Financing the UPROAR
There are many ways to raise money for financing a feature film. Unlike narrative films that are written and the screenplay presented to a potential investor, a documentary film is structured, not scripted and the "narrative" is really created from the footage during the editing process, which means—for fundraising, there’s nothing to sell, no product, just a concept.
Through experience, in general, I've learned it is difficult for people to visualize a concept of someone else's conjuring; whether it’s for a business, a planned special event, or even an interior designers plans for an apartment or house. Oh, you can describe aspects of the concept and someone may actually buy into the idea, but they never truly fathom it's entirety, or it's completeness.
And how can they, really?
The same goes for our documentary. Many supportive people are behind us on our journey to the silver screen, even motivating us. And we are approaching the financing of the film in a highly disciplined manner, so here we share with you possible ways in which we plan to bring our ideas to fruition.
Passion and Ingenuity
It’s incredible how many people Ric and I know in film and media who are talented, experienced, and who have advised us in a course of action for making the film.
After we decided to go forward with the project, we were told to produce something. We needed to show potential investors (and the public) what we could do with our passion, ideas and little else... So we did. We produced our little teaser for the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.
This little teaser of sorts gave us the opportunity to galvanize our ideas and present them in a fashion, to spark interest amongst not only our potential niche audience, but also the movie going public at large… Thank you Kate Walsh (Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice) for lending your support and voice to it!
A funny thing happened when we began showing it around. A journalist helpfully critiqued it, telling us—the only way to make it better would be to include clips from some of the interviews we've filmed.
It occurred to us, the journalist viewed it, and at face value didn't realize the movie hadn't yet been filmed; that the comprehensive teaser was just a tool we devised to encourage potential donors to pledge funding in order for us to shoot the interviews! But I digress...
Under Consideration
Financial vehicles we are focusing on for financing the CHARIVARI a fashion UPROAR film:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/charivari-a-fashion-uproar-film-style/x/1110547#/
Crowdfunding
This is our primary means of funding. Crowdfunding is a way to raise money, awareness and support for making a film and can even lead to securing a distribution deal. It's a means of funding that allows individuals to make their ideas a reality with the general public. It enables people with great ideas to raise the money they need, in return for ‘rewards’ or ‘perks’. The public can back your idea with pledges of money, and project owners can ‘thank’ their backers with rewards that reflect the money contributed.
Indiegogo is the platform we’ve chosen to use. It was “founded on the principles of opportunity, transparency, and action—anyone with an idea and creativity” and allows members of the public to support their project of interest. We also like that it allows us to communicate with our audience as we produce our film.
As a comparison, let’s use the Veronica Mars film based on the television series (of the same name). The filmmakers chose crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter and the campaign took more than a year’s planning; the groundbreaking funding effort ended up making $5,702,153 from 91,585 total backers for a goal which had originally only been $2 million. The movie was made from the most-backed campaign in Kickstarter's history at the time, and the film was funded entirely by fans.
The filmmakers tapped into the fan base of the show, and took a chance that they were passionate enough to want to be a part of the process to revive the characters on screen. Unlike Veronica Mars, we believe that our film—CHARIVARI a fashion UPROAR—will tap into the 30 year-pool of former employees, customers of Charivari, and fashion-forward individuals around the world at large.
Our “Support DRAFT” donation page
This is the permanent page for anyone inclined to help us fund our projects. Here, unlike any other online crowdfunding platform, is the place to donate directly via our website, we realize people invest in ambition, integrity, honesty, and passion… and we have it!
Personal Investment in the Project
Through our campaign or directly via our website (we realize people invest in ambition, integrity, honesty, and passion… and we have it).
Soft Money
This is a term where the investment is not made on the basis of the projects possibility to generate profit, and so the need for recoupment is not that big. Soft money comes in one form as subsidies (grants, loans) or various film funds. The other version of soft money is all types of tax credits or tax incentives, which vary by US State, country or territory.
Financing can also be categorized as hard money. These are all types of investments that have some sort ofclaim attached and includes a recoupment plan; where part of the profits go to co-producers and/or equity investors.
[This also includes the interest on a loan]
Pre-sales and Co-productions
This is really two topics in one. But basically, if we sell our movie cheaply up front through presales, and hook up with producers in other countries to mop up the soft public money. In other words, by co-producing you can take advantage of soft money not normally accessible to your production. This can work but is usually quite difficult to set up.
Deferrals
Get everybody to work and be paid later out of profits, if any. To convince everyone that in order to get the film made now you can't wait for investment. In exchange you offer up a percentage of the share of profit meaning that everyone's salary could potentially increase depending on the success of the film.
Commercial Investment
There are many opportunities to offer support for our project. Throughout our shoot, as producers we are responsible for providing cast and crew lodging, and are in need of production office space. In return for commercial investment, we offer companies:
▪ Inclusion of their corporate logo on the film end credits.
▪ Product placement is also an option within the film, or
▪ Being listed as a sponsor by partnering to fulfill logistic requirements.
Product Placement
This is an option, and can also be considered a commercial investment. It is an option where companies may increase public exposure for a product by having their brand strategically placed in a movie.
In our case, we'd be more than happy to consider the inclusion of corporate branding opportunities appropriate to the production; all in the name of telling our story!
Seeking Grants
There are film grants for every cause under-the-sun! There are grants for filmmakers making documentaries about women’s issues, LGBT civil-rights, investigative journalism, and animal welfare. But because in the documentary world grant money tends to be earmarked for films that address important issues, organizations awarding grants have an array of ideas about what exactly those are! It can be a needle in a haystack looking for organizations offering grants for our topic of film.
Remember, even after films are shown in theaters, they still have the potential to break even or produce a profit in DVD rentals and licensing deals, overseas markets, and through video-on-demand contracts we are able to secure. The final amount raised will determine just how wide a production net we can cast…
After all is said and done, and the film has been made and released—the revenues generated through ticket sales and licensing deals are usually the first used to repay any debts incurred during the production phase, then the repayment of an investor’s investment follows… After the investors get their initial investment back, the profits are shared out. Often, the split in the returns is pretty even between investor and producer (writers and director getting paid directly from the producer’s profits).
So if you’d like to join us on our journey to the big screen, we would be honored to have your financial support. Yes, there is a chance you can lose your money, a chance you will get some money back (not all of it), a chance you will get all of it back, a chance you will get all of it back and a good return too, and a chance this could be the next *‘Blair Witch Project’ which made millions.
*D-Source Note: The Blair Witch Project film had a budget of only $60,000 and had a final worldwide gross of $ 248,639,099.