Financing

Filmmaking is (usually) terribly expensive.

There’s a lot of ways to finance an independent film, but unfortunately, they all require a lot of work and effort over a long period of time.

So ultimately, the best way to finance a film is to make a cheaper film.

But let’s first break the best fundraising options down, starting with expensive indie films and working our way down to financing a backyard short!

$200k – $5M Features

When you’re making a feature, you’re essentially starting a business, and you can seek out potential investors to pitch your project as such.

That means you not only need to be able to pitch a compelling story, you need to pitch a likely path to profitability.

In other words, you need an amazing script & pitch deck, plus a whole business plan.

This takes some real time and effort – and most of us aren’t business-savvy enough to be able to realistically forecast how much money our indie is going to make. You’ll probably need to consult with multiple experts to put a sound business plan together (experienced producers, sales reps, distributors, entertainment attorneys, etc.)

But after all that legwork, at least we have more ways to reach investors now.

There’s the Kickstarter of investing, WeFunder, which Jim Cummings used to finance his most recent feature, The Beta Test.

I invested the minimum amount of $100 and, a couple years later, got back $134 – not bad!

I can definitely see this becoming common for even bigger films. What film fan wouldn’t want to invest in a passion project from Scorsese etc?

In fact, Robert Rodriguez and Eli Roth have done something similar recently, crowdfunding equity in their film studios to the tune of millions of dollars. If their film projects end up being successful, all those investors will make a return on their investments for years to come.

There’s also grants. These are tough to come by in the US, especially if you’re not a part of a special group/identity. However, many European countries have amazing govt grants for indie film.

Another way is through pre-sales of distribution rights, but this is advanced territory and usually you’ll need a sales agent and name talent attached to your film to pull this off.

$50k – $200k Features

To me, without name talent involved, this feels like the sweet spot for having a real shot at making your money back. Plus its lower price tag opens up new possibilities for funding.

Hell, if you’re lucky, one rich uncle could cover the whole check! This is what I recommend 😉

Kickstarter becomes a more reasonable approach at this level (probably not for the full budget, but to supplement it at least).

And as someone who’s run 2 successful Kickstarter campaigns many years ago (totaling about $20k), I can tell you – it is WORK. You’re starting a full-time marketing job when you go this route. But it can really pay off if you have enough goodwill behind your team and your project.

By the way, part of the budget is usually self-funded at this level too. After all, if you don’t have skin in the game, why would anyone else want to risk their money?

Grants, in-kind services, and working out deferred pay agreements with your team will also help out the budget big time.

Sub $50k Features

At this budget level, I’d gather a few hungry collaborators, make them my co-producers, and split the budget between us. If everyone has jobs and some savings, this is going to be the quickest route to start shooting (after all, time is money too).

When we made our first feature film for $6,000, the budget came from my 2 friends and I saving from our part-time jobs in college, and a getting lucky in a few short film competitions that included prize money (or prizes we sold for money!)

And then years later, my co-writer Chris and I paid what we could for our short film Will “The Machine”, then ran a Kickstarter to raise some more, then took out a $10k loan to cover the rest.

Was it annoying to pay that loan off over the next 3 years? Sure. But the payments were do-able for both of us, and that loan allowed us to start making the film when we needed to, and focus on filmmaking instead of fundraising.

Just beware – friendships can go awry, especially when mixed with business. Get everything agreed to on paper ahead of time to avoid landing in difficult situations (could even happen many years down the road).

Shorts!

Ahh yes, time to forget about actually making money, we’re talking about short films now baby!

Don’t get me wrong, even though short films don’t make money directly, I still think they are a good investment. How else can you:

• Grow & sharpen your skills
• Get people excited to join your next project
• Show investors what you’re capable of
• Expand your network

Etc?

But how do we pay for them?

Because even though they’re cheaper, they’re usually still a long way from free.

Well it’s often the same methods as with the sub-$50k features. But we have a few more tricks up our sleeves…

We can use all our favors, and shamelessly ask for discounts & free labor everywhere we go.

After all, this is a passion project – ain’t no shorts making anyone rich out here! Are you telling me you don’t want to be a patron of the arts? Have you culture?!

PLUS it’s usually only a weekend of shooting , so borrowing gear and finding volunteers to crew on it becomes easier.

On the other hand, my recent short, The Lost Fortune of Oliver Brody, ended up being quite expensive and taking 6 days to shoot (spread out over 3 weeks!). These tactics would only take me so far…

My main fundraising for it was brand sponsorships. Most notably – Milanote and Hollyland. In exchange for a list of deliverables (like behind-the-scenes videos), they provided some money and gear for the production.

But what I eventually realized, is that these brand sponsorships ARE my job. I’m a full-time Youtuber already, so I’m essentially just paying for the film with money from my normal job… The idea seemed a lot sexier on paper ahead of time 😂

If you’re able to get local businesses or businesses that are somehow related to the premise/message of your film – this may be a viable route for you even without a social media following.

Another option – become a non-profit entity! Then if anyone donates money/resources to your film it can be a tax write-off for them.

That’s what my friend Daniel did for his big short film, A Brush of Violence, when he needed a mansion location. The location rental fee was considered a charitable donation by the owner and helped him save on taxes – win-win.

Actually, I probably should have done this for my film…

At the end of the day, I still put at least $10k of my savings into the film, and my fellow producers put a few thousand in too.

But we were all happy to do it – I think this project will open a lot of doors for us professionally. That said, even if it doesn’t, it was worth it for the amazing experiences and memories alone.

So what’s the solution?

Well, there is no 1 clear solution here.

One way or another, you gotta work to earn the money that pays for your passion projects.

So the best solution is to either become rich or start making cheaper films!

That’s what we’ll talk about next week (from a producing standpoint)…

But for now, if you want to learn to write head-turning, no-budget short films you could film right now with the money you already have – check out my Instant Short Film Blueprint. I’m super proud of everything I packed into this 2-hour course and how effectively the lessons are laid out.

Here’s what a recent buyer said about it:

Enroll today and you can finish a great script tonight! Instant Short Film Blueprint​

Let’s make some movies.

-Kent​