Financing / Crowdfunding

I recommend this Stage 32 webinar on how to fund your documentary by partnering with brands. Deborah is an amazing resource. Here’s a list so you can check it out: https://www.stage32.com/education/search?term=Documentary&h=how-you-can-partner-with-brands-to-make-your-documentary

Great advice Sam Sokolow - as with a previous post, start with the subject and dive into those whom would benefit, appreciate, support the story/concept/cause/subject. Obviously grants in this area, however individuals, corporations, and philanthrapic organizations should be targeted, approached, and pitched. Don't forget the great resources @stage32 for creatiing your best pitch.

It does seem that as the majors cut back there is more opportunity for breakout indie films to gain traction in a market hungry for movies and television programming.

First, I am not a lawyer or accountant. But I have two businesses, one a DBA, the other an LLC.

Ask yourself if you need an LLC or would just a DBA do?

Two advantages of an LLC:

1) You can have partners, each with shares of the company.

2) Company money and personal money are kept separate in the event of lawsuits.

Cons:

1) LLC costs more to set up.

2) Also costs more to do taxes annually.

3) Any money you put in or take out must be done by all members in proportion. So if you have one partner and you each own 50%, you must each match when you put money in and when you take profit out. Might not be a bad thing, but it does make bookkeeping tricky sometimes.

If all you want is a company name and a way to open a bank account in that name, DBA would be simpler. You can switch to an LLC later.

FOR YOUR LOGO:

Make sure it looks good when reduced to the size of a coin. To me, yours looks like it has some thin lines that will get lost.

Thanks! Can run down to me more about what a DBA is and what makes it different than a LLC?

I formed (3) LLC's in the State of Texas. I used Rocket Lawyer. An LLC was approximately $300 to file. I also paid for Registered Agent Fees which was $111. They assisted with the EIN number. And I opened up my own bank account.

If you’re looking to save money on creating an LLC, I would recommend Legal Zoom as a resource.

DBA vs LLC:

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/dba-vs-llc/

Thanks, Jack Binder. And if anyone wants to get a great education in tax incentives and learn how to best work with them, I recommend Stage 32's Certification course on Tax Incentive Management taught by Wrapbook's tax incentive expert Ryan Broussard. Here's a link so you can check it out: https://stage32.myabsorb.com/#/online-courses/4419e088-54ce-448e-a9ee-c0...

So happy to hear Jeanette!

If anyone wants to join us - they can still do that. I’d be happy to share the recording for Session 1 so they can catch up and meet us for session 2: Sign up here: https://www.stage32.com/education/c/education-labs?h=advanced-guide-to-f...

You guys are too kind. Jack - happy to help you in any way :). Just email / message me direct.

We had six great sessions and today is our last day. We all spend a wonderful 6-weeks together, and I'm already planning the next level up class with Sydney :)

Thank you all for an amazing lab experience! Jeanette, your guidance over these past six weeks has been invaluable. I’ve just reached out to the group about the upcoming Level Two lab. If you're interested in continuing, please feel free to email me at edu@stage32.com!

I hope it's international and not just for persons in the UK.

Tom Lapke - the spicy Pharm approach seems much better than the mortgaged house. :~) ha ha join Lionsgate as a young man and learn the system sounds wise to me.

(or some other of the big name Film companies)

I find begging on street corners helps…well, a little!

When we were trying to make our first indie film back in '97, before emailing lots of attachments was possible, I needed 100 Xerox copies of our script, 100 copies of our business plan and 100 VHS dubs of our DP's reel to make physical packages to send out to potential investors. I socialized my way into the mail room at a big ad agency through a high school friend and struck a deal with the guy who ran the mail room - and the agency softball team in the ad league. I played 3rd base as an "intern" on the team and got all of my packages made, which I sent to 100 people I thought might support us with a deeply personal note... we raised enough money to get started. Not enough to finish the movie - it was a non-stop hustle - but it got us started. And the team lost by a few less runs than normal in my tenure at the hot corner, which was a great athletic achievement as well. Indie films always have to find a way.

One key to finding investors is to focus on the content of the film, and whom would appreciate it getting made. Follow the story...

Jack Binder - sounds right. It’ seems same for music projects also -> focus on the music, then the funding for it.

You're welcome, Eliah Miller. "Extremely Close Yet Awfully Far" is a unique title. I'll try to donate soon, and I'll share about your campaign on Twitter/X.

I've heard a good way to kickstart a campaign is with a launch party. I've heard of people renting out a bar, inviting as many people as they can (people who are stoked for you and want you to succeed), and then it ends up encouraging a lot of funding from the get-go. Since people are there to support you, they're more likely to fund higher amounts while at the party, everybody can see the number going up in real time, etc. Have you tried doing anything like this?

Thank you for sharing these insights and takeaways with us, Eliah Miller! If you're interested in writing a more in-depth blog post about this topic for the Stage 32 blog page, please feel free to reach out to me at blog@stage32.com and we can discuss that further.

Great share for the community, Eliah Miller - thank you! (please take Ashley up on her offer :)

Congratulations! Well done!

Hi Ryan - I just checked out your page on Kickstarter. What a cool premise! Perhaps you would get more engagement if you posted a video telling us more about the story (and demonstrating your production values). It seems like there's not a lot of info about the plot, characters and origin of the story. Sorry, I'm sounding negative. Been doing a ton of research 'cause I'm about to launch on Indiegogo. Cheers.

Just to add, once you have made X film, Y film and Z film the investment SEIS vehicle “XYZ films ltd” is done, you wind it up and share the profits. If you want to make A film, B film, C film, you set up company ABC films ltd to fund the next tranche. If your investors made money from XYZ ltd they can reinvest in ABC ltd.

Gregory Mandry Thanks Gregory, so, deep breath…if I want to create a Ltd company, that outlives HMRC’s time limit (3 years) what can you do? Do you have an umbrella corporation XYZ Films Ltd and then also set up another Ltd company for each film? Which then are dissolved an its assets shared amongst investors and directors? Sorry, I did say this was Film Finance 101!

Hi Geoff

Wheels within wheels, I run a limited company called “Production Company Ltd” if I want to make a film I start a ltd co called “Film X Ltd”.

This can be SEIS compliant and people can invest in this under the SEIS HMRC regulations. It is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to make the film and in this case it will be SEIS compliant, to receive SEIS funding. It’s a limited company so that it protects the parent company Production Company Ltd should it all go belly up.

Production Co Ltd can own or part own Film X Ltd depending on how you want/have to structure the ownership. It always used to be the case that to be SEIS compliant investors (I haven’t checked in a good while) were not allowed to have a controlling influence.

But you can introduce a third company “Film Investment Ltd”. This is an SPV that seeks to invest SEIS compliant money in film production in this case you would set the parameters of the investment: could be 1 film but can be a slate of films if agreed with the investors – this is a good option as it spreads risk over a number of projects.

You now have Production Company Ltd that can own/part own Film Investment Ltd and X film ltd. The purpose of having them all as ltd companies is to isolate the companies from each other. X film Ltd can bomb and make a loss, but this does not affect Film Investment Ltd going on to invest in the rest of the slate of films. All of the films can bomb, Film Investment ltd can go bust, but Production Company Ltd can continue to trade.

I’m not a film lawyer or an accountant this is just stuff I picked up along the way, so it is definitely worth seeking professional help, things always change. But, this is the general principle and reasons for doing it. Ultimately it is worth talking to a lawyer.

Gregory Mandry thanks again, Gregory. I did have an entertainment lawyer work on an option agreement last year, so maybe I’ll go back to him. It sounds from your example, that it would be a field day for accountants too, as each I trust, would need a separate set of accounts. Thanks for your help. It’s greatly appreciated. This week had been full of uncertainty and it’s good to feel grounded again. Cheers, Geoff

Always a pay day for accountants.