by Carole Dean
Ok, you’ve got a great idea for a film. You’ve created a fantastic proposal and you’ve perfected your pitch. You’re next move should be to create a captivating trailer.
Now, you need a plan of attack because now you need to start raising money.
Your Mission to Get a Great Trailer Needs a Plan of Attack to Get Funding
As I mention in my book, The Art of Film Funding, 2nd edition: Alternative Financing Concepts, there are so many things to do when you start to make a film. You need to know the order of your priorities because they come at you from every direction. When you just work with these immediate items you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
You must have a fantastic trailer to make money. So, how much is that going to cost you? For a doc your budget should be around $10,000 and for a feature about $20,000. This must be your first and foremost goal, especially for a documentary, after you get your proposal and pitch to a brilliant level.
Alright, Now How Do I Get The Money?
Fiscal sponsorship is a great foundation to build your fundraising. I know because my non-profit, From the Heart Productions , specializes in fiscal sponsorship for filmmakers. We’ve helped them raise millions for their films.
Under fiscal sponsorship, you will align your project with a non-profit that will give your donors a tax deduction for the money they donate to your film. That means more and perhaps larger donations.
When filmmakers apply to From the Heart Productions for fiscal sponsorship, they’ve got a choice on how to get paid. We tell them that if their checks are to be made to them personally we must issue a 1099 at the end of the year for miscellaneous income. Or, they can get an LLC.
The LLC filing at www.ehow.com is inexpensive. You can get one online under $300.00. You can also get a DBA (Doing Business As) from the city you live in. It’s even less money. Both of these take about 4 to 6 weeks to complete.
You Mentioned Something About a Plan? Right?
1. Start by getting your bank account. Where’s the money to open the account? Try your mother or grandmother and tell them you need this to become an entrepreneur.
2. Now, you’ve got a film bank account and/or an LLC or your DBA, so you are a real company. Find a fiscal sponsor that you like, that supports filmmakers, will give you help, and be available to answer any questions you may have.
Did I mention that From the Heart is a great fiscal sponsor for filmmakers? Ok, maybe I’m prejudiced. But, it does fit perfectly the necessary criteria I just listed because From the Heart Productions was created specifically to help filmmakers get funded. We’ve done a really good job of that too for the last 11 years.
We are constantly putting information on our web site to help you raise money. We also review your proposal and your trailer and tell you the honest truth about your chance for success and we give ideas to improve what you have.
You really need this. You are out there in a vacuum and you need people who see hundreds of proposals and know what grantors want. This is where a thick skin is required.
I know from talking to hundreds of sensitive artists that we’ve fiscally sponsored or who’ve applied for our Roy W. Dean Film Grant that when you start telling them that their favorite scene in the trailer doesn’t work; most of them just grin and bear it. They don’t have to take my advice, but many do.
In fact many people just apply for the grant to find out what we think of their materials. That’s a very good thing to do. I recommend you apply for lots of grants and get feedback, that’s how you learn to improve your work.
When looking for a fiscal sponsor, say to yourself, “What’s in it for me?” Make sure you feel you are getting something for your 5 to 7% fee.
3. Time to start building an audience and network of potential donors. Facebook is a must to fund your film. Create a fan page for your film. Use their landing page to advertise your film and collect fans. Start a dialogue. Try out artwork, ads, and even ask for advice.
Use Google to search for organizations, website, bloggers, and forums on your subject matter. Post on these forums and reach out to the bloggers. Get information out about your project and send people to your Facebook page and web site. Try to get as many people that are interested in your subject to join your page.
Read my blog, Mining Your Audience for Gold as another way to discover who your audience really is.
4. Create a budget for the trailer. See the chapter on film budgets by award winner Norman Berns that I’ve reprinted on our website. Check out Norman’s site www.reelgrok.com and Maureen Ryan’s www.producertoproducer.com site for sample budgets for features and documentaries. Stay focused to get that brilliant money-making trailer made.
5. Set up your email names on an email marketing site. You want to stay in touch with your donors every other month by always giving them the latest and greatest news on your film. I use www.constantcontact.com. They are very helpful. (work with a fiscal sponsor that already uses Constant Contact and you’ll get a discount).
Don’t think its way above your level to create a fantastic newsletter, it’s actually easy.
6. Decide how best to use your time. Morrie Warshawski, author of “Shaking the Money Tree” draws a circle and says you usually get 60% of your money for docs from people. So, how much time do you want to put into people?
If you decide to put 50%, then cut the pie in half and write PEOPLE. Next how much time to you want to spend on grants? Is your film a good fit for a lot of grants? If so, put 20% GRANTS. How about Corporate donations? What amount of time do you want to give that? Put it on the chart.
Letter writing is a brilliant way to get money. Funding parties can bring you people to support your film and money. Chart it out and tell yourself what you will do with your time. If you are making a feature then you know it’s 100% from people. I don’t always recommend a trailer for features for many reasons.
7. “What’s in it for me?” Crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo have shown us how much people will give if they get something back. We always knew it was all about, “what’s in it for me” and they are using that gift to the donors to raise tons of money. So, think about what you can give back to your donors and put it on your web site and your Facebook page.
Example; an Indian man I know was making a film called Bollywood to Hollywood. In our brainstorming session, he revealed that his mother and brother are excellent cooks. So we set up a price for him to come to your house and cook an authentic Indian dinner for 6 people. Use the idea of your film as much as possible and create gifts around it to make people want to gi ve you the larger checks.
8. Now you need to collect some sponsors and partners for your film. This means you look for nonprofits that are supporting your same issue. Kitty Farmer was making a film on the healthcare, or lack of, that the US Government promised the American Indians. She calls it her circle of partners. She focused on this for several weeks and each day got on the phone and pitched her film to like-minded organizations and she came up with 20 organizations who want to support her film.
How does this help you? Well, if each organization has 2000 members or more multiply that by 20 and now you have a large data base of people who care about your issue following you. Your job is to keep them informed with your newsletter or email blasts of the status of the film while you are making it. Your real support will come when they can see some of the content of the film and fully support you. Always list these names on your grant applications and on your web site as strategic partners.
Finding these people is easy. Start with some of these nonprofit web sites like www.guidestar.org and www.councilofnonprofits.org for the subject matter of your film. Each organization has instructions on site to help you. Then, get on the phone and pitch that brilliant money making pitch you created.
You want them to know you are making this film and usually the first contact is to introduce yourself and tell them about your film.
Remember, they don’t know you from Adam and this is your first contact. They don’t need you, you need them. At this point only ask if you can keep them informed about your film as you make it. Once you have a trailer to show them then send that and keep your contact going until they learn more about you and trust you. Then they will put you on their web site and mention you in the newsletters, etc
9. Now you need the money to make the trailer. Your platform is set, you have a bank account, a pitch and proposal, sponsors, web site, Facebook page, perhaps a blog and you have people connected to you and your film. That’s perfect.
Review your time table telling you how much time you want to put into each area of fund raising. You may want to focus on the PEOPLE section first. Decide if you want to call people to donate to a yard sale, create a funding party or a dinner funding party or do a letter campaign. Make plans, set dates for these events and start your first funding adventure.
10. You may want to listen to my online information on Manifesting and creating your future at www.fromtheheartproductions.com it’s very important at this phase to be able to receive. You want to be sure that you are functioning at the highest level possible and as Dr. Chopra would say that you must know there are “infinite possibilities” waiting for you.
11. Before you shoot anything for your trailer, I recommend you have a consultation with a trailer editor and find out just what he/she advises you to do to get what you need before you go out to shoot.
12. When you shoot your trailer you will have an outline of just what you want before you shoot. After your trailer editor is finished, add this trailer to your web site and post daily about producing the trailer in your blog.
Consider creating a 90 second trailer for sponsors to put on their web site to send people to your site. Now you are really networking. Remember the people reading your web site and blog don’t know that filmmaking is 90% hard work and 10% filmmaking. So dazzle them with production information so they keep coming back to your site or Facebook page. Then tell them where you are now in the funding process and make another “ask” as you need more money.
13. Look for development money from places like www.sundance.org or http://www.thefledglingfund.org or www.chickeneggpics.org and go to the back of the book for a list of funding organizations.
14. Celebrate you have just reached your first milestone. The rest can be a piece of cake.
Remember, it’s the journey not the destination. Enjoy every moment.
Carole Dean is president and founder of From the Heart Productions; a 501(c)3 non-
profit that offers fiscal sponsorship for independent filmmakers. She hosts the weekly podcast, The Art of Film Funding, interviewing those involved in all aspects of indie film production. She is also the author of The Art of Film Funding, 2nd Edition: Alternative Financing Concepts. See IMDB for producing credits.
