Why Should Those "Rich Tech [People]" invest in your film?

I recently went to an event here in San Francisco aimed at bringing together the more established filmmakers in San Francisco to build a better ecosystem for the industry up here.  It’s a wonderful idea, a fantastic group of people, and the energy in the room was electric. However, there was one question that kept coming up that filmmakers had a lot of trouble understanding.  Why won’t those rich tech people give us money?

This is something that I hear not only in the bay area.  There’s a large contingent of Filmmakers in LA or elsewhere that would like to tap into Silicon Valley investment.  The trouble is that the perception of film is that it's just a way to lose a lot of money.   There are those of us looking to change that perception, however filmmakers need to understand that the overall potential for return is dwarfed when compared to other sectors.   Whether that perception is true may be another matter.   
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​This blog is not to disparage mean to discourage you, but to help you better understand the reality of your position.  Understanding your position is key to obtaining your objective.  To quote the Art of War…

In order to better understand the position of a tech investor, we need to look at how and why generally invest.  As an entrepreneur who’s worked in both film and tech, an organizer of many film investment events, and a consultant who helps vet business plans for viability, I’m in a somewhat unique position to help answer that question.  ​So I’m making this a series of 7 posts regarding every aspect of why a Tech investor would invest in a film.

​I should clarify that this project is already a little bigger than I anticipated when I started writing it, so it’s going to be largely focused on Tech investment as opposed to sponsorship or any other sort of tech money entering film.  I’ll be releasing them weekly, so check back every Wednesday.  This post is to serve as a sort of landing page so you can look at all of the different aspects of why a tech investor would invest in a project.  I’ll keep this updated, but here’s a loose table of contents that will eventually be linked.  In the meantime, check out these other great resources.  From me, Producer Foundry, and ProductionNext.

I should stress that the numbers found throughout these article are inherently speculative, and largely from personal experience, and generalized research.  Due to the fact that it’s only really possible to find data on the films and companies that made a return, estimating those that didn’t involves not a small amount of educated guesswork.   Generally, the estimates in wins vs losses for films are based around personal experience in distribution, coupled with research and data from sites like IMDb Pro and The-Numbers.com.   Tech portfolios are generalized based on research coupled with talks with several professional investors.   

In short, these numbers are not meant to be scientific, but more some of the best analysis on this topic you’ll find online for free.    If you have any thoughts or issues with these numbers, please feel free to comment below.  I’d love an active thread, andI will monitor as much as time permits.

Part 2:
Why Angels Invest, and Why they Choose Tech.  
Part 3:
Examining APR: How does Film Stack up to Tech Portfolios?
Part 4:
Breakouts vs Decacorns
Part 5:
Diversification and Soft Incentives.
Part 6:
What’s really stopping Tech Investors from investing in Film?
Part 7:
How do you make a sustainable asset class out of film?

This blog series is all about why tech people don't invest in independent film.  One of the reasons is there's a lot of information executives need but can't find, and a lot of information that filmmakers need to know but film schools don't teach.  That's why I've launched my Executive Producer Expressway program.  It will teach you everything you need to know about packaging, financing, marketing, distribution, and more in a 3-5 month program with direct guidance and one on one time with me.  It all starts with a completely FREE strategy session, where we'll figure out where you are, and chart a path to where you need to go.  Book your FREE Strategy session today!

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