Film Finance and Distribution - Keep on keeping on.

Today’s post is going to be something a bit more on the inspirational side rather than being purely technical (and secretly I’m also testing something on the backend…shhh…don’t tell anyone). Nearly any venture, any idea, any product…or anything…works at least some of the time. Specifically, what am I getting at? Fund raising…

I’m sure most of you are trying to raise funds for an independent film, and it seems impossible. It’s just too hard…everyone says no. But indie films get financed every year. What are you doing wrong?

Probably nothing. The secret lies in knowing that everything works…some of the time. So, if you are asking for money to make a film, someone will say yes. It’s about percentages and ratios of success. Lets throw out an arbitrary number, such as 0.5%. Lets say if you ask people who can afford to finance a film to give you money, 0.5% of the time you will succeed. Seems pretty dismal doesn’t it? It’s not.

Robert Kiyosaki, author of the famous Rich Dad Series (a set of books I highly recommend) was once asked, “How can you recommend people start their own business when 9 out of 10 businesses fail”. His response, “If that is true, then I will start 10 businesses.”

So by the same token, if only one out of every 200 people you ask will finance your film …then ask 200 people.

This is much the same logic we use in the world of web promotion. For example, my other website Killer Film has some pretty high server costs, which we pay for through advertising. We get paid when someone clicks on one of our ads. Generally, only about 2% of people actually click on an ad. Do we waste our time trying to make more people click on our ads? No, we can’t control if people want what our advertisers are selling. So instead, we focus on growing our traffic. More people means more clicks.

Those of you who have a film already produced should also take note of this principle. Finding distribution is hard, and its easy to get disheartened if you get turned down the first time you visit a market like AFM. However, I’ve had friends take the same film back to AFM for two years with no luck. Then finally, they take it the third year and sell multiple territories, and completely pay back their investors.

You can’t predict everything that can happen. Maybe your potential investor just lost a ton in the market. Maybe the distributor just filled up their roster for this year five minutes before you walked in. Or maybe you’ll show up at just the perfect time and find an investor who just sold off a huge property and needs to move some money before he’s hit with a huge tax bill. You can’t predict what happens with a single person you speak with…but it averages out such that perseverance eventually breeds success.

On a crazy side note: Bizarre as it might sound, things that seem completely impossible are often possible…just very unlikely. It is entirely possible that you could drop a pencil onto a desk, and have it fall completely through the desk, passing completely through solid matter. In quantum mechanics a phenomena called, “tunneling” has been show to occur where a solid object passes through another solid object. You’d probably have to drop the pencil a few quadrillion times before it happened…but eventually it would happen, probably right after you win the lottery.

Done Moving

Just a quick note to let everyone know I’m done moving. I’ve bought a neat little desk set up, as opposed to the folding table and cardboard boxes I was using. I don’t know what it is, I make a decent living, but I still manage to live a pretty ghetto lifestyle. Most of my stuff is in boxes, and my diet is typically ham sandwiches and Dr. Pepper.

Anyway, all pointless introspection into my personal life aside…there is alot of fun stuff going on in the world of Cinema Advanced. Donny and I are still planning on building the web series. In fact, as soon as the web series gets a little closer to completion, I’m going to release an article about the benefits of producing your own web series, so stay tuned for that.

Also, if you are from the Lafayette area there is a feature film production going on called, “Santero”. It seems like its falling at the exact time as “The Way to You” so I’ll be busy, but for anyone interested they are looking for cast and crew. Here’s the Craiglist post: Santero.

Memorial Day Teaser

Updates were a little slow this Memorial Day weekend, and for that I apologize. But it was far from a vacation for me. I went through a few big meetings, and having some pretty exciting projects coming up very soon. Nothing solid yet, but as soon as the details are worked out I’ll be posting them. All I can say is this…network network network…you really never know who you might meet that you can collaborate with in the future.

Why I started this website

For the past two years I’ve been working on various film and video projects. I’ve worked on everything from short films, to commercials, to filming a symphony orchestra. Through the connections I’ve built up, and the friends I’ve made, it looks like I’ll be able to begin producing feature films very soon.

I started this blog for many reasons:

• I needed a website - After all…nowadays every production company needs a website. But lets be realistic…I’m going to make one, maybe two movies over the period of the next two years. Certainly not alot of content for a website. So I needed to make something that people would actually want to visit so…
• I want to share my knowledge - Don’t laugh…but I often find myself on message boards, answering people’s questions about filmmaking. I really enjoy it. There is a ton to know, and I’m still learning every day. Building this blog both helps me share what I know, and to keep it all organized.
• I’m a little lazy sometimes - Ok maybe more than a little…but answering questions on myspace, after a while, I started to notice that I was answering the same questions over and over again. I began to think that I could help many more people, and give alot more detailed advice if I put it into a format that could both grow and change, but at the same time be lasting.
• To Make Money - I’ll be honest, I’m not making a ton of money as a filmmaker. Here and there I might pick up a couple hundred bucks shooting something. I’m by no means a guru…I’m right where most of you are, working hard to get my first feature made. In my day job I’m an engineer. My job is ok…but pretty boring. Worse than that though is that my day job really interferes with my ability to produce films. So I’m hoping to generate a little bit of revenue through this site, and who knows…maybe make enough to cover my expenses. If that happens then I’ll commit totally to filmmaking (and this website of course).
• So people watch my movies - I mean …if I’m handing out all this advice, you’ll watch my movies right….please?