Film Financing: Where Do You Start?

Just like many filmmakers, there are plenty of ideas that run through my mind, plenty of stories that I would love to tell, plenty of characters I can see so vividly in playing out dramas in my head, however then comes the producer side of my brain: financing. You can have an incredibly script, however, finding funding is still quite the daunting task for any filmmaker. First, one must figure out what are the different options out there for funding my film, and how do these options work? Recently, NoFilmSchool published an article by Buffalo8’s Matthew Helderman breaking down the different kinds of film financing. In short, the independent filmmaker’s options are:

1.     Equity: These are cash investments that require the investor own a stake in the film and must be paid back before a profit can be seen by the filmmaker. 

2.     Pre-Sales: With pre-sale fudning, a contract must be made with distributors before the film is produced; these deals are based on how marketable the film is viewed to be, and how high the sales potentials are. In this, a distributor will generate a value that will allow you to take out a bank loan, using the pre-sale as collateral. 

Kathleen Kennedy & Kevin Geiger on Business Plans in Film

The business end of the film world is one that can often be viewed as complicated and difficult to grasp. However, luckily, in the age of technology, we have an ample amount of resources to utilize in order to gain insight into just how the film business works. Two experts who have been in and around the film industry for several decades are Kathleen Kennedy and Kevin Geiger. 

Kathleen Kennedy discusses Star Wars Episode V with George Lucas (Left) and J.J. Abrams (Right). Digital Spy 2014.

The better known of the two experts is by far Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm and one of the most notable producers in Hollywood. Some of Kennedy’s best-known works are Schindler’sList, Back to the Future, The Sixth Sense, and Jurassic Park. For many years, Kennedy has been producing some of the biggest box office successes, and when it comes to building a business plan – for a film – she mentioned the importance of thinking globally in terms of how your story will connect with different cultures in an interview with USA Today. It is also important to be forward thinking when it comes to technology and where the industry is heading. Being aware of the changes in distribution, like the rise of Netflix and Hulu, and new ways to watch movies on the go is imperative for building a business plan that will be a success. Another piece of wisdom Kathleen Kennedy shared with Hollywood TV is that who you are as a person is important, because investors are not just making a decision about whether or not they see potential in your business, but they also must want to work with you. Being honest, having strong values to support your work, and be tenacity will carry you a long way.

Distribution Revolution: A New World for Filmmakers

As a filmmaker creating content in this ever-changing digital age, wrapping one’s mind around how to get your work into the mainstream is quite the task. Since the rise of what Peter Broderick calls the “New World” of filmmaking, the traditional take your film to a mainstream distributor and sign away your work model has been changing. With the rapid rise in social media use, the old way of promoting films through commercials, newspaper ads, and creating for the masses has faded away. Instead we see an influx of social media use to push people to the box office, as well as a focus on niche audiences.

What Makes a Filmmaker Great: Awards vs. Talent

With the 86^th Annual Academy Awards ceremony occurring last Sunday, March 2, Hollywood has been buzzing about those who won, the outstanding talent that was on display, and the exciting things that these filmmakers will go on to do. That said, as in all facets of the entertainment industry, awards shows like these truly are a politics game. I recently stumbled upon a post on one of my favorite sources for news in the film world (IndieWire) entitled “20 Celebrated Filmmakers Who Never Won A BestDirecting Oscar.” Being one with a great love of both film and the Oscars, this caught my attention.

Negotiation & Deal-Making: Interview with Nick Sambrato

Harvey Robbins once said, that when it comes to the art of negotiation, one must “Place a higher priority on discovering what a win looks like for the other person.” This is a lesson that all would be wise to learn. Too often people commonly see a negotiation as a bit of a forced compromise. However, in reality, this could not be further from the truth. As I have learned in my current Negotiation and Deal Making course at Full Sail, “negotiation is a problem solving opportunity,” which more often than not means learning to see a situation from another’s perspective.

This month, we were given the assignment to interview an individual from the entertainment industry who is adept in negotiating and deal making within their field. My first thoughts were: “Oh boy, who in the world am I going to interview?” Part of the beauty of living in Orlando is that this area is full of all facets of the entertainment industry. Right in the heart of Winter Park is a creative studio whose impressive portfolio of work caught my eye. What is this studio, you ask? Fiction.

In the Ring: Hollywood Mega Budget Films vs. Independent Mid Budget Films

"That's the big danger, and there's eventually going to be an implosion — or a big meltdown. There's going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen mega budget movies are going to go crashing into the ground, and that's going to change the paradigm."

Steven Spielberg

It is no secret that the film industry has undergone drastic changes and advances in the last 20 years. Today, with all of the incredible technology we have available at our fingertips filmmaking is the most accessible it has ever been, yet we face two major threats: implosion, as Spielberg and Lucas predict and the death of studio produced mid-budget films. With these threats looming, there has been a particular dark horse running in the races for years with the major studios making desperate strides to be a top contender for the attention of the world’s audiences. Who is this dark horse? They are many, varied and brimming with original ideas: they are independent filmmakers.

Treasure Hunt: Following the Clues to a Great Story

I have magically found my way back to one of my favorite things to study: storytelling. I know this seems like an unusual topic to study, after all, as humans, storytelling is practically a part of our DNA, right? Certainly! However, crafting a truly exquisite story requires some effort. Writer and director Andrew Stanton made some excellent points that all aspiring writers should take the time to listen to in a TED talk entitled “The Clues to A Great Story.”

Whether we want to admit it or not, we love stories that make us care – and stories that make us “work for our meal,” as Stanton puts it. What does this mean? We want to be caught up in a story, caught up in a movie. I don’t know about you, but part of the movie experience for me is playing detective: What is going to happen next? Who is the true villain here? Is he going to live?

In the Network: Connecting With the Industry

 I am sure that you have heard the saying, “It’s all about who you know,” and if you are anything like me, you retaliate with “Yea, yea, I know, but where do I meet these people I need to know?” Good news! I have finally figured out the elusive secret to this question: industry events! As a filmmaker, currently living in Orlando, FL, it seems that I am a bit disconnected from the film industry in my day-to-day life.

The Art of Story

It is likely that we have all been to a movie in the past month or two – right? But how many movies have left you feeling as if the last two and a half hours of your life (and $20 of your hard earned cash) has just flushed down the toilet?  Why is this? Bad stories. Without question, the most important part of any great movie is a captivating story, a compelling script. However, we seem to be at a point in the history of cinema where anyone can call himself or herself a writer, and they indeed can write, but they are not producing great stories by any stretch of the imagination.

I personally have fought this battle many times: the battle of developing a story that is enthralling. It is no easy task by any means, and I will forever be in the process of perfecting my craft as a storyteller. There is a fundamental force of screenwriting that many young screenwriters are often forgetting. Every story must contain a beginning, middle and an end. If you were to ask any learned screenwriter what the most critical element of writing a good movie was, they would answer you according to the Robert McKee creed: Three-Act Structure. I am not the first to notice the increasing number of movies that are lacking in story structure these days, Spielberg has said, “People have forgotten how to tell a story. Stories don't have a middle or an end any more. They usually have a beginning that never stops beginning.” I do not know about you, but a never-ending beginning is not something that I enjoy, I want to see stories go places! And so does Robert McKee (portrayed by Brian Cox) in "Adaptation."

The Faces of Leadership

We seem to live in a day and age where everything appears to have many different faces, and leadership is no different. Look at some of the individuals at the forefront of their fields and rarely will you see two who are just alike. As one whose career is centered in the world of entertainment, I tend to gravitate toward leaders within the arts. However, take a look at Jay Z, Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett and you will see several very different leadership styles.

Despite the differences in many individual approaches to leadership, there are two different paths that almost every great leader can be tied back to in one-way or another: servant leadership or power-centric leadership. In reading both John C. Maxwell’s Developing the Leader Within You, focusing on servant leadership and influence, and Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power, focusing on how to gain power in a more self-centered approach, it has become abundantly clear to me that while learning how to utilize both types of leadership it crucial to being an effective leader, we each tend to connect more with one view than the other.