Top Tips: Profiting From A Feature Film

NickSoares

NickSoares

Top Tips For New Filmmakers

I figured I would start a thread that would really sum up some important TIPS for new filmmakers that they can find as much as possible in one post - So Feel free to add your tips to this thread (No Links Please) and hopefully over time new filmmakers can use this post as a guideline to come back to during pre-production, production, post, or distribution. If someone posts something that is important, then I will edit it to the top for easy access to the filmmaker.

I am sure some people will want to post articles, but please leave links out of this thread, as it is easy to click on them and if there are like me they will forget to read the rest. :)

Top Tips: Profiting From A Feature Film

I will start out with "Know Your Genre/Money Ratio" - Which means, know your budget and what genre you can produce from that budget to make a profit. I have tried to tell many many filmmakers in the past NOT to do a drama for $25K-30K (Drama's with a budget of 25K are very difficult to make, and very hard to sell if there is no NAME talent. So you have)

A low budget Horror/Action would be much more suitable to do for a 25K budget and will have better odds on profiting.

25K Budget for a "Comedy" is actually harder then doing a "Drama" for 25K - It is hard to make everyone laugh other then friends and family. - Now, once your budgets start to reach 7 figures, then that's a new ball game.

So know your "Genre/Money Ratio"

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Leister said:
Why is a comedy harder to make with zero/no budget? Yeah, you can't pay big talents but why is this a problem?
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DeJager said:
Because most people aren't as funny as they think and when it comes to writing screenplays comedies are very hard to pull off. Additionally, comedic timing is hard for amateur actors, which is why certain actors are very successful and others sink.
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NickSoares said:
Budget = Money - And if you dont have the $$ then it is hard to accomplish the "Comedy" aspect of a comedy. Plus, Budget = Better sound, camera, editing etc...



This thread is specific to "profiting" - As a filmmaker, you should make what ever you want.

When tips like this come around, for some reason people get offended because they are making a comedy or drama as they are reading this, but that is not how these tips should be looked at (FindersKeepers, im talking in general here, just FYI). I personally have wanted to make a Drama since I have started in this industry but I have held off so I can continue to make money and do filmmaking rather then say "My passion is a drama, so with $40,000 im going to do a drama" - Instead I went were the money (horror-action-thriller) was so I can support my family and live off the profits from my films. So to answer your question, you should do what you want to do so long as your happy. For me it was making films and making money so some day achieve my goal of doing the drama film I wanted. Now I have royalties coming in, I own a distribution company, and I am almost ready to do my Drama I have been waiting for 10 years later..
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Kholi said:
A movie should definitely be as long as it needs to be, especially in this day and age. Trying to fit a movie that only has sixty minutes of worthwhile content into an eighty plus format is a quick way to not get a good distribution deal. Despite what's preferred by distributors (Who aren't going to give you much, anyway).

And, like 2001 said, if you are looking for a distribution deal and your feature's only sixty minutes then you probably should've chosen a different project to begin with.

Even then, it's possible that a really good feature film in the sixty to seventy minute range will still get you to a lot of great places. Hate to reach for a very top shelf example here but Christopher Nolan's FOLLOWING (his first feature, before he got to Memento) was only sixty six minutes I believe. It wasn't a major financial success, but it was something that got him far along.

And, a more extreme example, Winnie the Pooh's last feature was a total of 63 minutes in running length. Yes, a kids movie, but still, a major motion picture release. Or animated feature release.

On the topic of utilizing today's benefits to distribute your own feature, it isn't as cut and dry. IF you don't have a SERIOUSLY GOOD MOVIE (not one that you, your family, and your friends think is good), then you HAVE to have either a hyper-niche, still have a name, you're marketing a feature film that has a fair amount of solid production value, or a ton of money to market because you won't have word of mouth from releasing a "good" movie.

One or some of those.

It's easy to say "let's just do it ourselves!", well, cool. There are some great ways to do that and profitable, as long as you're okay with profit meaning a few thousand dollars over the span of three years (If you don't have one or more of those things mentioned above.)
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Post your top tips below and I can add them in this Original Post.
 
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Thank you Nick for the valuable info. The people I've talked to recently in distribution say if you have no names in your movie you need a ton of promotion or advertising to get ANY distribution (other then self-distributing obviously) It seems like even with a the right genre when you have a cheap "no name" feature you're kinda stuck? What are your experiences recently? Who's getting decent return on investment with "no name" movies? Thank you for the info. It's much appreciated.
 
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finderskeepers said:
What are your experiences recently? Who's getting decent return on investment with "no name" movies? Thank you for the info. It's much appreciated.
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For the past 10 years it has been horror/action/thriller in the ultra low-budget range that I have seen get funded over and over again, and profit over and over again. Though many people say the market has been flooded (which is has) but that doesn't mean you cant make a profit, it just means the profits are a bit less...
 
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Leister said:
Why is a comedy harder to make with zero/no budget? Yeah, you can't pay big talents but why is this a problem?
Click to expand...

Because most people aren't as funny as they think and when it comes to writing screenplays comedies are very hard to pull off. Additionally, comedic timing is hard for amateur actors, which is why certain actors are very successful and others sink.
 
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Actually most low budget horror films end up being "accidental" comedies because they are so poorly written. ;)
Here's one of the funniest movies I've ever seen...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082748/

DeJager said:
Because most people aren't as funny as they think and when it comes to writing screenplays comedies are very hard to pull off. Additionally, comedic timing is hard for amateur actors, which is why certain actors are very successful and others sink.
Click to expand...
 
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DeJager said:
Because most people aren't as funny as they think and when it comes to writing screenplays comedies are very hard to pull off. Additionally, comedic timing is hard for amateur actors, which is why certain actors are very successful and others sink.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but why is this a budget problem? It's a problem of bad screenwriting and wrong casting decisions.

Maybe the tip should rather be "if you want to film a comedy, learn what humour is. If you want to shoot a horror movie, learn what fear is". Budget isn't the problem in my opinion, it's bad taste in these categories.
 
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I have to agree that usually the problem with low budget film is bad writing and bad acting. That's not going to work in a horror film or comedy.

An interesting question is if I was a stand-up comic who has ZERO interest in horror films, should I go and make a low budget horror film even though I know I'm going to make a crappy film just so I pick a "marketable" low budget genre? Should I not film the "good" comedy script I have because it will be hard to cast?

Is it better to make a film in the genre where you are weakest because it is a lucrative niche or should I film what I believe is the area where my talent lies?

Seems like a lot of people are just making crappy horror/action films just to sell them. They go in the MASSIVE pile of genre crap soon to be forgotten.


Leister said:
Yeah, but why is this a budget problem? It's a problem of bad screenwriting and wrong casting decisions.

Maybe the tip should rather be "if you want to film a comedy, learn what humour is. If you want to shoot a horror movie, learn what fear is". Budget isn't the problem in my opinion, it's bad taste in these categories.
Click to expand...
 
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Leister said:
Yeah, but why is this a budget problem? It's a problem of bad screenwriting and wrong casting decisions.

Maybe the tip should rather be "if you want to film a comedy, learn what humour is. If you want to shoot a horror movie, learn what fear is". Budget isn't the problem in my opinion, it's bad taste in these categories.
Click to expand...

Budget = Money - And if you dont have the $$ then it is hard to accomplish the "Comedy" aspect of a comedy. Plus, Budget = Better sound, camera, editing etc...

finderskeepers said:
I have to agree that usually the problem with low budget film is bad writing and bad acting. That's not going to work in a horror film or comedy.

An interesting question is if I was a stand-up comic who has ZERO interest in horror films, should I go and make a low budget horror film even though I know I'm going to make a crappy film just so I pick a "marketable" low budget genre? Should I not film the "good" comedy script I have because it will be hard to cast?

Is it better to make a film in the genre where you are weakest because it is a lucrative niche or should I film what I believe is the area where my talent lies?

Seems like a lot of people are just making crappy horror/action films just to sell them. They go in the MASSIVE pile of genre crap soon to be forgotten.
Click to expand...

This thread is specific to "profiting" - As a filmmaker, you should make what ever you want.

When tips like this come around, for some reason people get offended because they are making a comedy or drama as they are reading this, but that is not how these tips should be looked at (FindersKeepers, im talking in general here, just FYI). I personally have wanted to make a Drama since I have started in this industry but I have held off so I can continue to make money and do filmmaking rather then say "My passion is a drama, so with $40,000 im going to do a drama" - Instead I went were the money (horror-action-thriller) was so I can support my family and live off the profits from my films. So to answer your question, you should do what you want to do so long as your happy. For me it was making films and making money so some day achieve my goal of doing the drama film I wanted. Now I have royalties coming in, I own a distribution company, and I am almost ready to do my Drama I have been waiting for 10 years later..
 
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A big factor in every aspect of life is to learn what YOUR niche is and then stick to it. If you are a guy that likes to cut hair, then cut hair and if you are ambitious enough, you'll be a first class coiffeur who gets invited to sniff coke at Naomi Campbells parties.

That's because Tarantino is so damn successful. He is not looking for niches to get into. He creates his own niche. He was a film addict at a very young age and he uses this knowledge to create new stories out of old ones with his own quirky style.

I think this is a key factor in success. DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO. And before that, find out what you want to to!
 
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NickSoares said:
Budget = Money - And if you dont have the $$ then it is hard to accomplish the "Comedy" aspect of a comedy. Plus, Budget = Better sound, camera, editing etc...
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm there with you, but I think you have to split technical and other aspects. Hell yeah, If you have 500.000 to spend on cameras, audio and all that technical stuff, that's great. But your Film may be still trash with a bad story and horrible acting (Look at the big Hollywood crap pile "Battleship" for a recent example)

My premise is, if you have 20.000 to spend on an indie comedy movie, you CAN have a success. But you really have to know WHY comedies are successful. It's more a problem of knowledge and experience and not money.

But well, maybe there's too much theory in my babbling :lol:
 
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Leister said:
Yeah I'm there with you, but I think you have to split technical and other aspects. Hell yeah, If you have 500.000 to spend on cameras, audio and all that technical stuff, that's great. But your Film may be still trash with a bad story and horrible acting (Look at the big Hollywood crap pile "Battleship" for a recent example)

My premise is, if you have 20.000 to spend on an indie comedy movie, you CAN have a success. But you really have to know WHY comedies are successful. It's more a problem of knowledge and experience and not money.

But well, maybe there's too much theory in my babbling :lol:
Click to expand...

Yes you can make a comedy for 20K - Yes a 500K movie can suck a 100 million dollar film can suck - I know there are stories like this for every aspect in this industry.

Lets say you have a the best comedy script in the world, or lets say you have the "Step Brothers" script, do you think that with 20K you can make people laugh, even with the script? Your friends and family yes, but the rest of the world, no.

Here is some great advice from me to you -

Not everyone understands everyone's humor, what is funny to you may not be funny to me. But when it comes to scaring people, everyone can get scared. Picture a dim room with lots of people in it, and everyone is on edge because they heard something, then someone bangs their hand on a table and everyone jumps, now picture that same room, now you are telling a joke, a joke that was soooo funny to you and your friends, but when you say it, no one laughs. That is what you will be facing with a cheap comedy film, even if it is well written. This is just an example in the US, now picture around the world, India, France, Brazil, all of these places that are hard to make laugh... etc... etc...

Again, of course low-budget comedies can be done. But this is about "Profiting From Feature Films"
 
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NickSoares said:
Lets say you have a the best comedy script in the world, or lets say you have the "Step Brothers" script, do you think that with 20K you can make people laugh, even with the script? Your friends and family yes, but the rest of the world, no.
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I think this is a really important point. What made a movie like Step Brothers so funny was the chemistry and ad libbing/riffing between Will Ferrel and John Reilly during filming. And the reason we find them so funny is because A. they've honed their craft over many years, and B. we, as an audience, have come to know them and find them funny.

When you first saw Will Ferrel as a supporting actor in Superstar, you didn't think he was all that funny (at least most people didn't) but he was displaying the exact same Will Ferrel type humor that he does today. But as we got to know him and his brand of humor over the years, we find it much more entertaining now.

That's why he gets paid a lot to be in movies. People know they will laugh if they go see his movies...

Of course this all stems from the assumption that you're a Will Ferrel fan...:hmm:

But I think you get my point.
 
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I agree also. I know from personal experience humor is subjective. A monster jumping out of the darkness will shock most people. Comedy is probably the hardest genre to pull off. So definately easier to do horror film than a comedy. Of course, to make a film that stands out from the 10,000 movies made a year (or whatever the number is) is incredibly hard with ANY genre. ;)

Leister said:
You're right, fear is much more "common" around people, than humour. It's a condition that's easier to "trigger".
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In filmmaking, EVERYTHING is subjective. I don't think any one genre is any more or less difficult. If horror were so easy, then why is the vast majority of it so bad (indie and Hollywood alike)?

I think low budget horror has a better chance of financial success largely because of audience expectations. For whatever reason, fans of that genre tend to be more forgiving, and may often have a fun time watching comparatively lower production values.
 
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Great point the horror audience is so much more forgiving! My theory is because a bad horror film turns into a comedy like Plan 9 From Outer Space http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052077/
But bad comedy or drama just turns into boredom. I admit renting a few low budget horror films in the past just to laugh. But that was the grand ole days of video stores and VHS. ;)

Cracker Funk said:
In filmmaking, EVERYTHING is subjective. I don't think any one genre is any more or less difficult. If horror were so easy, then why is the vast majority of it so bad (indie and Hollywood alike)?

I think low budget horror has a better chance of financial success largely because of audience expectations. For whatever reason, fans of that genre tend to be more forgiving, and may often have a fun time watching comparatively lower production values.
Click to expand...
 
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