Seriously. I took a 3 month hands on intensive direction course and I almost got two guys to shell out 500,000 dollars for my movie with the catch being I cast their beautiful daughters(who were my classmates and into acting) as lead. I can still literally call one guy and hold a meeting. I told them the film will have artistic sensibilities but it may not recuperate the costs(it could also) but I am certain that it will be well received and the daughter will be noticed. If you can sell this shit I guarantee you there are many folks out there willing to lend.
I suppose one of my bigger concerns with this mode of thinking is that you want to make a film, or two, and yet you're willing to compromise your vision "cast-wise" in order to appease your backer's interest in having their daughters featured in your films. Plenty of films have had to do that in the past in the studio system. But personally, on the Indie-film side, I wouldn't do that. Because even though you're getting $500,000 to use to fund the film's budget, and even if these daughters can reasonably act (which is never a sure thing until you're in rehearsals), they just might not be right for any of the parts in the film (although I assume these backers want their daughters to be in a lead or supporting role).
Then again, you still said you "almost" got the money from either of these people. So you might not want to post something like this here unless, and ONLY unless, you actually got it to happen, and the film is already in post-production. Because that at least shows that the film was written, cast, shot, and is now ready to be edited, rather than it just being a potential film that fell through after the first few days on set.
But even then, the only way I can see any of
us getting a similar deal is if our potential backers were also wealthy philanthropists with daughters who wanted to be in the movies, which usually doesn't lead to good results on camera.
Besides, not every idea is going to entice the right people, and not everybody is going to know how to contact "the right people." Plenty of people
have secured small loans and such from strange and unique individuals, who you would never guess would be interested in funding an unusual indie film. But it probably depends on how much money you're asking from people, and whether or not the film will result in a decent return for them, perhaps more-so than if they themselves will like the final product. And yet, there are also those people out there who like you more than your idea, or they genuinely like your idea, and they don't care if they get a return. They just like you, and/or your work so much that they want to help you succeed. But that's likely the rarest kind of financial support one is to come by. We can only dream.