When I was younger…I didn’t want to be pigeonholed…
Basically, now you want to be pigeonholed. It’s your niche.-Joan Chen, actress from “The Last Emperor”
Here is how the mind of a “creative filmmaker” works most of the time. They have this idea for a film that they think is the best idea ever conceived. Since this is a “passion project” for them; they decide to become the producer, the director, the writer and even the actor. They only plan to shoot the film, they get in debt to shoot said film and the only distribution plan is to submit it in film festivals where they will be “discovered.” Odds of that being financially successful? Less to 3% according to Jeremy Juuso author of the book “Getting the Money: A Step-by-Step Guide for Writing Business Plans for Film.” For the sake of simplicity and to getting to the point, here is the reality of things expressed in a mathematical way.
Low cost of filmmaking gear≠Writing, Producing, directing, marketing, distributing all by yourself.
Hence why I cringe every time I hear a creative call themselves Producer/Director/Writer/Editor. That usually means that the latest film they produced is collecting dust or they are massively in debt trying to distribute a film that will more than likely never turn into a profit for them. Today we are going to cover the steps that need to happen to increase the small odds of success.
Don’t do it alone
This will be the most important step that you must hammer it down on your mind with nails; put on several bulky objects like safe boxes, anvils and piano’s to make sure it never leaves your mind. Writing a script and directing are hard enough as it is. Concentrating on making business plans for films, raising funds, marketing, etc… is a daunting process. Studios have whole departments and an army of people at their disposal to manage these. Who ever gave the idea to filmmakers they can DIY the whole process? While they are certainly exceptions which I prefer to call them “anomalies,” the odds are low. Still don’t believe me? According to Mark Gill; president of Millennium Films which distributed the Sylvester Stallone hit “The Expendables”, the odds of losing all your money on an independent film at 99.95 percent. Most of those 5,000 movies, in his words, are “pre-ordained flops,” made by people “who forgot that their odds would have been better if they’d converted their money into quarters and taken the all-night party bus to Vegas.” By the way this does not mean grabbing a friend so he can be the producer of your film, this means searching for a producer with a at least a bare minimum of short films under his/her belt. Surround yourself with people that know what their doing.
Identify the audience
Who is going to watch your film? Even the Hollywood studios don’t cater to everyone. Their marketing is precise and specific most of the time. They divide it by genre, sub-genre, age and sometimes even location. I encourage anyone to read boxofficemojo.com to get a better understanding of why identifying your core audience is important. This is called niche marketing which by definition is finding a segment of the general market for a service or product line.
Approach groups interested in the idea
Once you have established a niche market you will proceed to connect with them to see their reaction towards your movie idea. For example, you wouldn’t approach an evangelical group to talk about your awesome idea of making a Marilyn Manson movie wouldn’t you? You would approach the alternative metal crowd and try to raise funds from them. Similarly you would approach the evangelicals with christian movie ideas like Fireproof and Courageous and raise funds plus direct your marketing efforts towards them.
Make your film
Only when you have raised the funds for your movie using the method of your producers choice is where will you get actual validation that there is an audience for your idea and that you will likely turn into a profit. Just make sure it’s a low budget movie and that a marketing plan is also taking into account when raising your funds. Who makes sure that gets done before shooting the film? Read again step one.
This covers the basics steps to follow when making and independent film. Soon I will write an article on how to assemble the best team to make your film. Until next time!
Tags: film, Filmmakers, your film
