes to high risk investments, and it would be better for you to not run afoul of them. ​

7. Equity Investment

Finally, if you don’t have wealthy friends and family, you can chase equity investment.  Normally this means that you would approach the person who owns the car dealerships in your neck of the woods, or other local business leaders.  If you can get a meeting to talk to them about investing in a movie, there’s a chance that the excitement of it might help you raise a portion of your funding. 

Mind you, this is not an easy sale.  It’s going to take a skilled salesperson to pull it off, and a lot of research into why someone like this person who owns the car dealerships would want to invest in your project. 

Thank you for reading! If you found this content valuable, check out my FREE film business resource pack. It’s got a free e-book on the indiefilm biz featuring 21 articles around similar issues covered in my blog. Around half of those articles can’t be found anywhere else. Additionally, you’ll get an indiefilm deck template you can use to create a deck for investors, contact tracking templates, form letters, and a whole lot more! Check it out below.

The Top 11 ways to Support Content Creators as a Fan

A lot of what I write is geared towards helping filmmakers better understand how to make a living in film and media.  But without the support of their community, audience, and fans it’s impossible for a creator to make a living.  So this week thought I’d break the mold and write a post for the fans and followers on how you can support your favorite content creators. 

Since money is tight for most people, the majority of this list will show how you can support your favorite content creators without spending any money, or at least money you wouldn’t have spent otherwise. 

This list is Prioritiized by how much they help the content creator.  If you have a disagreement with me on the prioritization, or if you think I forgot one check #6.  Also, YARRR… that be affiliate links in this article.  I practice what I preach. 

With the qualifiers out of the way, let’s get started.

#1. Consume their content

It may seem obvious, but the most important thing you can do to support a content creator is consume their content.  If a content creator doesn’t have people consuming their content, then they don’t have an audience, and without an audience the creation is for naught.
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But consuming content differently helps them differently.  If you watch their content through AVOD (YouTube, Hulu, anything with ads) or certain SVOD (subsription Video On Demand) providers like Amazon Prime or Fandor then every view pays the content creator directly.  If you watch it through other SVOD platforms like Netflix, NBOGO/HBONow then that also helps the content creator, but not as directly.

If you have to choose a free way to watch your favorite content creator’s work, then Amazon prime is the way to do it. They pay the best. ​

#2. ​Buy their premium content.

If you really want to support an artist or a content creator, show them buy buying their creations, or subscribing to their patreon.  These channels often give the majority of the sale to the creator. 

If you buy their content on VHX or Vimeo on Demand, they make around 80-90% of the sale.  If you buy is from iTunes or Google play, Filmmakers make significantly less, although both are helpful for different reasons.

I make the most money per copy when someone buys a paperback through Amazon, but my favorite way for people to get my book is through their local bookstore, library, or Barnes and nobles.com.   Even though I make about half as much, if someone requests it then it’s more likely to show up to other local bookstores or libraries and it spreads rather quickly.  Plus, I get warm fuzzies helping support indie bookstores and libraries.  Similar recommendation engines happen with iTunes and google play for videos

#3. Leave a review

Other than consuming content, the best way to support a content creator without spending any (More) money is by leaving a review.  Sites like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Netflix, Goodreads, iTunes, and more have hugely powerful recommendation engines that help consumers discover new content that rely largely on reviews.

Apart from that, most potential customers will read reviews before buying a product.  Some studies have shown that reviews and recommendations are the primary way people decide whether or not to buy a product, especially younger people.

#4. Join their mailing lis

I know we all get too much spam.  However, if you want to support a content creator who’s work you love, join their mailing list.  *Cough*

It’s the most stable way for them to keep in touch with you.  Liking their Facebook page or following them on twitter doesn’t guarantee you’ll see their messages.  Of course, it’s on them to not get too spammy. 

If they do get too spammy, when you unsubscribe try not to report spam.  Just say something like “No Longer interested.”   Spam reports can really damage their ability to send messages that people actually see, so make sure it’s only used when it’s really necessary.  Like, the exact same message multiple times in a week.

#5 Like/Follow/Subscribe their channels

A follow on twitter, a like on Facebook, or a subscribe on youtube doesn’t have the same impact as joining their mailing list, but it still matters.  It means you’re more likely to view their content, and savvy investors or distributors will ask what their social media presence is.

#6 Share their content

If you like a piece of content, share it with your friends!  There are some very beneficial things that happen when it’s shared that go far beyond whatever friends you share it with seeing it.  If you share a sponsored Facebook post, the ad is more effective and reaches more people without the content creator spending any more money.   Apart from that, sharing content helps it get discovered by search engines.

#7 Leave a comment on their content

Leaving a comment on social media will help with SEO, and if they use a plugin for Facebook comments (Like I Do) it will also help make the most more discoverable on social media.  If you leave a comment on a youtube video, it also helps it be discovered by people watching similarly tagged videos.  The more engagement the content gets, the more people the platform will show it to.

#8 Click an Ad on their content.

If you’re on a content creator you trust’s site, and you enjoy the content, you should consider clicking a relevant ad.  You’d be surprised what it pays.  It’s not uncommon I make more money from a single google AdSense click than I do from an E-book Sale of the Entrepreneurial producer.   That’s right, clicking the right ad can support your content creator more money than spending 2.99 on an ebook. 

Most creators use Google Adsense for ads like this, so you shouldn’t get adware from clicking a reputable blog.  I actually disabled ads on my site, but in general most creators use Google AdSense. If you’re watching something on YouTube, letting the ad play also helps your favorite creator.

#9 Participate in their sponsorships/Affiliates

If you see a link for a product you wanted to buy on a content creator’s site, then you should consider buying them through the links on that content creator’s site.   it generally pays them a bit of money for a product, or a decent amount of money for a service.  Some of the common banners will look like this.

​Amazon is far from the only company to do this, but they are one of the most common affiliates you'll see.

#10 Watch an ad all the way through on their content

If you’re watching a video on youtube and you see an ad that’s about 30 seconds long, you should want to consider letting it play.  The amount of money the content creator if the ad plays all the way through is significantly more than the money they get if you only watch the 6 seconds.

#11 Engage with their social media posts

Sharing, Retweeting, Liking, or loving their content on social media has a huge impact on the reach of a post.  this impact goes well beyond the direct expansion to your fan base.   Engaging with your content creator on social media helps them grow their reach much more quickly.

​Thanks for reading, if you like this post, feel free to share it with your friends, fans, and whoever else.  Also feel free to follow me on twitter, like me on Facebook, or check out my book!

Thanks so much for reading! If you liked this content, please share it to help any creators you follow. Also, as stated above, consider joining my mailing list. You’ll get a free E-book, templates to help you finance or sell your film, and a whole lot more!

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The 9 Ways to Finance an Indiependent Film

A lot of Filmmakers are only concerned with finding investors for their projects. While films require money to be made well, there’s are better ways to find that money than convincing a rich person to part with a few hundred thousand dollars. Even if you are able to get an angel investor (or a few ) on board, it’s often not in your best interest to raise your budget solely from private equity, as the more you raise the less likely it is you’ll ever see money from the back end of your project.

Would you Rather Watch or Listen than Read? I made a video on this topic for my YouTube Channel.

So here’s a very top-level guide to how you may want to structure your financial mix. The mixes in the image above loosely correspond to the financial mix of a first-time film, a tested filmmaker’s film, and a documentary. They’re also loose guidelines, and by no means apply to every situation, and should not be considered financial or legal advice under any circumstance. This is just the general experience of one Executive producer.

Piece 1 — Skin in the game. 10–20%

Investors want you to be risking something other than your time. The theory is that it makes you more likely to be responsible with their money if you put some of yours at risk. This can be from friends and family, but they prefer it come directly from your pocket.

I've gotten a lot of flack for this.  However, the fact investors want skin in the game is true for any industry or any business.  Tech companies normally have skin in the game from the founders as well, not just time, code, or intellectual property.

However, if you’ve got a mountain of student debt and no rich relatives, then there is another way…
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Piece 2 — Crowdfunding 10–20%

I know filmmakers don’t like hearing that they’ll need to crowdfund. I understand it’s not an easy thing to do. I’ve raised some money on Kickstarter and can verify that It’s a full-time job during the campaign if you want to do it successfully. However, if you can hit your goal, not only will you be able to put some skin in the game, and retain more creative control and more of the back end but you’ll also provide verifiable proof that there’s a market for you and your work. Investors look very kindly on this.

That said, just as success provides strong market validation as a proof of concept, failing to raise your funding can also be seen as a failure of concept. and make it more difficult to raise than it would otherwise have been. Make sure you only bite off what you can chew.

Due to the difficulty in finding money for an independent film, the skin in the game or crowdfunding portion of the raise for a director’s first project is often a much higher percentage of the raise than it will be for their future projects.

Piece 3 — Equity 20–40%

Next up is equity. This is when an investor gives you money in return for an ownership stake in the company. From a filmmaker's perspective, it’s good in that if everything goes tits up, you don’t owe the investors their money back. Don't misunderstand what I mean by this.  You ABSOLUTELY have a fiduciary responsibility to do your due diligence and act in the best interest of your investors to do absolutely everything in your power to make it so they recoup their investment.  If you do that, or if you commit fraud, your investors can and likely will sue the pants off of you. You’ll have an uphill battle on that as well since they probably have more money for legal fees than you do.

Also, you will need a lawyer to help you draft a PPM.  You shouldn't raise any kind of money on this list without a lawyer, with the possible exception of donation-based crowdfunding or grants.  In general, just remember that I’m a dude who produced a bunch of movies who writes blogs and makes videos on the internet. Not a lawyer or financial advisor. #Notlegaladvice #Notfinancialdvice #mylawyermakesmewritethesesnippets.

It’s bad in that if everything goes extremely well, they get a huge percentage of your film. So it deserves a place in your financial mix, but ideally a small one.

For a longer list of my feelings on this topic, check out Why film needs Venture Capital, or One Simple Tool to Reopen Conversations with Investors

Piece 4 — Product Placement 10–20%

Product placement is when you get a brand to compensate you for including their product in your film. It’s more common in the form of donations or loans for use than hard money, but both can happen with talent and assured distribution. If you’re a first-timer, it’s difficult to get anything other than donated or loaned products.

Piece 5 — Presale Backed Debt 0–20%

Everything you read tells you the presale market has dried up. To a certain degree, that is true. However, it’s more convoluted than you may think. According to Jonathan Wolfe of the American Film Market, the presale market has a tendency to ebb and flow with the rise and fall of private equity in the filmmaking marketplace. There’s been a glut of equity for the past several years that’s quickly drying up.

 That said, there are a lot of other factors that will determine where pre-sales end up in a few years. The form has shifted, in that it’s generally reputable sales agents that give the letters instead of buyers and territorial distributors. You then take that letter to a bank where you can borrow against it at a relatively low rate.

Piece 6 — Tax incentives 10%-20%

While many states have cut their filmmaking tax incentives, it’s still a very viable way to cover some of the costs of making your project. It is worth noting that the tax incentive money is generally given as a letter of credit, which you can then borrow against or sell to a brokerage agency. It’s not just a check from the state or country you’re shooting in. This system of finance is significantly more viable in Europe than it is in the US, but no matter where you plan on shooting it needs to be part of your financial mix.

Piece 7 — Grants 0–20%

There are still filmmaking grants that can help you to make your project. However, that’s not something that is available to all filmmakers, especially when they’re first making their projects. Don’t think grants don’t exist for you and your project, because they probably do, spend an afternoon googling it. My friend Joanne Butcher of www.FilmmakerSuccess.com suggests applying for one grand a month for the indefinite future, as when you do so you’ll develop relationships with the foundations you contact which can be invaluable for your career growth.

Grants are much easier to get as a completion fund once you’ve shot your film. Additionally, films made overseas are more likely to be funded by grants than those shot here in the US.

Piece 8 — Gap/Unsecured Debt 10–40%

Gap debt is an unsecured loan used to create a film or television series. This means that the loan has no collateral, be it product placement, Presale, or tax incentive. It used to be handled by entertainment banks for a very high interest rate, I can’t say who my source was on this, but I have heard of interest rates in excess of 50% APR. That market has been largely taken over by private investors loaning money through slated, which did bring interest rates down. Unsecured debt almost certainly requires a completion bond, which generally means that it’s only suitable for projects over 1mm USD in budget.

In general, you should use this form of financing as little as possible, and pay it back as quickly as possible. Again, Not legal or financial advice.

Piece 9 — Soft money and Deferments — whatever you can

Soft money is funding that isn’t given as cash. This can be your crew taking deferred payment for their services, or receiving donated or loaned products, locations, and anything else meant to get your film made. This isn’t so much funding as cost-cutting. It often includes donations or loans from product placement.

If you like this content and want to learn more about film financing, you should consider signing up for my mailing list. Not only will you a free e-book, but you’ll also get a free deck template, contract tracking templates, and form letters. Plus you’ll stay in the know about content, services, and releases from Guerrilla Rep Media.

Diversification and soft incentves in the film industry.

In this blog series, we’ve been talking a lot about why filmmakers would invest in an independent Film.  Sadly, if you go by numbers alone the answer is that they shouldn’t.  Film investment is an unpredictable, volotile, high risk endeavor.  But, if you’re the type that isn’t scared by that, there are some reasons to considerer it.  Sure, it will probably never make you as much money as tech, but it might has other benefits that aren’t offered by tech investment.

1. Smaller Potential Downside

If a Tech company fails to exit, generally you’re out everything you put in.  Films exit once they’re completed, and investors begin recouping when they do.    Further, a smart filmmaker won’t fund their project solely by equity, si the investor is more likely to get their money back.  So, while you may not have be able to find a decacorn, the potential to lose everything you put in is somewhat less likely.  It can be even less likely if you invest in finishing funds.  

2. Tax Credits

Nobody likes to pay Uncle Sam, most people would rather see their name in lights than pay the government.   Many states offer a tax incentive to get filmmakers to attract productions outside of territory.  Often, those incentives are structures as tax credits an investor could buy at about 85-90 cents on the dollar.   Other commissions offer it as a rebate that goes back to the filmmakers and subsequently back to the investors, if it’s not re-invested to finish the film.  

3. Diversification

A strong investment portfolio is a diversified investment portfolio.  Some industries do better than others when times are tough.  Historically, Film is a sector that’s somewhat reversely dependent on the economy.  That means when there’s a downturn, film investments sometimes do better.  The period of greatest growth was in the great depression, and until recently it’s still been one of the least expensive ways to get out of the house.  

But will that continue to be true?  Perhaps not.  Theater sales are continually declining, and DVD sales are in the toilet.   However, in todays world, most independent films never get a theatrical release.  if they can market themselves to the right audience, they can still make sales to people in their homes, for less than a cup of coffee.  Admittedly that marketing job is no small feat.

Even if you don’t want to invest in social activism, you can enable an artist to create something that brings joy into the hearts of countless people.  Sometimes by scaring the pants off of them.  The arts are more than just storytelling, they help us communicate who we are as a people.  In many ways I know more about Luke Skywalker than I do about my uncle, and more about Harry Potter than most of the people I went to my real high school with.  These cultural touchstones have a huge impact on who we are as a society.  

The US is terrible about helping to fund the arts and culture, so to some degree it comes down to society itself to perpetuate it’s own culture.  If you can afford to help filmmakers make better movies, you should consider it

4. Supporting Arts and Culture

While every cultural or artistic entrepreneur should learn how to make their money back, it’s not the sole purpose of any cultural or artistic endeavor.   It’s about communicating an idea, perhaps for entertainment or perhaps to spend a different level of consciousness.  

If there’s a cause you care about, you should fund some filmmakers looking to do more to spread awareness of that cause.  Then when you tell your friends to watch it to share your views, you also get the benefit of making a sale.  Many ideas were only able to take root through the power of mass media.  ​

5. Non-monetary incentives.

We all have hobbies, most of them cost us far more than they make us.   If you’re the sort of person who can afford to lose 5 figures here or there, investing in films can be very interesting.  if you can’t afford quite that much, you may want to look into different funds.  I’m in the process of starting one, you can find out more here. 

Some of my best friends became my friends because we talked about the money behind the film industry.  These non-monetary incentives might even be useful sooner than you would think.  If you start networking with filmmakers you may even get a deal when it comes time to make your next whiteboard video from the filmmakers you invested in.  ​

6. Do something other people aren’t

I hear you.  that Nerd you were shouting in #4 has been replaced by hipster.  Don’t worry, you’re about to go back to nerd, since I’m going to lay some science on ya.  If we look at the general attractiveness of beards, we learn that as they’re less common, they’re more attractive.  Now, whether or not to invest in film is a multifaceted concept.  I’m not saying ti will help you find a lady, (or gentleman,) but I am saying that it’s almost certain to start an interesting conversation.  

If you’re at a Silicon Valley Networking event, it’s important to seem like a very interesting person.  The same is true for any party.  Attraction is somewhat based on scarcity, so you want to stand out from the pack.  Investing in films is a good way to do that.   You never know how it might help you stand out from the pack and talk to that person over by the bar with their eye on you, be it for your interesting investment or your beard.  

7.   Glitz and Glamour

If you’re a tech investor, you may have made a lot of investments that made you a very good return.  Some of them may have been solely for the strong potential for ROI, or because the entrepreneurs could execute and build something that made a return.  It could have changed the world of B2B Payroll invoicing.  But while those make a difference in the lives of many myself included, it’s not really exciting.  

Film is different.  You get to meet interesting creative people.   You get to talk about things other than how that API with that box shaped thing that processes your payments isn’t working as you planned, or the calendar integration isn’t as easy as it should be.  You get to see what happens on set, or what it was like meeting that guy from that Quinten Tarantino movie for a day.  And when you’re done, you can talk to the people at the tech event and share some awesome stories. 

Thanks for reading.  I’ll be back with more next week about why more people don’t invest in film.   In the meantime, if you want to consider investing in film, try joining Slated.   They’re a great resource to help you find projects that give you the best chance at a return.   While all of the things above are great, they’re not worth losing every cent you put in.  Slated helps you rate your projects, and find the ones with the best chance of success.

This entire 7-part series examines why film is an unsustainable investment.  Part of the reason for the lack of sustainability is the fact that not enough producers understand the investment metrics of the film industry, and not enough filmmakers understand the business side of their craft.  To help counter this, I offer all of these blogs plus a FREE film market resource pack on you can get by clicking below. If you want to take your career to the next level, the resources it has in it are a great place to start. Plus you’ll get monthly blog digests with recommended reading to help you parse through the 100+ blogs on my site and more easily reference them when you need them.  

Understanding Money

Since my background is at the Institute for International Film Finance, and I put in a year at Global Film Ventures, I get a lot of filmmakers contacting me asking me to help them fund their films. Some of them are good pitches, but most are not. Getting investment for your film is incredibly difficult, if not nearly impossible. There are many reasons for this, but one that is not often talked about is the fact that many filmmakers have a mindset that money shouldn’t come with strings, and that all they should need to worry about is making the film.

There’s this attitude filmmakers have that someone should just give them a check and then go away so they can make the film. I’ve had many filmmakers say that flat out to me, and the ignorance of it is incredibly disturbing. There’s a lot more to investment than just writing checks.

Angel investors didn’t get their money by giving it to just anybody. Investors generally do quite a lot of legwork to research those with who they invest in, and they’ll never invest in someone they don’t trust. This attitude of “just give me the money and let me be” is a huge red flag, and makes an investor far less likely to trust you. If they don’t trust you, they won’t invest in you.

Once you take money from someone, you have a responsibility to them to send periodic updates and let them know how everything is progressing. You need to be available to take their calls at most any reasonable time and always return their correspondence within at most two business days. All money has strings, and you can’t expect an investor to just write you a check and then never check in on you.

Another attitude problem a lot of filmmakers have is that they feel they don’t need to understand business. Many feel just need to make the best film possible and money will come to them. While there’s a kernel of truth in that, relying solely on making the best film possible is a great way to end up broke with a film that never goes anywhere. The best product without a marketing team will never make money. Filmmakers

do need to make a great film, but they also need to understand at least the basics of how to promote a movie and how it will see revenue.

Distributing a film, promoting a film, and selling a film are all incredibly different skill sets that require decades to master. Filmmakers can’t be expected to be experts in every job involved in making a movie. They do, however, need to understand what they don’t know and compensate for that by getting people on their team that do understand how to do those jobs.

In essence, this is the difference between a producer and a production manager, or the difference between an executive producer and a line producer. Line producers and production managers are great at understanding how to manage a crew and get a film in the can. Producers need to have a good understanding of business, negotiation, deal-making, finance, and distribution. Executives do the latter almost to the exclusion of everything else. Every film needs at least one of each of these people, and really they shouldn’t be the same person filling multiple roles.

Every film needs people who understand money, how to raise it, how to make it back, and creative ways to save it. Filmmakers of all kinds can be excellent at the last part of that. Innovative bootstrapping is a skill perfected by many guerilla filmmakers. That said, you still need money, and people who understand how to make a film see revenue on your team.

Even if you find an intermediary who can help you get the money from angels, you’re still going to have to have regular phone calls and meetings with that intermediary. In fact, that intermediary is probably going to have more contact with you than an investor would because they understand both investment and filmmaking. You need people like this on your team, and you need to understand that you’re creating more than just a film. Every film is in essence a business, and in order to run a successful business you need skilled business people just as much as skilled artists and visionary directors.

Whenever you seek investment, it is into your business. You need to understand that the business side of the indusry is necessary. You also need to have an appreciation and at least a basic understanding of what it takes to make money in business. This should not be your sole consideration, but it does need to be part of your plan when creating a film. If you do not include this in your plan, you’ll never actually see revenue from your projects.

So readers, if you’ve ever thought that all you need is someone to write you a check; remove that notion from your head. In order to get money, you need to understand money. Only if you understand how money works, and have a good business plan will you be able to successfully get investment and make a profitable film.