How to Finance your Documentary

It’s hard to find reliable information on film financing.  I’ve written a fair amount about independent film financing for narrative projects.  Since writing those blogs and doing numerous presentations on the topic, I’ve gotten a lot of questions on how to finance documentaries.  Since I haven’t seen a good guide, I thought I’d write one.  Here’s a step by step guide on financing documentaries.

1. Establish a deep connection with the audience that cares DEEPLY about your message.

Authenticity has been become incredibly important in all aspects of making your living as a filmmaker, journalist, or content creator of any kind.  As documentaries are primarily message films, authenticity and accuracy are even more important than they would be in your standard genre picture.  A deep understanding of the subject matter you’re tackling is absolutely vital for documentaries, as documentaries tend to rely much more heavily on word of mouth and community involvement than traditional narrative films.  

The primary goal you should have when establishing yourself within this community is to speak authentically about the community in your film. By doing this, you will most likely also establish credibility with the audience that is most likely to shout about your film when it comes out.  As a bonus, through the process of establishing a deep connection with the subject matter, you are likely to find good subjects to interview for your documentary.   

2. Get a fiscal sponsor

A fiscal sponsor is a non-profit organization that can extend its non-profit status to your simple for-profit entity allowing you to take tax-deductible donations, which can greatly help you raise donations from friends, family, and even certain crowdfunding platforms.  They’ll normally take a fee of between 4% and 9%, but they’ll increase your close rate dramatically.  Additionally, unless you are a non-profit, you’ll most likely need a fiscal sponsor in order to apply for grants.  

3. Apply for relevant grants

Next, you should start applying for grants.  You don’t need to limit yourself to filmmaking grants, you can also apply to grantors that tackle the subject matter you’re planning on documenting.  So long as those foundations and grantors back projects to build awareness there’s a good chance you’ll be eligible for those grants.  I wrote another blog with the help of one of the fundraisers for Slamdance a while back, you’ll find it below.

You should start applying for grants once a month as soon as you can.

Related: 5 Rules for Grantwriting.

4.  Confirm one high-profile expert in your field to give yourself legitimacy

Now it’s time to start shooting your film.  Confirm an interview with an expert, possibly using the connections you’ve developed back in step one.  Otherwise, reaching out to universities that have programs related to your subject matter is a generally good bet.  Most of the time, you shouldn’t need to pay the academics or many of the other experts who might be interviewed for the documentary. For them, it’s good press to build their legitimacy and public profile.

5.  Prepare a crowdfunding campaign

This is another reason Step 1 is to ingratiate yourself in a community.  If you’re a known entity in that community, your chances of success are much better and the amount you’ll be able to raise is much higher.  While this is harder than it once was, it’s nearly impossible if you’re not an established part of the community.

Here’s a blog on a crowdfunding timeline.  

Related: Crowdfunding Timeline for Filmmakers

6. Get a few more experts in your network to give interviews

Ramp up your production and get a decent portion of the film shot and start to find the narrative throughline for the finished piece.  You will want to start charting this path as you shoot, as it can help guide you through future interviews or even re-interviews if you can.  

7. Launch your crowdfunding campaign. 

You do that after the first expert as if you’re doing it properly, you should be able to use a portion of the interview as an immediate delivery once the campaign closes.  If you have multiple experts at this point, you’ll have some degree of legitimacy that you could turn into a short as one of the major funding levels.

Even after you raise the money you need for your main round, you should continue to apply for grants on a monthly basis.  The reason n why will become clear later. 

Here’s a blog on the dos and don’ts for pushing your movie on social media.  I wrote it after a few too many people sent me auto DMs.

Related: 5 Dos and Don’ts for Selling Your Film Online.

8. Get a few higher profile influencers in the documentary.

If you get a few subjects in the documentary with some degree of a following, it will likely help boost the visibility of the documentary once it’s getting ready to come out.

9. Release regular updates on social media

If you make sure to release updates and engage with your following on the goings on of the documentary you’ll be much better able to keep in the consciousness of your community which will make a rather large difference when it comes time to distribute your project.

10. Make sure you keep your backers informed.

Take what you’re doing on social media, and give more depth and detail as to the goings on of the project, as well s content to the people who have supported you financially. There are a couple of ways you can do this, the simplest is to continually communicate through whatever platform you originally crowdfunded through.

11. Keep applying for Grants, but now focus on finishing funds.

Applying for grants isn’t something you should have stopped doing, but at this point in the cycle, you should be applying for grants to finish your movie rather than develop or shoot it.  If you’ve consistently been applying all this time, you’re more likely to succeed at this point as you may well be starting to re-apply for the same grants you didn’t get last time.  

12. Launch a secondary crowdfunding campaign for finishing funds

This is part of why you’ve continued to stay in touch with the people who backed your first campaign, as it’s much more likely they’ll come back for your next round if they’re happy with your communication skills as well as the progress you’ve made.  

13. Ramp up the content you’re releasing

Before you may have released photos from interviews on social media, and teasers to your backers.  Now you may want to release teasers on social media and short interview clips to your backers.  You don’t want to release anything that will give too much away, but you want to build buzz and have a deep engagement with your backers.  You want them to feel like they made your movie possible.  In a very real way, they did, and they may have gotten you to the finishing line. 

14. Apply for impact grants

Impact grants focus on getting the film out and into the world.  They cover things like festival submission, travel, and other costs related to marketing and distribution.  You should start applying for these grants when you hit picture lock.  

NOW THAT YOU’VE FINISHED MAKING THE FILM…

15.  Hire a publicist (If you can)

Publicity isn’t cheap, but it is one of the best ways to build both the profile of your film and of you as a filmmaker.  Getting press early on will help you in the next parts of your process.

16. Apply to festivals

Now that the film is done, you should start applying to relevant festivals.  If you’ve already gotten some press coverage, you’re more likely to get in, however, the time your publicist will be of the most use is during your festival rune.

17. Get a Lawyer, and get them to do an E&O Coverage letter.

If you didn’t already have a lawyer, get one now.  A lot of lawyers will do some pro-bono work for documentary filmmakers as a public service, so don’t hesitate to ask.  Along with being a steadfast advisor, they’ll also have the ability to write a fair use clearance letter which will enable you to buy E&O Coverage if and when you need it.  Also, you should really have a lawyer on call when you move on to step 18. 

18. Get a producers rep, or sales agent and distributor

Finally, you should make sure to start reaching out to producers reps sales agents, and distributors as soon as you can after submitting to festivals.  Some of us can help make sure you get into bigger and better festivals, but any reputable person with these titles has a much better chance of getting you a profitable distribution deal on platforms 

After the success I’ve seen from one film I both repped and distributed film Queen of the Capital, I’ve recently started putting a greater emphasis on documentaries, since my direct contacts in that area have grown significantly.  You can learn more about Guerrilla Rep Media Services film below.

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Filmmakers Glossary of Film Business Terminology.

A colleague of mine asked me if I had a glossary on film financing terms in the same way I wrote one for film distribution (which you can check out here.)  Since I didn’t have one, I thought I’d write one.  After I wrote it, it was too long for a single post, so now it’s two.  This one is on general terms, next week we’ll talk about film investment terms. As part of the website port, I’m re-titling the first part to a general film business glossary of terms, to lower confusion on sharing it. It’s got the same terms and the same URL, just a different title.

Capital

While many types exist, it most commonly refers to money.  

Financing

Financing is the act of providing funds to grow or create a business or particular part of a business.  Financing is more commonly used when referring to for-profit enterprises, although it can be used in both for profit and non-profit enterprises. 

Funding

Funding is money provided to a business or non-profit for a particular purpose.  While both for-profit and non-profit organizations can use the term, it’s more commonly used in non-profit media that the term financing is. 

Revenue

Money that comes into an organization from providing shrives or selling/licensing goods.  Money from Distribution is revenue, whereas money from investors is financing, and donors tend to provide funding more than financing, although both terms could apply.

Equity

A percentage ownership in a company, project, or asset.  While it’s generally best to make sure all equity investors are paid back, so long as you’ve acted truthfully and fulfilled all your obligations it’s generally not something that you will forfeit your house over.  Stocks are the most common form of equity, although films tend not to be able to issue stocks for complicated regulatory reasons and the fact that films are generally considered a high-risk investment.

Donation

Money that is given in support of an organization, project, or cause without the expectation of repayment or an ownership stake in the organization.  Perks or gifts may be an obligation of the arrangement. 

Debt

A loan that must be paid back. Generally with interest.

Deferral

A payment put off to the future.  Deferrals generally have a trigger as to when the payment will be due.

“Soft Money"

In General, this refers to money you don’t have to pay back, or sometimes money paid back by design.  In the world of independent film, it’s most commonly used for donations and deferrals, tax incentives, and occasionally product placement. It can have other meanings depending on the context though.

Investor

Someone who has provided funding to your company, generally in the form of liquid capital (or money.)

Stakeholder

Someone with a significant stake in the outcome of an organization or project.  These can be investors, distributors, recognizable name talent, or high-level crew. 

Donor

Someone who has donated to your cause, project, or organization. 

Patron

Similar to donors, and can refer to high-level donors or financial backers on the website Patreon.  For examples of patrons, see below. you can be a patron for me and support the creation of content just like this by clicking below.

Non-Profit Organizations (NPO)

An organization dedicated to providing a good or service to a particular cause without the intent to profit from their actions, in the same way, a small business or corporation would. This designation often comes with significant tax benefits in the United States.

501c3

The most common type of non-profit entity file is to take advantage of non-profit tax exempt status in the US.

Non-Government Organization (NGO)

Similar to a non-profit, generally larger in scope.  Also, something of an antiquated term. 

Foundation

An organization providing funding to causes, organizations and projects without a promise of repayment or ownership.  Generally, these organizations will only provide funding to non profit organizations. Exceptions exist. 

Grantor

An organization that funds other organizations and projects in the form of grants.  Generally, these organizations are also foundations, but not necessarily.

Fiscal Sponsorship

A process through which a for-profit organization can fundraise with the same tax-exempt status as a 501c3.  In broad strokes, an accredited 501c3 takes in money on behalf of a for-profit company and then pays that money out less a fee.  Not all 501c3 organizations can act as a fiscal sponsor. 

Investment

Capital that has been or will be contributed to an organization in exchange for an equity stake, although it can also be structured as debt or promissory note.

Investment Deck (Often simply “Deck”)

A document providing a snapshot of the business of your project.  I recommend a 12-slide version, which can be found outlined in this blog or made from a template in the resources section of my site, linked below.

Related: Free Film Business Resource Package

Look Book

A creative snapshot of your project with a bit of business in it as well. NOT THE SAME AS A DECK.  There isn’t as much structure to this.  Check out the blog on that one below. 

Related: How to make a look book

Audience Analysis

One of 3 generally expected ways to project revenue for a film.  This one is based around understanding the spending power of your audience and creating a market share analysis based on that. I don’t yet have a blog on this one, but I will be dropping two videos about it later this month on my youtube channel.  Subscribe so you don’t miss them.

Competitive Analysis

One of 3 ways to project revenue for an independent film.  This method involves taking 20 films of a similar genre, attachments, and Intellectual property status and doing a lot of math to get the estimates you need. 

Sales Agency Estimates

One of 3 ways to project revenue for an independent film.  These are high and low estimates given to you by a sales agent.  They are often inflated.

Related: How to project Revenue for your Independent Film

Calendar Year

12 months beginning January 1 and ending December 31.  What we generally think of as, you know, a year. 

Fiscal year

The year observed by businesses. While each organization can specify its fiscal year, the term generally means October 1 to September 30 as that’s what many government organizations and large banks use.  Many educational institutions tie their fiscal year to the school year, and most small businesses have their fiscal year match the calendar year as it’s easier to keep up with on limited staff.

Film Distribution

The act of making a film available to the end user in a given territory or platform. 

International Sales

The act of selling a film to distributors around the world. 

Related: What's the difference between a sales agent and distributor?

Bonus! Some common general use Acronyms

YOY

Year over Year.  Commonly used in metrics for tracking marketing engagement or financial performance on a year-to-year basis.

YTD

Year to Date.  Commonly used in conjunction with Year over year metrics or to measure other things like revenue or profit/loss metrics.

MTD

Month to Date. Commonly used when comparing monthly revenue to measure sales performance. Due to the standard reporting cycles for distributors, you probably won’t see this much unless you self-distribute.

OOO

Out of Office.  It generally means the person can’t currently be reached. 

EOD

End of Day. Refers to the close of business that day, and generally means 5 PM on that particular day for whatever the time zone of the person using the term is working in.  

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How to Raise Development Funds for your Feature Film.

Pretty much every filmmaker wants to find money to make their movie.  Unfortunately, many don’t quite realize that in order to raise the kind of money you need to make anything above a micro-budget movie, you’ll generally need a lot already in place.  It’s something of a catch-22.  Investors need name talent to market the film, and distribution to make it available.  Distributors need name talent and a tested team to give any meaningful commitments, and name taken need to know they’ll be paid.  There are ways around all of this, but generally, they require money upfront.  This blog is about how you raise it.

​Unfortunately, there isn’t a magic bullet on any level of film funding.  The best I can do is offer you tools and tactics to use to increase your chances of success.  You will probably need more than one of these tools to get the job done.
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Don't want to read? Check out the video on this topic below

​Crowdfunding

Let’s get this one out of the way fast.  Crowdfunding CAN be great for filmmakers not only as a way to raise partial funding, but also to engage yourself with your audience and provide market validation for both investors and distributors/sales agents.  That said, it’s not without its drawbacks.  Using crowdfunding as an early-stage race tool can cause your donors to question whether or not you’ll be able to get the whole film done.  If you can’t, it can lead to problems.  (Extra special shoutout to my patrons here, since we’re talking about crowdfunding.)

Friends and Family

I know, I know.  This is the oldest piece of advice in the book.  But, there’s a reason it’s still around.  Your friends and family are (hopefully) among the people who are most likely to back and support you in this endeavor.  If they’re like mine were when I was starting out, while they may be willing to help and actively want you to succeed, they’ll still need some proof it’s possible.  However, the proof they’re like to need will probably be something easier to get than an investor would need. These 

Equity

But Ben, didn’t you just say that you need more in place to get an investor?  Yes and no.  In order to raise a large round, you’ll need a lot in place, but if you’re only focusing on a smaller round you can get by with less.  It is important to properly structure this investment though.  You’ll either need to offer a more substantial stake in the company for the bigger risk taken for investing earlier, or you’ll need to do some other investment vehicle like Convertible debt.

Even at this stage, if you want to raise money from investors you’re going to need to create an independent film investment deck. You can learn more about it in this blog, or you can grab a template for free in my film business resource package in the button below.

Grants

Grants are great in that they don’t require you to pay back the money so long as you only use it for its intended purpose.  They’re not so great in that they generally take a long time to be approved for the money, and you’re generally facing significant competition particularly for development stage grants. 

Soft Costs and Deferrals

This essentially means calling in every favor you have to make sure that you have the best chance possible to succeed in developing a package for your film.  This isn’t going to carry you the whole way though.  Most people who do this for a living don’t work purely on a deferral or commission basis.  I’m including myself in this, although I do defer a large portion of my fees and take on as much as I can on commission. 

That said, while the higher-level connectors, Producers, Executive Producers, and the like are generally unwilling to work on a purely deferral or commission basis, the friends you need to make a great crowdfunding video, concept trailer, or something similar might not be.  Getting their buy-in might help you make it to the next level.
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Skin in the Game

Finally, we come down to the ever-present fallback of funding the development round yourself.  This is generally the fasted way to complete the round, but it has the obvious drawback of needing deep enough pockets to just shell out and pay the money you need to get it done. 

I know all of this is really hard to grasp, and quite frankly it’s a lot.  While I do consult on this sort of stuff, I’m not cheap. (with good reason.) I try to make a lot of information available through my site, but there are times that you just kind of need someone to answer your questions and re-orient you.  As such, I’ve decided to start a special mentorship group. 

This special training group gets you access to additional content, an exclusive discussion group, and most importantly weekly group video calls where I’ll answer your questions personally, and occasionally bring on people who would also be of benefit to the group’s needs.  Click the button below to go to a form and express interest in this group.  Spots are limited.

Also, don’t forget about the Free indiefilm business resource package to get your free Investment deck template, e-book, white-paper, and more. .

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Top 4 Reasons to Crowdfund your Independent Film

Most filmmakers hate the idea of crowdfunding.  While nobody likes constantly having their hands out and asking their friends for money for a whole month straight, it’s something that most filmmakers are going to have to do early in their careers.  It’s very possible that most filmmakers will have to do it more than once.  But the reason you crowdfund isn’t just about the money.  There are lots of other reasons crowdfunding can be a boon for a filmmaker’s career.  Here are 4 of them.

1. It’s one of the Most Viable Ways to get First Money in.

The first money in is always the hardest.  In the past, the most common way to get the money was from friends and family.  More recently, this has been replaced with crowdfunding, although in practice it’s still primarily a friends and family round, it’s just a scaled-up version of it that handles taking in the payments for you. It’s also something you can do even if you don’t have a rich uncle. 

​But keep in mind, nothing worth having is free.  While this is one of the most viable ways to get first money in, it’s far from easy.

Related: Top 5 indiefilm Crowdfunding Techniques

2. It’s one of the Quickest Ways to get Money you don’t have to Pay Back.

But wait, Ben, haven’t you said in the past that a crowdfunding campaign’s preparation starts a whole year in advance?  Like in this blog linked right below this sentence?

Related: Indiefilm Crowdfunding timeline

Well incredulous voice in my head that sometimes comes out in the form of content on my website, I did indeed say that.  Not only did I say that, but I stand by it.  I stand by it due to the fact that the real, hardcore prep only starts about 3 months prior to the campaign, and the work before that is primarily engaging your community (which you should be doing anyway.) 

Generally, grant money isn’t very fast, tax incentives both tend to be rather slow and come with a lot of strings, and product placement tends to not pay out until the film is completed, and often isn’t even money that’s directly given to you.  Pretty much every other form of financing are things you have to pay back. 

Although it should be noted that you do have some pretty big responsibilities to your backers.  You need to fulfill the rewards you promised them, and you need to keep them up to date on your progress as you move through the various stages of development. ​

3. It’s a way to Engage with your Community at an Early Stage

One of the biggest things that set successful filmmakers apart from hobbyists in the current landscape is the ability to cultivate community around themselves and their work.  Crowdfunding can be a really powerful means to support this end.  Crowdfunding is a great way to identify and engage your early adopters and the core of your community.  It’s a great way to stay involved with them and make them feel like they’re an important part of your project.  In actuality, they are important parts of your project. 
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But engaging with your community is about far more than getting crowdfunding backers. Your core community of backers can become your most vocal advocates from the earliest stage.  If your work comes out well, they’re likely to share it with their friends and start your word-of-mouth marketing when it comes time to distribute your project.  They’re a lot more likely to do this than the average person since they’ll have been around since the beginning.  Their friends might even join your community the next time you crowdfund. ​

4. It’s Validation for your Project

One of the biggest things investors look for in a project is also one of the things that’s the hardest for filmmakers to provide.  Especially in the early stages of their career.  Having a successful crowdfunding campaign proves to investors that not only is there a market for this project, but that you know how to reach them.  This is a huge hurdle to overcome when approaching angel investors.

That being said, it’s important to keep in mind that the reverse is also true.  If a project fails its crowdfunding campaign, it’s incredibly difficult to convince an investor that there is an addressable target market.  Or, at least that you have the ability to address said target market.  So with that in mind, you should only try to raise what you know you can get via crowdfunding, and then plan to get the remaining sources via other financing methods. 

Thanks so much for reading!  If you liked this content, you grab my film business resource package. You’ll get an ever-growing list of templates, money-saving resources, and even an e-book or two.  You’ll also get monthly digests of blogs segmented by topic.

The 7 Essential Elements of A Strong Indie Film Package

Most filmmakers want to know more about how to raise money for their projects.  It’s a complicated question with lots of moving parts.  However, one crucial component to building a project that you can get financed is building a cohesive package that will help get the film financed.  So with that in mind, here are the 7 essential elements of a good film package.    ​

1.Director

As we all know, the director is the driving force behind the film.  As such, a good director that can carry the film through to completion is an essential element to a good film package.  Depending on the budget range, you may need a director with an established track record in feature films.  If you don’t have this, then you probably can’t get money from presales, although this may be less of a hard and fast rule than I once thought it was.
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Related:What's the Difference between an LOI and a Presale?

Even if you have a first-time director, you’ll need to find some way of proving to potential investors that they’ll be able to get the job done, and helm the film so that it comes in on time and on budget

2. Name Talent

I know that some filmmakers don’t think that recognizable name talent adds anything to a feature film.  While from a creative perspective, there may be some truth to that, packaging and finance is all about business.  From a marketing and distribution perspective, films with recognizable names will take you much further than films without them.  I’ve covered this in more detail in another blog, linked below.
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Related: Why your Film Needs Name Talent

Recognizable name talent generally won’t come for free.  You may need a pay-or-play agreement, which is where item 7 on this list comes in handy. ​
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3. An Executive Producer

If you’re raising money, you should consider engaging an experienced executive producer.  They’ll be able to help connect you to money, and some of them will help you develop your business plan so that you’re ready to take on the money when it comes time to.  A good executive producer will also be able to greatly assist in the packaging process, and help you generate a financial mix.
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Related: The 9 Ways to finance an Independent Film.

I do a lot of this sort of work for my clients.  If you’ve got an early-stage project you’d like to talk about getting some help with building your package and/or your business plan I’d be happy to help you to do so.  Just click the clarity link below to set up a free strategy session, or the image on the right to submit your project.

4. Sales Agent/Distributor

If you want to get your investors their money back, then you’re going to need to make sure that you have someone to help you distribute your independent film.  The best way to prove access to distribution is to get a Letter of Intent from a sales agent.  The blog below can help you do that. 
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Related: 5 Rules for Getting an LOI From a Sales Agent

5. Deck/Business Plan

If you’re going to seek investors unfamiliar with the film industry, you’re going to need a document illustrating how they get their money back   This can be done with either a 12-slide deck, or a 20-page business plan.  I’ve linked to some of my favorite books on business planning for films below. 

6. Pro-Forma Financial Statements

Pro forma financial statements are essentially documents like your cash flow statement, breakeven analysis, top sheet budget, Capitalization Table, and Revenue Distribution charts that help you include in the latter half of the financial section of a business plan.  

There’s a lot more information on these in the book Filmmakers and Financing by Louise Levinson.  I’m also considering writing a blog series about writing a business plan for independent film.  If you’d like to see that, comment it below. ​

7. Some Money already in place

Yes, I know I said that you need a package to raise money, but often in order to have a package you need to have some percentage of the budget already locked in.  Generally, 10% is enough to attach a known director and known talent.  If you’re looking for a larger Sales Agent then you’ll also need to have some level of cash in hand.

This is essentially a development round raise.  For more information on the development round raises, check out this blog!

Thanks for reading, for more content like this in a monthly digest, as well as a FREE Film Market Resources Package, check out the link below and join my mailing list.​

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6 Rules for Contacting Press

I’ve had to reach out to a lot of press recently for the theatrical release of Goodland.  It’s not the first time I’ve had to try to get some press for a movie, but it is the first time I’ve had to do it recently.  So I had to brush up on a couple of tactics, and thought I would turn those tactics into a useful blog for all the people who follow me.  So without further ado, here are 6 rules for contacting press about your movie

1. Think about what they get out of covering you.

Reporters receive A LOT of press releases and requests for coverage on any given day.  If you want to rise above the pack, a good way to start is by thinking about why they should cover you.  

Try asking yourself these questions. 

• Are you local?  

• Is there some reason your film being there is significant to your community?  

• Is there any reason the arts editor should review your movie instead of the major studio ones on their desk?  

These aren’t the only things you should ask yourself, but they are the bare minimum you should consider before contacting a reporter.

2. Start Small

Don’t go straight to Variety and Deadline.  (unless you have contacts there) instead, try to get some reviews from some blogs with moderate following.  If you can, get some ratings on IMDb.  As you build notoriety and visibility, start reaching out to bigger and bigger outlets. 

Note From the Future: Trades require Exclusivity, so try not to blow that exclusive on low-stakes public coverage. when you have a chance at bigger international drops.

3. Local Press Coverage is Easier than National Coverage.

If you’re from a small town, it’s much easier to get local coverage.  If you’re from a small town and you made a movie, that’s probably news.  Sometimes, it’s either local coverage for your film or pictures of an empty playground for art’s sake.  If you’re from San Francisco and you made a movie that’s going to be in theaters, that might be news for the smaller papers, but not the major outlets like the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Consider that it might be it’s easier to reach out about local films to a neighboring community as well.  If you’re in San Francisco, but have some connection to Oakland, Richmond, San Mateo, or Berkeley.  In any case, it’s probably worth trying to get some play in these places. 

4. Develop your list of press contacts.

Not everyone has a press contact list, but if you do, it’s probably worth reaching out to them as soon as you have something relevant to announce.  If you don’t, you should see how you can develop a list of press contacts.  That’s easier said than done, but it can be helpful to volunteer at events or organizations that already have the contacts, then see about networking with them wherever you can. 

5. If you have press contacts, don't bombard them with irrelevant releases.  

Don’t send our a press release just because your movie got accepted to one small festival.  It’s unlikely to do you much good.  However, if you get into Sundance, or are heading to local theaters, that’s probably something the press would want to know about.

The biggest thing here is to not waste the time of busy people.  it’s a good way to ensure you get ignored.

6. Consider hiring a publicist

Like so many things in the film industry, (or any industry for that matter,) publicity is a game of relationships.  If you don’t have those relationships, it’s probably worth hiring a publicist.  Press coverage is still one of the highest ROI promotional channels you can do for your business, even if you decide to go through a publicist since you’re likely to get a lot more coverage than you would on your own. If you hire the right publicist, they’ll more than pay for themselves. ​
​

If that was helpful, you should join my mailing list and get my free indie film resource package. The package includes templates to track contacts with distributors, sales agents, and press, plus you’ll also get a monthly blog digest separated by topic to get help you get your film out there. Get it below.

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Indiefilm Crowdfunding Timeline

In crowdfunding as in filmmaking, preparation is key.  If you don’t adequately prepare for your campaign, then you’re not likely to succeed.  If you’ve never crowdfunded before, this can be a daunting prospect. Don’t worry, Guerrilla Rep Media is here to help.  This post is meant to give you a timeline to prepare for your campaign, starting further out than you might think.

It’s based around what I’ve learned raising 33,000 of my own in the early days of kickstarter, as well as what I’ve learned from speakers and advising clients running their own campaigns.

6-12 Months Prior to Launch

Begin interacting with online and in-person communities relevant to your target market

If you want to have a chance at people outside of your friends and family donate to your crowdfunding campaign, then you’ll need to become a part of those communities early.  If you show up and immediately start asking for money, you’re only going to lose friends and alienate potential backers and customers.  If, on the other hand, you become part of the communities you’re targeting early on then you may well end up getting yourself some new audience members who might just back your campaign.

Related: 5 Dos and Don't for Selling your Film on Social Media

It’s a lot of work, but the benefits may surprise you.  They’re likely to reach beyond your professional life, and into your personal life. 

3 Months Prior To the Launch

Begin to be really active in groups of your target market.

Essentially, this is an extension of the list above.  As your campaign approaches, spend more time engaging with people on those online communities you joined 3-6 months ago.

2 Months Prior to the Launch

Shoot Video

List All Potential Perks

Let People Know You'll be Running a Campaign

Get set up with your Payment Processor

About 2 months before your expected launch, you should get as much of the preparation out of the way as you can.  This includes things like shooting your video, listing your potential perks, and potentially even getting set up with the payment processor of whatever platform you’re using.

Many of those things take much longer than you expect them to, so doing them early will make sure that your campaign launches smoothly. ​

1 Month Prior to Launch

Start seeing what press you can get.

Create a Facbook Event for Launch

Finalize list of Perks

Organize Launch Party

A month out from your campaign is when your pre-launch should be going into overdrive.  You’ll need to issue a press release about your campaign to try to get some local press, make a Facebook event for the launch party to try to get some early momentum, finalize all your perks, and potentially organize a launch party to help get people excited about your project.  You may want to consider making your launch party backer-only, just to get the numbers up early on. ​ Let people donate at the door from their if you need to.

Related: Top 5 Crowdfunding Techniques

1 Week Prior to Launch

Do at least one press interview (if you can)

Promote Launch Day on Social Media

Confirm a few large donations to come in on lauch day: Ideally right at launch.

With your launch date less than a week away, you’ll want to see if you can get any press.  This can be anything from a local newspaper from the town you grew up in, it could be a friend’s podcast, or it could even be some old high school alumni newsletter.  The press will give you legitimacy and legitimacy means more backers.

While you’re doing this, you’ll want to spend a lot of time talking about the impending launch on social media and talking to some big potential donors about coming in in the first few hours of the campaign.  If people see more traction early on, they’ll be more likely to jump on board. ​

Launch Day

Follow-up with AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN to get them to donate.

If you have some large confirmed donors, then you need to follow up with them and remind them on launch day.  It matters a lot to get some big fish in right as the campaign starts. ​

First Few Weeks of the Campaign

INDIVIDUALLY email EVERYONE you can to ask them to donate.

Once you get your campaign started, you’ll want to INDIVIDUALLY email EVERYONE in your address book.  I’m not talking about setting up and sending out a mail chimp email, I’m talking about individually reaching out to follow up with EVERYONE who you have an email for.  One trick I’ve learned from a friend and Former Speaker Darva C. is that you should email 2 letters of the alphabet a day, over the first 2 weeks of the campaign.  Then email them again, starting on day 16 of the campaign. ​

It’s a grind, but making a film always required sacrifice. 

Midpoint of Campaign

Host an event to keep interested high.

It would be wise to have an event to keep your social media spirit high in the lull that is the midpoint of the campaign.  You have to keep the momentum going through the campaign, so having something like a midpoint event to talk about on social media is incredibly useful.  This event is one I would HEAVILY consider making backer-only, even if they’ve only backed you for 1 dollar. ​ You could also let them back at the door from their phone.

Last Few Weeks of Campaign

Individually email everyone you can AGAIN.

​Do the same thing that you did on the first 13 days of the campaign again. Thank the people who donated, and remind the people who didn't to donate again.  ​

Closing Night-Host a celebration (or commiseration) party!

Finally, at the close of the campaign, you’ll need to have a party, whether to celebrate your success or commiserate that you didn’t hit your goal. Either way, you’ll deserve a night of fun because you WILL be tired.

If this seems like a lot, it is. Even once you’ve finished raising, you still need to make the movie. My free Film resource package includes a lot of resources to help you make it and get it out there once it’s done. It’s got a free e-book, lots of templates, and a whole lot more. Click the button below to sign up.

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The 5 Rules to Running a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign

Since my exit from Mutiny Pictures Most of my work, these days is as an executive producer, consultant, distribution representative, and marketer. However, there was a time when I was a filmmaker and a regular (as opposed to executive) producer.  During that time, I raised a total of 33,000 on Kickstarter for two projects.   This blog gives you some of what I learned from those two campaigns.

​While those two projects never went as far as they could have due to a parting of ways between myself and my former business partner, there’s still a lot of information I learned in running these campaigns in the early days of Kickstarter.  Here are 5 of them.

​#1. Prepare

You CANNOT be successful in crowdfunding without preparation, and that preparation starts early.  Generally, your soft preparation for a crowdfunding campaign will start at least 6 months before you launch your campaign.  This soft preparation will consist more of being an active member of your community.  About 3 months out you’ll need to get ready to shoot your video, and about 2 months later you’ll need to get ready for pre-launch. 

I’ll be releasing a preparation timeline in a few weeks, so check back soon!

#2. Grow Your Network

About 80% of your donations will come from people you already know and interact with regularly.  This is why you need to become active in communities that will be interested in your film.  This can be alumni organizations, groups of people enthusiastic about the kind of film you’re making, and any other group of people that are tangentially connected to the film you’re planning on making.
​

#3. ​It’s a Full Time Job, Plan Accordingly

No matter how much preparation you do, when the campaign starts it will be at least one person’s full-time job.  You’ll need to personally thank everyone who donates, and you’ll need to spend a lot of time emailing basically everyone you know individually.  If you’re smart, you’ll do it twice.  Bulk emails aren’t going to do you anywhere near as much good as individual emails, and individual emails take a lot of time. 
​

#4. Try to Get as Much Press as Possible

The best way to add legitimacy to your campaign is to get mentioned in the press.  In order to get that press you’ll need to reach out to any editors and reporters you can that might cover you.  Note that I say editors and reporters THAT MIGHT COVER YOU.  If you know a reporter at Variety, you probably don’t want to email them about your campaign since they’re not going to cover it.  If you grew up in a small town with a local paper, you definitely do.  You’d be surprised what they’ll cover. 

This is something you can work with your prospective crew about as well.  Maybe you’re not from a small town, but your DP or production designer might be.  This can be a very mutually beneficial arrangement, it puts your crew in the spotlight and raises the profile of the film. 

It would be wise to send out a press release via one of the many press release sites.  This will help you generate at least a few articles on affiliates for NBC, FOX, and others that you can use to grow the profile and perceived legitimacy of your campaign.  It also has some SEO benefits, but I’m not sure that would help too much on crowdfunding. ​

#5. DON’T SPAM

Don’t post your campaign incessantly on all of your social media,  Make sure you continue to provide value outside of asking for money while you’re in your campaign.

If you use Messenger to send your campaign to someone, open up a conversation first.  Don’t just copy-paste a form email with no conversation back from them.   

Say hello to someone first.  Ask how they’re doing.  Then send them info about your campaign when they ask what you’re up to. Taking the time to show you care about what’s going on in their life will greatly increase both your conversion rate and the amount each member of your network contributes.

Thanks for reading!  If you like this, you should go ahead and grab my FREE Film Market Resource Pack. It’s got a free e-book of articles like this one to help you grow your filmmaking career, free templates to streamline investor and distributor conversations, and even a monthly content digest that helps you continue to grow your knowledge base on a schedule that’’s manageable to almost anyone. Get it for FREE Below.

5 DO's and DON'Ts for Selling Your Film on Social Media

I sell a lot of stuff on social media.  In fact, that’s probably how you’re reading this blog right now.  Since I’m very active, I also get a lot of people trying to sell stuff to me on social media.  This blog is an amalgamation of some of what I’ve found works on social media, and some of the stuff I’ve found does more to harm your brand than build it.

Before you ask, yes I’ve been on both sides of pieces of this article at various times.

DO: Provide Value

Far and away the most important rule of building a brand on social media is to ALWAYS provide Value.  Even when you’re trying to sell something, you should be providing value.  It will take several impressions with a potential customer for them to engage with your content or buy your service, and in that time you’ll need to provide that potential customer quite a lot of value. 

DON'T: Post Nothing But Sales Links

Even if your service provides value to members of a group or your carefully cultivated following.  If all you do is post things like “BUY MAH MOOOVIE!” then you’re failing to provide value, and you’re not going to move too many copies. To be honest, it’s also important to avoid posting too many links to groups in general. I’ve definitely been on the wrong end of that in the past with my 100+ blogs.

DO: Focus on Building Relationships

Building a relationship with your potential customers is the only way to turn them from potential customers to single-time customers, to regular, recurring business.  Essentially, these relationships rely on trust.  In order to build that trust, try posting relevant articles from your blog, behind-the-scenes footage, a piece of press you got mentioned in, or whatever else that gives you a touchpoint with your fanbase without asking them to spend money. 

DON'T: Treat All Your "Friends" Solely as Potential Customers.

If you’re like most people, you have everyone from high school classmates to people you know from the bar to great aunt Gertrude on your Facebook.  Be cognisant of the fact that most of those people may or may not want to actually buy your movie.  Don’t forget to post the standard facebook posts alongside talking about your project.​

DO: Start a Conversation

If you want to share something you’re working on or the movie you just made with someone via a messaging system, start by saying hello.  If you open up a conversation and show genuine interest in what they’re working on, it will be far more likely that they’ll be genuinely interested in what you want to sell them. ​

DON'T: Send a Form Message with a Link to All Your "Friends"

When I say Start with Hello, I don’t mean a message like this.

“Hello! How are you? I hope you’re well. It’s been a while since we talked, but I just wanted to let you know about this movie I just finished called I’ma Spam You! If you could check it out via this link below, I’d be super greatful”

https://imgflip.com/i/23nduh

Doing that is more likely to lose you connections than convince people to buy your content.

DO: Know Who You're Talking To

Are you reaching out to someone you went to High School with?  Maybe you haven’t spoken in years.  If that’s the case, you’ll definitely want to try to catch up before you ask them for money.  If you have powerful people on your social media, you should be careful how you approach them.  I’ve had people try to sell me their unproduced scripts on Amazon, then go off on a fiery tirade when I didn’t want to buy it.  They are now blocked, although a mutual friend said they were still looking for some of the services I offer.  Don’t do that to yourself.

DON'T: Try to Sell Your Movie to Someone Who Has No Reason to be Interested.

Someone you know who is incredibly christian, probably isn’t going to buy your body horror feature film.  Similarly, the goths on your friend list probably aren’t going to buy your faith based film.  Know who you’re trying to sell your movie to, and take note.

DO: Post Relevant Content to Relevant Groups

Maybe you’re putting some content into a filmmaking group.  If you are, you should make sure that whatever content you’re posting provides value.  The long and short of it is: Don’t post irrelevant content and expect people to engage with it in a positive manner.

DON'T: Be an Asshole

This point originally read Don’t be Spammy, but in a way the two are synonymous. They also both very eloquently summarize this entire article. If you’re not sure whether or not you’re being an asshole, then ask yourself the following question. “Am I being an asshole?” if the answer is anything other than “No” you probably are being at least a bit of one.

Thanks for reading! If you liked this content and want more, you should grab my free resource package. It’s got an e-book, lots of templates and money-saving resources, and it even sends out monthly blog digests segmented by topic.

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4 Reasons Niche Marketing is VITAL to your indiefilm’s Succes

Most people don’t plan to fail, they simply fail to plan.  Similarly, most filmmakers don’t think about anything other than getting the film made until the film is completed.  This is a prime example of failure to plan resulting in a failed project.  In reality, you should be thinking about your target market as early as when you write your script.  If this is your first film, you should be targeting a well defined niche.  Here are 4 reasons why.

Would you Rather Watch than Read?  Here's a video on the same general topic from my YouTube Channel.

Niche Marketing Gives you an audience for your film

I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your film is unlikely to appeal to everyone everywhere.  You’re much better off figuring out what parts of your story will resonate with various groups, and focusing your early marketing efforts on them.  It will put your film in front of the people who it will resonate most strongly with, and it will help you rise about the white noise that every content creator must face, especially when starting out. 

It’s also important to keep in mind that just because your film starts in a niche doesn’t mean that the niche is where it will always live.  If you properly utilize niche marketing, it can actually help you break out of the niche and into the more generalized marketplace. 

Niche Marketing Cuts down on your marketing cost

If you do think that you can target everyone, because your film is just that universally appealing then your marketing expenditures are going to be astronomical.  Also, you’ll be competing directly with movies like Star Wars, The Avengers, and whatever the next Pixar movie is.  Unless you’re a studio head, then you can’t afford to win that competition. 

Utilizing proper niche marketing efforts will dramatically cut down on your marketing expenditure since you’ll know exactly who you want to get your project in front of.  Thanks to social media platforms, you’ll be able to target those people directly using smart advertising buys and strong community engagement from an early stage.

Further, if you do break out of your niche, you’ll already have more noise being made about your project so the costs to market it will be much smaller.

Niche Marketing Can help you fund your film

If you start to get involved in niche communities well before you make your film, then you’ll have a community that you can mobilize to help you raise a portion of your funding through donation-based crowdfunding.  To be clear, if you simply post your campaign over and over to the various communities you want to support your campaign.  You’ll have to ingratiate yourself into them well before starting a campaign.

​The Reason that these people may well be willing to support your campaign is that many niche communities are underserved, and want to have their story shared. 

 They want to see more media made about their interests and themselves as a community.  They want their story told.  Many of them, are willing and eager to make it happen.  This brings us to our final point.

Niche Marketing Gives you advocates for your film

No Films can market themselves completely on their own. They need to get a core group of people to help spread the word. Niche marketing can be a huge help for getting the people who are most likely to be your strongest advocates onboard early. As mentioned above, they’re the people who care the most about your subject matter. They’re the people who will seek out your content and show it to your friends because they identify with it so much.

No one can create advocates, you must find them. The most likely place to find them is within the various underserved niches that have plenty of stories that need to be told. 

Thanks so much for Reading. If you like this and want more, check out my FREE Film Business Resource Pack! You’ll get a free e-book on the business of entertainment, a set of highly useful templates, and a whole lot more. Check it out below.

The 9 Ways to Finance an Indiependent Film

A lot of Filmmakers are only concerned with finding investors for their projects. While films require money to be made well, there’s are better ways to find that money than convincing a rich person to part with a few hundred thousand dollars. Even if you are able to get an angel investor (or a few ) on board, it’s often not in your best interest to raise your budget solely from private equity, as the more you raise the less likely it is you’ll ever see money from the back end of your project.

Would you Rather Watch or Listen than Read? I made a video on this topic for my YouTube Channel.

So here’s a very top-level guide to how you may want to structure your financial mix. The mixes in the image above loosely correspond to the financial mix of a first-time film, a tested filmmaker’s film, and a documentary. They’re also loose guidelines, and by no means apply to every situation, and should not be considered financial or legal advice under any circumstance. This is just the general experience of one Executive producer.

Piece 1 — Skin in the game. 10–20%

Investors want you to be risking something other than your time. The theory is that it makes you more likely to be responsible with their money if you put some of yours at risk. This can be from friends and family, but they prefer it come directly from your pocket.

I've gotten a lot of flack for this.  However, the fact investors want skin in the game is true for any industry or any business.  Tech companies normally have skin in the game from the founders as well, not just time, code, or intellectual property.

However, if you’ve got a mountain of student debt and no rich relatives, then there is another way…
​

Piece 2 — Crowdfunding 10–20%

I know filmmakers don’t like hearing that they’ll need to crowdfund. I understand it’s not an easy thing to do. I’ve raised some money on Kickstarter and can verify that It’s a full-time job during the campaign if you want to do it successfully. However, if you can hit your goal, not only will you be able to put some skin in the game, and retain more creative control and more of the back end but you’ll also provide verifiable proof that there’s a market for you and your work. Investors look very kindly on this.

That said, just as success provides strong market validation as a proof of concept, failing to raise your funding can also be seen as a failure of concept. and make it more difficult to raise than it would otherwise have been. Make sure you only bite off what you can chew.

Due to the difficulty in finding money for an independent film, the skin in the game or crowdfunding portion of the raise for a director’s first project is often a much higher percentage of the raise than it will be for their future projects.

Piece 3 — Equity 20–40%

Next up is equity. This is when an investor gives you money in return for an ownership stake in the company. From a filmmaker's perspective, it’s good in that if everything goes tits up, you don’t owe the investors their money back. Don't misunderstand what I mean by this.  You ABSOLUTELY have a fiduciary responsibility to do your due diligence and act in the best interest of your investors to do absolutely everything in your power to make it so they recoup their investment.  If you do that, or if you commit fraud, your investors can and likely will sue the pants off of you. You’ll have an uphill battle on that as well since they probably have more money for legal fees than you do.

Also, you will need a lawyer to help you draft a PPM.  You shouldn't raise any kind of money on this list without a lawyer, with the possible exception of donation-based crowdfunding or grants.  In general, just remember that I’m a dude who produced a bunch of movies who writes blogs and makes videos on the internet. Not a lawyer or financial advisor. #Notlegaladvice #Notfinancialdvice #mylawyermakesmewritethesesnippets.

It’s bad in that if everything goes extremely well, they get a huge percentage of your film. So it deserves a place in your financial mix, but ideally a small one.

For a longer list of my feelings on this topic, check out Why film needs Venture Capital, or One Simple Tool to Reopen Conversations with Investors

Piece 4 — Product Placement 10–20%

Product placement is when you get a brand to compensate you for including their product in your film. It’s more common in the form of donations or loans for use than hard money, but both can happen with talent and assured distribution. If you’re a first-timer, it’s difficult to get anything other than donated or loaned products.

Piece 5 — Presale Backed Debt 0–20%

Everything you read tells you the presale market has dried up. To a certain degree, that is true. However, it’s more convoluted than you may think. According to Jonathan Wolfe of the American Film Market, the presale market has a tendency to ebb and flow with the rise and fall of private equity in the filmmaking marketplace. There’s been a glut of equity for the past several years that’s quickly drying up.

 That said, there are a lot of other factors that will determine where pre-sales end up in a few years. The form has shifted, in that it’s generally reputable sales agents that give the letters instead of buyers and territorial distributors. You then take that letter to a bank where you can borrow against it at a relatively low rate.

Piece 6 — Tax incentives 10%-20%

While many states have cut their filmmaking tax incentives, it’s still a very viable way to cover some of the costs of making your project. It is worth noting that the tax incentive money is generally given as a letter of credit, which you can then borrow against or sell to a brokerage agency. It’s not just a check from the state or country you’re shooting in. This system of finance is significantly more viable in Europe than it is in the US, but no matter where you plan on shooting it needs to be part of your financial mix.

Piece 7 — Grants 0–20%

There are still filmmaking grants that can help you to make your project. However, that’s not something that is available to all filmmakers, especially when they’re first making their projects. Don’t think grants don’t exist for you and your project, because they probably do, spend an afternoon googling it. My friend Joanne Butcher of www.FilmmakerSuccess.com suggests applying for one grand a month for the indefinite future, as when you do so you’ll develop relationships with the foundations you contact which can be invaluable for your career growth.

Grants are much easier to get as a completion fund once you’ve shot your film. Additionally, films made overseas are more likely to be funded by grants than those shot here in the US.

Piece 8 — Gap/Unsecured Debt 10–40%

Gap debt is an unsecured loan used to create a film or television series. This means that the loan has no collateral, be it product placement, Presale, or tax incentive. It used to be handled by entertainment banks for a very high interest rate, I can’t say who my source was on this, but I have heard of interest rates in excess of 50% APR. That market has been largely taken over by private investors loaning money through slated, which did bring interest rates down. Unsecured debt almost certainly requires a completion bond, which generally means that it’s only suitable for projects over 1mm USD in budget.

In general, you should use this form of financing as little as possible, and pay it back as quickly as possible. Again, Not legal or financial advice.

Piece 9 — Soft money and Deferments — whatever you can

Soft money is funding that isn’t given as cash. This can be your crew taking deferred payment for their services, or receiving donated or loaned products, locations, and anything else meant to get your film made. This isn’t so much funding as cost-cutting. It often includes donations or loans from product placement.

If you like this content and want to learn more about film financing, you should consider signing up for my mailing list. Not only will you a free e-book, but you’ll also get a free deck template, contract tracking templates, and form letters. Plus you’ll stay in the know about content, services, and releases from Guerrilla Rep Media.