Well, if you read my last blog, you know!
So where does the money come from? Well, you may remember me talking about assets. These are things that your film contains that may provide funding for your film. A good example of an asset is the cast. Do you have any big names among the cast? In this case, things are easy. All your producer has to do is find someone with some money who would be interested in financing your film.
Why would they do this? Because maybe they want to be friends with the actor. Maybe their son or daughter wants to be an actor/actress, and playing alongside a name actor could be a career booster. Maybe they just want to feel like they are a part of the film team, or maybe they are simply interested in the revenue that the film is expected to generate.
This scenario isnt very realistic for really low budget indie shorts or student films, but it should get you thinking about assets, and why a person or organization would be interested in giving you money to make your film.
One Example: A friend of mine wrote a film as a student thesis about a legend that happened on a border town in Texas. Now, this wasnt a "La Llorona" kind of legend, where the town didnt want to have anything to do with it. It was one of those legends or stories where tourists were drawn to the town to see where it happened. So here we have an asset, and an interest. If this film is made, the possibility of increasing the towns touristic appeal/awareness is there, so the town has a vested interest in this film. So he (my friend) contacted the city council, proposed his business plan, and got funding for his film. The town even wanted to use the film in their museum, so now we're talking royalties!
With this sort of asset and future for the film, you can now turn that around and get other people interested in your film. Maybe the town payed for the film to be made, but you now decide that to do things right, you should go to the actual town to film. But the town is in Texas, and you live in California! With the above described scenario, you can generate more interest and provide additional funding for your cast and crews travel expenses.
Remember that when you are the Producer, you need to be thinking about the whole films expenses. This includes post production, which often takes much longer than shooting, and can often be very expensive. As an indie film maker or student, you can probably fill a number of these rolls, or have friends that want to help, or have favors that you can call on. But remember, you want to do a good job, so make sure that the producer or director is overseeing everything.
So what other kind of assets does your film have that might interest a person or organization? Well, as an indie film or thesis film, there is a lot of grant money out there waiting for someone like yourself to take advantage of it. You just need to know where to look. Good thing we have Google these days, if you can't research this kind of thing on your own, maybe you shouldnt be making movies! lol
But basically, organizations and individuals provide grant money for the arts for two reasons: tax write-offs, and to appear like they have taste and support the community and refined things like art.
Ive worked on countless films where the producer was able to obtain with little difficulty funding from grants for the arts or student film makers, and nothing was expected from them in return other than to actually make the film. The interest there is that at the end of the film in the credits, the name of their organization will appear. So when your film does the festival circuit, people will see that. So basically they just paid for a commercial that may eventually find its way to screenings all over the world and internet, DVDs, maybe a short film compilation DVD. Thats advertising!
So what about financing for Feature Indie films? You know, ones with big budgets! Did you know that a great number of indie features are shot for between 1 and 50 million dollars! Thats as much as or close to big budget studio films! The only difference between the two kinds of films is that one is backed by a major studio (like Sony, Warner, or Universal), and the other is backed by...you! So it's up to you (the Producer) to go out there and find funding.
For funding a big budget film, you need a lot of dough. So to figure out how much that is going to cost, this is going to require a lot of research. So get quotes from all the staff you are going to need, as well as wages for your actors. Also make sure to include meals, rentals, location and transportation costs, props, all staff (crew), and post production. Just figuring out the costs is a great undertaking in it's self, so while you are doing that, see how much you can reduce your costs. I know this goes against what Ive been saying, but interns are a good way to keep costs low, in some instances, just not when it's going to be a huge part of your film! Maybe they can help cater, or do assistant work. That sort of thing. I'm sure there are a number of people that are just trying to up their IMDb credits for their resume, and working on a feature film is good credit, so some holes can be filled by this. Others are going to be more difficult. With renting equipment, you may get discounts for package deals, or because you are on good terms with the rental house. Most rental houses have a daily rate they charge for equipment, but they often only count the weekend as one day, since they are themselves normally not open on sundays. So weekend shoots are a good way to go.
A lot of the cast and crew however won't work for free because they are trying to make a living too. But some are willing to work for deferred pay, which means that if you know money will come after production is done, they get paid then. Or, if by chance the film makes money, they get a percentage of the film, often to a certain point, or once an agreed upon number is reached.
What you need to understand is that if you want to offer me, the sound guy, deferred payment on your indie project, you are asking me to take a huge risk. If I dont have savings, I may lose my apartment because I spent all month working on this film that may or may not even pay me instead of working on paying gigs! So asking people to work on a deferred payment plan is very risky for most production crew and actors. Post production may be a little different, because these people may have day jobs, and can offer their nights to work on addition projects such as your own.
But anyone working on deferred pay is going to want to know about your assets, in particular if you already have distribution and press lined up, because their payment is based on money the film generates, not money generated to make the film. So that's risky business, and you risk making a lot of enemies if your cast/crew go unpaid due to your film flopping. And where you have enemies, you develop a bad reputation, and when you develop a bad reputation, no one will work with you, hire you, or rent equipment to you. So you have to find a new career!
The ability to pay your cast and crew on the front end is the best way to get quality production and keep people happy. The second best way is to provide good food on set! But that's not what we're here to discuss.
Money. Gotta get it. Who to ask? Well, who has a lot of money that may be interested in your film? Believe it or not, the best people to ask are people that arent related to the entertainment business. People who are wealthy by their own means, business, inheritance, whatever. The film industry is sexy from an outside point of view (and cut-throat within!), so people not related to the industry have a fascination sort of point of view. Not all obviously, but enough. Now why would a wealthy person fund your film? Assets, incentives, the prospect of making more money. All kinds of reasons. It's up to you to find them. Sometimes the best asset is already having a portion of your film funded by another wealthy individual. That may mean that one person is not carrying the whole bill, and they see that someone else has faith in the project, so they feel better about doing it. But these guys who arent in the industry usually arent trying to develop another business partner, though thats what is basically happening. They also want to feel like they are given the gift of now being on the inside. So they may want to hang out with you late at night at some club, or come on set to watch the filming, or meet the actors. Definitely come to the production parties, because they are part of the process just like everyone else.
OK, Im not going to go into all of that because thats not my job. And this type of work isnt very well suited for a beginner. What you need to do more times than not is sell your idea to an already established Producer who already has a working relationship with a number of film backing people and firms, as well as connections to cast and crew that already trust him or her. This is reducing perceived risk on a lot of different levels, and going to give you overall a better chance at finding funding, and getting a better cast and crew, which will ultimately generate better quality and more interest in your film, which can improve sales and put you on the map as a film maker.
So these are just a few things that the Indie Film Maker should think about. Because it is always better to prepare for your film and get things done right, than to just try to get the film done with no budget and hope that it turns out alright.
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