Financing / Crowdfunding : Frustration by Ian Buchanan

Circumstances: you are dealing with people who only deal with their in-group. Go indie, skip mainstream.

Do you mean independent film financing options? Such as crowdfunding? Would there be other considerations I could research in this regard

Occasionally, if they absolutely love the script, a name actor will agree to give you a letter-of-intent (LOI) which means they'll play a key role subject to your raising the necessary financing.

Thanks I’ll look into the LOI- I have a name (potentially 2 names) who would be interested in a role subject to such a stipulation

Sounds good, Ian. Ask their agents if they'd be open to giving you an LOI. Tell them that you're fully aware that it's subject to the obvious unknowns: Covid, their busy schedules, competing offers, etc.

Be a writer-producer. Put away your feature idea and make a cheap short movie with your own $ and people. That's how hundreds/thousands of industry folks begin paid careers - by making their own stuff first before they make feature movies with other people's money/corporate suits.

Ian - I'm curious, would talent not be willing to even sign an attachment agreement? It's usually one page and is SUPER flexible leading up to an actual contract.

Ooo, I like Erik's idea better! Yes, see if the LOI will work.

Ian Buchanan What you really need is seed capital to give an up front fee to the talent for signing on. You may lose that fee if you cannot put the deal together, but remember that if you have no skin in the game, everyone can see that and they are not overly impressed. The LOI is one way to go BUT LOI's are entirely unenforceable, and even so it really depends on the level of talent you are looking at. Many agents simply will not bother their client with LOI requests unless there are a number of things already attached. You have to look at it from their perspective. They know you are raising money on their name, which means they are by definition already providing you with value - they want to be compensated for that and they should be. If you cannot pull it off, there is the feeling that their name has been attached to a losing project - that is a bad thing for them, and understand that Hollywood insiders DO keep tabs on these things. There is no reason in the world why they should support your project without compensation - they had a dozen LOI requests this week and none of them has any money in hand, so... if you are one of a million coming with empty pockets, what do you offer them that is different and valuable? Now this depends on whether they are in A, B or C list... or D list... A list are highly unlikely to give you such a thing. Period. It's pay or play and if you are using their name to raise money, be prepared to give up a lot of control over your project to them in advance, along with an advance payment and a guaranteed payday, which you should be able to prove you already have in the bank. They know they are worth it, and they are. Lower levels, maybe the same attitude, or maybe an LOI can be obtained - it depends on where the representative thinks the talent is and where they think your project could take them. On the other hand, there are a number of actors who have always been willing to give an LOI out behind their agent's back, to anyone... like Tom Sizemore. I had a production assistant come into my law office literally 30 years ago with a bona fide 1-sentence letter from Tom Sizemore saying he would be in this guy's movie, if he could meet his agent's fee request and if he were available. Now that kind of LOI is totally worthless but it does get people excited.

Lawyer up/Tax accountant on your payroll. It is serious when you ask strangers for money. Do you have a business plan drafted to show strangers how you plan to make profit?

Hi Dan, I'm drawing up a budget at the moment, but I have made some good headway into multiple revenue options for the feature by tying in other transmedia projects related to the feature including an inventive way of exploiting the 3d assets created for VFX

Shadow - Your long dissertation on the shortcomings of an LOI are useful warnings and appreciated. However, you apparently missed the important qualifier I stated before my LOI suggestion. Here it is again "Occasionally, if they absolutely love the script..."

Erik A. Jacobson Correct, I didn't address that rider. Unfortunately, in the A-list and most B, C, Dlist, reps might be persuaded to accept a script if the project seems to have the right profile. But if the right money isn't already in place, they generally will still not bother their clients with the script, for the reasons I set out above. Getting their client paid over getting them cool projects is a standard term in agent agreements. If some $$ is there, there is a reason to look at the script. So we don't disagree. I think people should understand what it takes to get an LOI though, and depending on the level of talent rep you are speaking with, it takes guaranteed money somewhere in the pipeline.