Financing / Crowdfunding : Finding salesperson? by Johan Bodell

Johan Bodell

Finding salesperson?

Hey! 

I’m part of developing a feature film and, we’re are looking into different financing options right now. One way to finance the film would be to sell product placement spots. Influencers will play a big part in the film and we’re gonna use them as actors and spokespersons to get a wide reach even if the film doesn’t get picked up by a big distributor.

Would it be possible to find a salesperson that can help us selling product placement spots in the film solely on commission on the sales? 

If the film gets funded, then the commission will be paid out. Before the film is fully financed no funds will change hands. Nothing gets made if it’s not funded.

If anyone is interested, know someone who might be, or have any other suggestions just let me know. 

We’re filmmakers and don’t know much about sales. So I instead of guessing I thought you guys might have some idea if this is possible and if so, what would be a good way forward send me an email: johanbodell (at) me.com, and I'll tell you more about the project.

Erik A. Jacobson

Norm Marshall & Associates does this for the studios. However, they have no interest in small players. You might try getting local companies interested if there's a direct relationship with your film, but you'd need some big names already attached to your project.

Shadow Dragu-Mihai, Esq., Ipg

In many years of experience, I find that product placement in indie productions almost never comes in money, and ALWAYS is a hard-sell, immediate opportunity, In other words, you are shooting this week and you have a name actor in a luxury car. You hard sell the auto dealership to provide the car and pay some money because this is their only chance to get their product seen with a name actor on-screen. Almost no one ever hands money over otherwise, and they might not hand money over even then. Also, those who would benefit from having their product in a film are basically purchasing a kind of advertising - those purchasers want to see results fairly quickly and seldom have the motivation (or the maneuvering space in their budget) to commit to things that may or may not happen in the future. That being said I don't see "commission" sales being a viable option - people have little practical ability to close a sale if the closing date is a moving target. So I personally would never ask anyone to put work into what is likely to waste their time unless I am paying them an hourly rate.

Doug Nelson

I've included product placement in the production of some shorts. It's never been for money. I recall using a craft brewing company's beer as a prop - for which they donated a couple of cases of beer for the cast & crew. I've done the same for a pizza joint, a small restaurant and a car company for letting us use one of their demo cars. I've never ask for, nor has anyone offered money.

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