If you’re trying to raise $650,000 for a film, do you need to raise upwards of $25,000 to pay a lawyer to draft a private placement memorandum for your investors first? And if so, how do you raise funds to afford the PPM if you don’t have the PPM?
Raising Movie Money
- Thread starter Indiefilming
- Start date
The person to speak to would be Louise Levison, who did the business plan for the Blair Witch Project. This is her website, and her book, "Filmmakers and Financing: Business Plans for independents", is considered the bible in the area of film financing.
That's a good question. I'd say that in your location of XXX, you'd probably be better off talking with a lawyer for this advice. Advice depends on the laws of where you live.
If you're within the boundaries of the US, the Jobs Act changed what you can and cannot do regarding raising financing from investors and opened up a lot of options.
Not being a lawyer, a PPM is a solid place to start as you want all the details to be laid out before investors commit to ensure you don't get sued into the stone age.
If you're within the boundaries of the US, the Jobs Act changed what you can and cannot do regarding raising financing from investors and opened up a lot of options.
Not being a lawyer, a PPM is a solid place to start as you want all the details to be laid out before investors commit to ensure you don't get sued into the stone age.
So I guess do a kickstarter crowd funding campaign to raise about $35,000 for the PPM and to incorporate, and from there approach investors?
I'm torn about all of this. Even low budget is mainstream/corporate/head throbingly complicated with legals and financials.
I want to give my film a fighting chance at getting distribution/recognition but I also want to... get it made. Do I go for the legit low budget film and spend x amount of time raising x amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars or just get friends together and shoot guerrilla?
I'm torn about all of this. Even low budget is mainstream/corporate/head throbingly complicated with legals and financials.
I want to give my film a fighting chance at getting distribution/recognition but I also want to... get it made. Do I go for the legit low budget film and spend x amount of time raising x amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars or just get friends together and shoot guerrilla?
My hunch $25k is overinflated. Check around. As for the other question, I've no good answer.
Good luck.
Good luck.
What did your lawyer say?
It's not that complicated. You're just not used to it.
What's your budget for your lead? Who are you planning on using?
Same for your director?
That'll depend on a lot of factors. Some are: Whether you'll be able to raise the money and also whether you'd be able to guerrilla and be able to successfully garner any meaningful distribution.
Haven't raised any money to hire one yet. I'm taking the first steps. How much money does someone need to spend out of pocket before they can start raising money?
I expect you're right. Everything's complicated when you don't know what you don' know. Have you successfully raised this kind of money?
I am the director. I already have one pretty well known/well respected actress who signed on based on the script but she isn't box office. We have enough to shoot out another name in 6 days.
Yep. Have you ever garnered meaningful distribution for a guerrilla and/or low budget (over half a mil)? If so, was it easier for the low budget than the guerrilla? I imagine you can sell your guerrilla at a much lower price because investor return is lower but it's probably easier to get interest for a larger film unless you somehow manage to infuse great production value in a guerrilla.
It depends on how much you need to spend until the package is right for investors.
No. Raising finance for a first movie is all theory for me. The route I'm planning on going for my first feature is the no-budget route. Everything that I've heard is the price tag you're looking at is a rather difficult when looking at recoupment. As you failed to answer some of my other questions, you're pretty much going to have to answer them work it on your own.
I hear your questions, but in my opinion, you're asking the wrong questions. What you can sell a movie for has very little to do with your budget. It has more to do with the value of your package, from a marketing perspective. Without a marketable product, it's rare that companies will be interested in paying you to distribute your film.
Just be aware, if you're asking investors for $650k, they're going to expect you to have answers to your distribution questions and often also require pre-sales.