I have 2 celebrities attached to my feature, now need to raise money, any suggestions

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indiefilmmaker001

Hey everyone,
I have 2 celebrities attached to an ultra low budget feature length project I'm the writer/producer/director on. The lead has an IMDb STARmeter in the top 2,000. Their star meter has been as high as the top 500, fairly well known person. The other celeb is in the top 8,000 and is fairly well known as well and has been a lead in a few Hollywood films. I'm looking at a budget of around $150k to shoot it. I'm looking at adding 2 more celebs that I feel pretty confident in getting. One I have talked to prior and they said they were interested once it was funded. I just set up the LLC for the movie and I'm in the process of drafting up all the business plan, PPM paperwork this week. I've already started them.

I'm basically gearing up to start raising money for this project and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions who has been successful in raising funds for a movie? My big concern are SEC rules of solicitation, so I don't want to break any rules. Do any of you know of any really great resources...books, websites, etc. that might be helpful to someone in my situation? I considered pre-sells but I read you need a completion bond and it's hard to get one unless you are more established. More research I've done has shown that most studios have shut down their low budget divisions so aren't looking at really funding low budget indie projects anymore. So I'm pretty much prepping for the private investor/angel investor route. I was on Film Specific a few months/to a year back and didn't find a whole lot of information on going this route. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm sure I'll find the answer eventually...however any direction would be greatly appreciated to help me speed up the process.

thank you!
 
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They would know the actors, the lead has been in quite a few movies that have screened in theaters and on cable.

Contacting distributors is one thing I've been considering. Maybe I can get letters of interest from distributors to use to attract investors with. From other filmmakers I've talked to who went that route though, they say that they all pretty much say come back when you have something we can look at. I had a filmmaker friend who had big names attached to his project too and he couldn't get much more than that from distributors as well.
 
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indiefilmmaker001 said:
They would know the actors, the lead has been in quite a few movies that have screened in theaters and on cable.

Contacting distributors is one thing I've been considering. Maybe I can get letters of interest from distributors to use to attract investors with. From other filmmakers I've talked to who went that route though, they say that they all pretty much say come back when you have something we can look at. I had a filmmaker friend who had big names attached to his project too and he couldn't get much more than that from distributors as well.
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It sounds like you are dealing with small distributors.

The bigger ones will ask for letters of intent and resumes of everyone in the production.

You will also need a good sales agent / entertainment lawyer to make a real deal with them too.

With a letter of intent to distribute or to air on TV your production, you can go to a bank and get a loan to make you feature.
 
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Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC said:
It sounds like you are dealing with small distributors.

The bigger ones will ask for letters of intent and resumes of everyone in the production.

You will also need a good sales agent / entertainment lawyer to make a real deal with them too.

With a letter of intent to distribute or to air on TV your production, you can go to a bank and get a loan to make you feature.
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Thank you for the info and taking the time to comment. My friend contacted Sony and they told him that. So I guess it just depends on the distributor.

My understanding is that banks will want a completion bond before funding anything though, is this correct? Do you know which banks are open to this or what divisions I need to search for that do funding? Thank you.
 
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You're probably going to want to either spend a LOT of time researching or hire an entertainment attorney. The SEC rules can be pretty tricky from what I understand. I heard a presentation by an attorney who has resources on his web site when I was in the Phoenix Film Festival. I'll try to find his info.
 
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Gonzo_Entertainment said:
You're probably going to want to either spend a LOT of time researching or hire an entertainment attorney. The SEC rules can be pretty tricky from what I understand. I heard a presentation by an attorney who has resources on his web site when I was in the Phoenix Film Festival. I'll try to find his info.
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I agree. There are just too many hats that small filmmakers have to wear. Don't be a jack of all trades and a master of none. Call in the marines for the big stuff. I have a sales agent / entertainment lawyer lined up with NATPE on the horizon for my stuff. You will need a good lawyer for such a venture.
 
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Like people said, a lawyer is a guaranteed must. A good manager is a must. And an agent.

Depending on the theme of your movie, I'd attempt to get "influencers" involved. In other words, rich powerful people that live the "theme" of your movie.
 
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As I understand it, SEC rules only come into play if you're offering shares to the public, as opposed to offering shares to business associates or family.

As for getting funding, have you tried kickstarter? I don't know anything about it, but I've heard people try it.

Out of curiosity, how did you get major starts to work on your film? And how much do they cost?
 
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Aspiring Mogul said:
As I understand it, SEC rules only come into play if you're offering shares to the public, as opposed to offering shares to business associates or family.

As for getting funding, have you tried kickstarter? I don't know anything about it, but I've heard people try it.

Out of curiosity, how did you get major starts to work on your film? And how much do they cost?
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Anytime you are soliciting people to invest in a business venture it can potentially be subject to SEC rules. Are they partners, if they are partners then what do they know about the movie business, etc...

Taking people's money as investors in a project without having a good attorney who knows the film business looking everything over is basically asking to be sent to prison.
 
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