Recently I’ve come across some interesting developments in
the industry. For one, Stacey Parks of
Film Specific noted from her travels around Europe that many investors say they
are having a hard time finding the ‘right’ projects to invest in. Her report
further indicates that, “there’s more money than we know what to do with
floating around out there looking to finance ‘Hollywood Independents.’ Quite a differing perspective from the myth
that funds are scarce and thinly spread across the ever-increasing numbers of
“in development” films. The problem
lies not with funds availability, but in successfully securing them. The apparent problem I’ve, and many others
have observed, is that filmmakers do not treat their projects as a business nor do they conduct themselves
in a business-like manner. I’ve said
this in previous posts: your film is a product that needs to be positioned as
an object to monetize. The investors and
financiers you are looking for have money, but they do not cater to panhandlers
looking for a handout. I want to
apologize for my bluntness, but I won’t.
There is really no excuse for not finding money to “get the job done.”
Even without investors and bank lending (which is next to
impossible, given the historically low or non-existent return on investment),
indie filmmakers have plenty of options for generating their own funds:
IndieGoGo, Kickstarter, and other Crowd Funding platforms. This is no big secret. All it takes is a seriously positioned
campaign worth paying attention to. With
passion and determination, this can be achieved by anyone. Even still, there are always new options in
development. Let’s say you create a
teaser to use as advertisement on Vimeo.
Well now Vimeo has the option of using something call the Tip Jar. Here viewers can show their appreciation and
support for a video by contributing tips towards whatever objective the
filmmaker has. I see this as another useful tool in campaigning for feature
length financing. And after the film is
completed, Vimeo now, as Kyle Rupprecht of MovieMaker.com writes, “enable(s) aspiring
moviemakers to earn money from the films and videos they share on Vimeo.” through
another new feature called Pay-to-View.
This is on Vimeo.
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“Hear ye, Hear ye!
The courts are now closed to
griping!”
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