Financing / Crowdfunding : Purchasing a list of film investors - good idea, or not? by Trisha Miller

Be careful about contacting investors directly unless you are certain that doing so is allowed under the securities laws applicable to your offering. Investment offerings generally cannot advertise to the public without meeting specific requirements, and individuals must usually first be qualified as accredited investors.

Thank you Dane, that's really helpful input, and much appreciated. The list I'm considering buying is from a company that specializes in "family offices" with lists of accredited investors, they separate investors by category of interest, so in this case, we would be purchasing a list of names of people who have indicated to that database company that they are interested in investing in "Film, TV, and Entertainment"...... I'm new to this, and trying to learn as much as I can, but my understanding from the database company is that the people on their list have been accredited and have given permission to be reached directly. I would just hate to spend the kind of money they want to get a list, and then have everyone on the list turn us down, so trying to get a feel for how successful others have been with this avenue for fundraising.

It probably depends then on how much you’re trying to raise and how compelling your business plan is for the film. Is there any name talent or a director attached? A negative pickup or another distribution deal? A solid plan for self distribution? Some other reason that the film will stand out as potentially profitable? If not, then maybe consider using an equity crowdfunding platform or a “friends and family” equity round to raise part of your budget first. It could be used to build up the film’s marketable assets and make it more likely to succeed if you need to look to unknown investors to raise more.

Thank you so much for this, Dane, it really is helpful! We're in early stages (pre-pre-production) but already have a director attached and an academy-nominated actress, and a VOD plan for distribution (and of course hoping for negative pickup) although no distribution deal yet. We've started our crowdfunding for donations, but our budget is ~$700k and we know we'll need investment funds to get to that total before production starts in a year. I'm hoping that we can get there if a database list is really a viable way to identify likely investors.

Trisha PM me. I have something put together that I'm glad to share for free. Both from tech side and film side. I also have a ET attorney who is well with TECH also, as well as a securities attorney on retainers. Let me know... nice to eMeet you too! On my tech side for my streaming network I'm offering Safe Notes, and on the film side, typical stuff.

Thank you Jose, I did PM you. :-)

Trisha Miller What Dane said; But also what do you mean by the list is "pricey"? Do you mean tens of dollars, hundreds or thousands. Because it seems rather sketchy to me that any such database outside of stock traders or promoters would be legitimately compiled and checked. And stock traders/promoters would not sell it to you, they would, if interested, want to be part of the transaction. Not saying it is bogus, but I am skeptical.

Thank you Shadow, I share your skepticism, when I first started researching how to find investors, most of the articles I came across said, in various ways, "there is no list of film investors that is real".... so when this source popped up I was wary and asked lots of questions. I'm still new to Stage32 so I don't know if it's okay to post the list source or not (moderators, if not I apologize and will edit this) but it's familyoffices dot com. They list all their available investor databases on their website, and while their website doesn't (or didn't) list one specifically for film investing, the person who answered my emailed questions insists that they do have one (for "TV, Film, and Entertainment"), they just hadn't listed it on their website yet. The cost starts at right around $1k for any individual database list (more if you want multiple lists), plus monthly ongoing costs if you want to keep a list that you buy 'current' with their updates. SO I know it seems silly to even ask because $1k is not - in the big picture - a lot of money to risk IF you are successful in raising investment, but we're so early in our project that I'd have to put it on my own credit card, so before I personally risk that, I thought I should ask if it's a good idea or not.

Trisha, I would guess that networking through your own connections and those of your director and cast would be just as likely (if not more) to lead to investors who will be excited about the project. One other idea is to put it on a film-specific site like Slated.com. If it scores well there, investors and others with connections to investors may approach you.

Thank you again, Dane, I've seen several sites for listing film projects to attract investors, but they didn't seem active, and didn't respond to my queries. I'll check out Slated and submit our project. Your suggestions are very much appreciated!

The problem with purchasing data (in any industry) is that it it can become obsolete very quickly. If you were going to fork out on prospect lists, you'd need to buy from a service that offered data cleansing as well, so that you knew the data was constantly being refreshed at point of source. I haven't checked out the website you mentioned, Trisha, but for me, charging more to keep a list refreshed with 'current' updates would be a red flag to me that suggests the company are prepared to provide you with data that they know needs refreshing (ie. a lot of it might be out of date).

I'll say this from my own experience - and I don't get any kind of kickback from this - by far the best film industry data source I've ever used is Variety Insight - www.varietyinsight.com - which, although pricey, won't cost you that £1k as far as I'm aware. Also - Stage32 used to have a deal with the service where you got a free trial with them for a short period of time, so it might be worth checking in with RB or one of the team to see if that's still running.

Even if you don't get the indie investors you seem to be looking for from Variety Insight, you will learn SO much about the industry - even down to which actors are worth more to your productions. It saves a lot of wasted time - I think I've said elsewhere in the lounges that it's like IMDb Pro on speed...

All the best,

Daniel

I agree with Daniel. Producers move around and the contact information changes. Do not spend a bunch of money on something you can research yourself for a much lower cost. Check out VIRTUAL PITCH FEST or ISA. A "pro" level membership on IMDbPro will show you everyone's contact, agent, representation, etc. Virtualpitchfest uses a cross referenced database, who is looking for what. Find producers who are looking for what you are selling. Since you are seeking "investor" funders, attach yourselves officially to the project. All the best.

Thank you both so much, Daniel and Hester....I appreciate your insights and resource suggestions.....I'm off to go spend time researching those!

Daniel Lyddon I find it fun to see that none other than VARIETY uses cheap retail off-the-shelf projects and royalty-free music for the marketing videos on varietyinsight.com... and use a free Vimeo page to stream it from...

Trisha Miller So glad you asked about this; I'm in a similar, all-be-it smaller, boat with producing my $20K Superman Fan Film. How is your crowdfunding going; have you had people reach out to you asking for paid services to "guarantee" backers?

Hi Kalond, well if I were producing a short film, I'd say the crowdfunding is going well, LOL.....but honestly we're nowhere near where we need to be for this project, which is why I'm pushing hard on getting investors. So far I haven't had anyone offer to 'guarantee' any backers (as a paid service or not) but then again, we have yet to gain anyone I'd call a 'backer' (big money), just small donors. That's why I'm trying to do some due diligence on buying a list, I've been warned that there are a lot of shady people in the world of data/list management so I'm proceeding with extreme caution.

Kalond suggests what used to be an Executive Producer role. It’s a good idea. This is someone who agrees to introduce a producer to third parties who may be interested in lending for, investing in, or in any other way financing a feature’s development, production or both. While not as often the case today, it can still work well if you have someone who can fill the role. Always have a written agreement defining expectations, compensation, etc.

Wow. What a fantastic question, and such a great thread with such valuable info! Thank you all!

Thank you very much Colette, your advice is indeed helpful and much appreciated! As mentioned, I've raised funds for shorts in the past, which wasn't too hard, this is my first time attempting to raise "big bucks" and needing investors, such a mountain to climb, LOL.....I'm so grateful to everyone for taking the time to offer suggestions and insights, thank you!

Hi, I purchased a list of so called superbackers for film fir a crowdfund. I wanted to see if it worked. Just £49 but guess what? not one responded.

I also went into lead generation in depth with a film company who used it several times to fund films under £1 million. So the lists in UK come from eg The Times newspaper readers and subscribers or The Guardian, etc ie more likely to be of high net worth which is a prequisite to investing. Then here’s the hard bit the lists cost 1,000 upwards for maybe 100. The known response is about 3-5 actually part with money out of that. Not only that but they employed expert sales people who know how to talk people into the sale and close. So the format below was about 5 years ago:

Tel call- chat them into receiving your shiny brochure- (this should have all the legal risks and info in , it’s about 10 pages) another call to answer questions and close- face to face meeting to sign and transfer. So 4 stages.

They only took investments of over £10,000. Another very Successful British co take little bits of over 1,000. Now the sales guys take 50% commission. You think you can do it yourself? Very hard compared to these guys and gals. Now the law has changed in UK and you are not supposed to cold call so not sure how that has changed things.

Yes some people will sell you lists supposedly having asked if people want to invest in film but I would make a deal if no one responds ask for another list and so on.

Nothing comes for nothing. I decided against it but it seems a lot of hard work and initial outlay and though those guys I know were successful I felt too unsure to do it myself.

@JaneSanger that's very interesting....sounds both similar in some ways and different in others to the process here in the US....it's too bad the UK outlawed cold-calling! I agree it's a lot of hard work, and some people are suited to it and others are not....I don't think I am but if we want to get this film made, I need to give it a go! Thank you for commenting, I really appreciate all input.

Trisha - I'm in your boat too with looking into the investor route as my previous endeavors have been donations. I think the key aspect is to have a solid distribution plan in place. MG from a distributor or more than just going VOD route. While it's good, it's not going to make you much money. Once you know that portion, you can go to any investor. It's not just doctors, dentists, etc. It could be someone that owns an oil change shop, etc. And like they said above, abide by security laws.

Best wishes with your film! By the way - what type of budget are you trying to raise?

Thank you Stephen, I appreciate the suggestion on getting the distribution plan in place soon, that's a piece that has yet to fall into place, although I have reached out to a few companies that do both co-production (which we need) as well as distribution (or at least helping to negotiate and implement the distribution part if they don't do it directly), but we've yet to select one to work with. Our budget is ~$700k (SAG-AFTRA Moderate Low Budget project) but if we have to pay a commission to a fundraiser, then obviously we'd need to raise more to cover that expense.

Think of film like any business. Investors want to make a return on their investment, or at a minimum, know that someone gave it their best and had every possibility to do so in their business plan. Same goes with film. A dream route would be to get into a prestigious film festival and get a deal from Netflix, or something, but that's a pipe dream.

You're budget seems really reasonable. Though, this is coming from someone who makes features for under 20k. Another route, try to cut your budget down to ULB (250k or less). Many times, film budgets have a ton of wasteful spending when things can be condensed. For example, less crew, catered food from local grocery vs. craft services truck, Air BnB vs. pricey hotel rooms.

Now, you have less money to recoup. Then do a crowd equity or see if you have enough friends / family to get you to that amount (as investors of course). Then no angry people if film doesn't do so well.

Back to distribution - you got to have a solid plan in place before asking / looking for money.

Hope it all works out for you Trisha. :)

Thank you again Stephen, your comments really are helpful.....I'll start focusing on distribution, and will revisit our budget with my producing partner - we feel like it's reasonable but I'm sure there are places we can do some shaving. I also really appreciate your good wishes, thank you!

Happy to help in any way. If you or your partner want to jump on a Zoom sometime, I'd be happy to share some tips to save money.

Have a good day!

Thank you again, Stephen - I'll keep that in mind! :-)