Film Finance For Beginners

Let’s assume that you have a great script, know many people in the film industry, and still can’t your project off the ground. What can you do about it? What’s stopping you from going to the next level? If you are like most aspiring moviemakers, you have produced your promos/trailers, worked the film festival circuit, attended film finance conferences and talked to anyone who will listen to you -- and many people have shown a tremendous amount of interest. Yet, they do not want to put their own money into your film or do not want to open the door to people who might be willing to put money into your project. When I started financing independent films, I relied on moviemakers to present me with terms and conditions, which I could not validate in the market. As a result, I did not know if the deal was good or not. In many cases, I did not get good deals. In fact, I lost a lot of money. To date I have financed several independent films and one dinner theater. None of them has made a lot of money. Do I consider that a failure? Absolutely not. My dad always told me, “You’ll have more losers in life than winners.” However, to stay in business, your winners have to cover your losers. As a