Business Plan Software?

I

Indiefilming

Any recommendations for what software to use when writing a film business plan?

I've just graduated from the world of no-budget micro guerrilla filmmaking to the modified low budget $200,000-$800,000 project range.

I hired a Line Producer with strong credits to do the schedule and budget (have come to appreciate that investors want to see a sched and budget breakdown by someone with experience so they can trust the numbers).

I've read a few books about business plans for film but so many seem outdated so I'm piecing together the steps through different more up-to-date articles and blog posts.

If anyone has any recommendations for sites or articles on business plans, that would be great! Also, do I write this thing in Microsoft Word or Apple's Pages or what (please don't say excel please don't say excel please don't say excel...)?
 
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Have done tons of business plans for a variety of different products, companies etc... and using stock software is mostly pointless.

Cashflow modelling and finance have certain conventions but the business plan is always moved around based on commercial parameters. Every product, organisation, model and economic environment is different so every plan needs to be treated differently.

I have seen, for example, stock plans used in very simple, well-established environments but these are not investor-driven models.
 
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Sweetie said:
www.filmspecific.com is the only one that I've come across that's decent.
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Do you pay for Film Specific membership and get a sample plan?


Sweetie said:
That's a good question. Is there such a thing? Would there be a one-size-fits-all template?
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I'm probably not asking this right. Indeed, because of all the different variables for each project, there couldn't be a one-size-fits-all business plan.

But as someone doing this for the first time, I was wondering if out on the interweb somewhere there's a way to see or purchase a template or examples of successful business plans for recent films that managed to secure funding and pay back their investors so that newbies can have an opportunity to learn from strong plans and make sure we aren't omitting any important considerations due to lack of experience?
 
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gorillaonabike said:
Have done tons of business plans for a variety of different products, companies etc... and using stock software is mostly pointless.

Cashflow modelling and finance have certain conventions but the business plan is always moved around based on commercial parameters. Every product, organisation, model and economic environment is different so every plan needs to be treated differently.

I have seen, for example, stock plans used in very simple, well-established environments but these are not investor-driven models.
Click to expand...

So... Microsoft Word?
 
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Securities/entertainment attorney John Cones says this:

Investor Financing
The world of investor financing can be further divided into active versus passive investors.

Securities Disclosure Document
All offerings to passive investors involve the sale of a security (typically, units in a limited partnership or manager¬managed LLC or shares in an existing corporation). The securities disclosure document associated with a public/registered offering is called a “prospectus”. The securities disclosure document associated with a private/exempt offering is called a “private placement offering memorandum” or “PPM”.

Business Plan
Generally speaking, active investors (investors who are regularly involved in helping make the important decisions associated with the project–not necessarily a good idea for a creative venture like film) can be approached with a business plan. Of course, a business plan is not an investment vehicle, thus, it must be associated with a suitable active investor investment vehicle (e.g., investor financing agreement, joint venture agreement, initial incorporation or member-managed LLC). Unfortunately, federal appellate courts construing securities regulations have narrowed this field of active investors who may be approached with a business plan even further. This line of cases (see case citations below) require that not only must the active investor be regularly involved in helping to make the important decisions, but all documentation of the deal between the investors and the production company must make it clear that these investors have the authority to participate in such decision-making and most important, they must be capable of participating at a meaningful level (i.e., they must have “knowledge and experience” in the relevant industry – the film industry for purposes of our analysis here).

**Upon reflection, we have to admit that these court-imposed limitations relating to the world of active investors (from outside the film industry) with whom a film producer might choose to and be willing to work and that have knowledge and experience in the film industry is very limited indeed. This effectively means that contrary to the misinformation routinely being provided to filmmakers by business plan consultants and others, the business plan is of very little use in seeking to raise film production funds from investors.**

https://go.indiegogo.com/blog/2009/...ng-sources-john-cones-series-part-2-of-5.html
 
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