Good morning, team!
While I primarily dwell in the Cinematography lounge and creative trenches, the financing side of production has always been a weak point for me.
My partner and I run a small indie studio here in North Carolina. We’re currently working with a local producer, but we’re still baffled by how films successfully secure financing, especially through crowdfunding. We’ve two, possibly three, projects on the horizon that will require funding within the next year or two.
I’ve run two crowdfunding campaigns in the past for my debut feature documentary, but both fell short. I ended up covering the remaining costs out of pocket—a lesson I don’t want to repeat.
For those of you who’ve successfully raised funds for your films:
What paths did you take?
What lessons did you learn the hard way?
What strategies—practical or creative—worked?
Any insights would mean the world. Thank you in advance!
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Good morning, Lindsay Thompson! I haven't done a crowdfunding campaign, but four things that get me to donate to one are a solid logline, a great short video, eye-catching pictures, and perks.
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Maurice Vaughan What kind of perks do you look for in a project?
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Lindsay Thompson DVDs, other merchandise, a signed copy of the script/just the script, and props.
Did you see this blog titled "Influencers vs. Investors - The Future Of Film Funding"? www.stage32.com/blog/influencers-vs-investors-the-future-of-film-funding...
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Lindsay Thompson, If you're looking for solid advice on crowdsourcing and crowdfunding for indie films, you should definitely check out Stage 32 CEO RB's book, Crowdsourcing For Filmmakers: Indie Film & the Power of the Crowd. RB interviewed hundreds of filmmakers to break down how to effectively engage your audience, build community, and leverage the power of the crowd to get your project made.
It's packed with insights and real-world strategies that are invaluable for indie filmmakers. Highly recommend!
Check it out here: https://www.amazon.com/Crowdsourcing-Filmmakers-American-Market-Presents...
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Thank you for that Ashley Renee Smith ! Very much appreciated!
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Lindsay Thompson For a deep dive into film financing by a professional film financier, check out this just one of many incredible resources available here @stage32 on the subject of film finance. https://www.stage32.com/education/products/6-part-advanced-film-finance-...
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Thank you Jack Binder !
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There are a lot of ways to try and find money for your project, but none of them are easy, and all of them require strategy, patience, and hustle.
Crowdfunding can work, but it’s basically a full-time job. You’re mostly tapping into friends and family, and it often doesn’t scale beyond that without serious marketing and community-building.
Grants are amazing, but they’re highly competitive and depend heavily on your subject matter, your background, and whether your project aligns with the funder’s mission.
Private investment is what most people think of, but people invest for different reasons:
Sometimes it’s a passion project, they love the story or the theme.
Sometimes it’s personal, their spouse or kid wants to act or produce, so you cast them and they bring money.
If it’s a straight business investment, the first and only question is: “How do I get my money back?”
And that’s the thing, if you take someone’s money, your #1 priority is returning it.
If you don’t, they won’t just avoid your next project, they’ll avoid film investments entirely. And that hurts all of us.
That’s why incentives and pre-sales have become so important, but let’s be real, pre-sales depend on cast, and attaching cast depends on relationships, credits, and trust.
There are no easy answers here. The truth is:
The budget of your film is not what you want it to be, it’s what someone is willing to give you.
I’ve heard countless filmmakers say “My budget is $1 million,” but when you ask why, it’s just what they think it should take.
Reality check?
If someone gives you $50K, that’s your budget. Make it work. Make it amazing.
Start small.
Make a $10K film that proves you can do it.
Use that to make a $100K film.
Build a track record. Prove yourself.
I’ve been in the industry over 20 years. I’ve had films distributed theatrically and internationally. It’s still hard to find money.
But it’s not impossible.
Be smart. Be strategic. Be relentless.
And most of all, make the best damn film you can with whatever you’ve got.
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This is gold Tony Armer! Thank you for taking the time to provide such a stellar answer. This is incredibly helpful! I appreciate your time.
Those budgets are not realistic for feature films and shorts have no return.
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Willem Elzenga 2 Thanks for chiming in! Get where you're coming from—budgets can be all over the map depending on scope, resources, and goals. For us, we’ve found that keeping things lean (especially in early projects) helps us build momentum, make connections, and grow sustainably. Shorts may not bring a financial return, but for us, the creative return and long-term value in showcasing our work have been well worth it. Curious to hear more about your experiences—what’s worked for you in terms of raising funds or scaling up?
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I developed a feature film with two bank loans, got a 7 figure offer by Sony for a part of the artwork. Than returned to Europe and spend my time doing photography and music making. That was a good ride, a lot of risk though.
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An absolute masterclass in a comment, Tony Armer! Thank you for getting so in-depth!
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Lindsay Thompson this is the multi-million dollar question, isn't it? I have funded a few documentaries through grants, but my features came about a bit differently.
My first feature was a combo of private equity and crowdfunding. The crowdfunding was a complete pain in the rear end, and I ended up having to match every donation so I could meet the goal and not lose the money. I of course got my money back but still...
The second film was funded through that unicorn known as PRESALE. I attribute it to having the right script, the right cast, and hitting at just the right time, when smaller distro companies were looking to get in on the front end of projects in an attempt to compete with how the big streamers were dominating the festival markets with big money offers for completed films.
For films three and four, we're approaching them with tax credit approval first, then an attempt to package with the right cast, and then go to funding entities who are interested in slate financing.
I wish there was an easier way to do this. Each time, it is like starting over because the rules and market demands seem to always change. That said, there are certain elements that remain the same.
1) If you're raising private equity, make sure your paperwork is in order. You are offering shares. Class-B securities. It's a legal offering and can get very complicated and messy without the right paperwork in the form of a PPM, subscription agreement and proper legal representation.
2) Transparency is of the essence with private equity. Stay engaged with quarterly updates.
3) Do your homework. Be willing to pay for genre reports through a service like The Numbers or some other entity that does this sort of work.
4) Allocate the right amount for PR and distribution materials. Don't leave this as an afterthought. I believe a good filmmaker always thinks about distribution first.
5) If this is technically your first feature, try to stay under the $200K mark. It feels like an random number but the smaller the budget, the better the chances for return. So if your budget is $200K, make it for $150K and save $50K for marketing/PR. Pretty simple equation.
Hope this helps.
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The cost for a professional production starts at $2 million. Everything below that is nothing else than an expensive filmschool production. And I'd like to add, that in every case, (whether the budget is 50k or 200k or more), it still is a lot of money for something that is not a real investment but a gamble. Better look into producing shorts with AI is my advice when your starting out.
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Michael Fitzer, MFA Thank you for such a thorough answer. That is wildly appreciated, and I will take those notes to heart.
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Willem Elzenga 2 That honestly reads like gatekeeping.
I’ve been producing projects for over 15 years—yes, mostly low-budget, and yes, always a financial risk. But that’s the reality for many independent filmmakers.
A week ago, I released a short film on YouTube that has already been accepted into five film festivals and has surpassed 10,000 views. No, it won’t return an ROI—but that wasn’t the point. I’m focused on building a body of work as a cinematographer. That takes visibility, consistency, and craft.
Suggesting that anything under $2M is “just an expensive film school project” dismisses an entire ecosystem of working filmmakers who are telling stories that matter, often with few resources and a lot of heart.
AI may have its uses, but as a DP, my job is to collaborate with humans. To light for emotion. To frame for meaning. That’s not something I’m outsourcing to a machine.
I appreciate your perspective, but I respectfully disagree. There’s more than one path in.
Lindsay Thompson I am not gatekeeping anything, I just think your route of building a body of work is a very expensive one and your idea on AI filming is rather simplistic.
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Well said Lindsay Thompson. I agree.
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Lindsay, what an important topic and such masterclass comments. I have made some important notes.
As a first-time film producer, we were fortunate but unfortunately it only took us only to production. We had to use our pre-production funds in production because of the deliberate delays on set and we had to reshoot the first three days of the film. As soon as the cast and crew found out that it is your first film then then will literally put your head on the block at an abattoir, they dragged the project so that they could get overtime and more days on the set.
Then the DOP saw the opportunity to experiment with the film and offered to head up postproduction. I tried every funding I could, crowd funding, government funding and private equity but the answer was a big "No" mostly due to my being a first-time producer. We had to share 50% of our shares to the DOP and the investor he brought on board to complete the film. The DOP and the investor were also involved in another film, so priority was given to that film.
If I had access to funding, then I would have handed the film to a postproduction house to complete, and my film would have been sold by now.
The good news is that I am in negotiations with a distributor now and hopefully the film will receive a great welcome by audiences.
It's masterclass information like this which will give us producers more confident to make better business decisions and hopefully make financing our films easier. There are so many paths to find your financier and the importance of Pre Sale agreement is pivotal to getting a financier or financiers.
I am now ready to start with my next project, a beautiful RomCom.