Financing / Crowdfunding : Have Investors Invest In Your Confidence by Philip David Lee

When it comes to finding funding for your project, what it really boils down to is what can you live with? The standard Return On Investment deal is 120% of the initial investment and 50% of net profits. It really doesn’t get any easier than this and if creators could just deal with investors there would probably be more successful independent films being produced instead of the bottomless money pits Hollywood seems to release every year.

However the independent filmmaker has to go through a Dungeons and Dragons game of middlemen. Now I have an action/thriller film with a $1.5M budget and a worldwide known actor extremely interested in the playing the lead. If I’m given the chance to present it to investors, at least they’ll get an idea of who I am and can make an educated decision. The people that know these investors though, they want their piece of the pie and they think their connections are worth 5% of the budget. $75K for what? That’s another day or two of shooting for a low budget production. That’s more than I’m paying myself to direct and be the writer of the production plus he wants $500 up front. $500 dollars to make a phone call? Where’s the phone? On the peak of Mt. Everest? Other than that, this persons adds no other value to the production.

Now I have faith in every move and contact I have that I can turn a profit with my project. Others will say I’m crazy or wrong because their idea is much better and has a better chance of breaking box office records. It all comes down to who is shoveling fertilizer or just piles of crap. It’s all is about the same, but how well is it being spread.

Do not let yourself be drawn down a path of useless spending. If you have confidence in your film project, let the data you’ve collected be your voice. I can answer any question any investor throws at my face. They might not agree with the answer because it might be a different path from the failed paths they have taken in the past, but that’s their burden to shoulder. The industry is changing and some people are afraid of change. Adapt or die. That has been true throughout the history of creation. It will never go away.

Be fearless, be professional, be confident, be entertaining and be genuine. Those are the best qualities to invest in.