Financing / Crowdfunding

Congratulations on getting another illustration job, Rich Terdoslavich!

"With a script and visuals at hand, you have a good shot of financing/crowdfunding your film." You're right. I'm more likely to donate to a crowdfunding campaign if it has visuals.

Visuals can help writers, directors, etc. pitch their scripts too. I design posters that help attract industry professionals to my scripts, and I've thought about getting pictures designed for my pitch decks and treatments.

Thanks, Maurice. It seems to be happening a lot to me. Just got a client for an illustration job, similar to presentations and pitch decks. I enjoy working with filmmakers and clients, the creative process. That’s great that you do poster designs on your presentations. Again, if you need pics for your pitch decks and treatments, you can message me. Enjoy your day and talk to you soon

You're welcome, Rich Terdoslavich. Thanks. I'll definitely keep that in mind. Enjoy your day too. Talk soon.

Wishing you lots of luck on your project, Philip. All the best.

Rich Terdoslavich Thank you, Rich!It's always a rough road to travel on.

Nike can be tough to navigate - I developed a project with the Jordan brand a few years back and Nike was always the biggest hurdle. Heidi O'Neill is the President of Consumer, Product & Brand at Nike and her team may be the best place to start. Their main office number is (503) 671 6453. Wishing you great success with your project.

Thank you Sam! Much appreciated!

Daniel Hellman Product Placement has always been a strange animal is the film industry because the products we wish to place in our film are supposed to help out both entities. However, the product producers seem to think their products are more important than the film a producer wishes to place them in.

In every negotiations there is always a balance point where what is given is equal in worth to what is taken. That is the universal law of balance where both sides produce gain by their association. However, this law of universal balance is at a complete imbalance in the film industry. The Haves are always trying to screw the Have Nots by taking the creation of the Have Nots and usurping it as their own. They do not want the Have Nots to become Haves because their function will diminish and soon they will be the Have Nots without the imagination to become Haves again on their own merits of creativity. If you were able to follow that, you're definitely a Have in the making.

It's the same with product placement. They would rather spend more on a big budget film to show their product for whatever few fleeting seconds they bargained for rather then negotiate a more budget friendly agreement for possibly more screen time. Ultimately the effects of product placement, unless the product itself is essential to the story, is mostly gone unnoticed.

Look for smaller deals from lesser known brands. I normally bet on my material to do what it needs to do without relying on product placement. Let them make their own commercials plus if they happen to piss off the general public with woke nonsense, the audience won't take it out on your film by ignoring it.

Glad to hear global film and television production increased substantially, Jack Binder! I understand the appeal to film internationally, but I hope states are able to keep productions in the US, especially because of the wildfires and other industry hardships. Tax incentive is a huge factor. I think cutting budgets for US locations will help keep productions in the US, and I think more demand for US-based films and shows will help too.

Maurice Vaughan Very good points. Likewise hoping this continued expansion to overseas production does not cause harm to US teams and is reduced. Many productions will continue to shoot here due to cast, ATL, other demands. Likewise it is not always cheaper to relocate offshore and filming locally makes more sense. There is a push by Los Angeles to keep filming in California and I think we will see more of that as a backlash to keep productions home.

As one's budgets grow, the need for international exposure is essential. While it never hurts to draw in revenue from international sales, smaller budget productions under $2M should just focus on US domestic revenues and only look to international sales as a last resort or a secondary direction after a degree of success is established in America first. If you can't sell 5,000,000 tickets in America, you did something wrong. 5,000,000 tickets is only 1.47% of the total population of the United States. Even if you cut that by 2/3. for and "R" rated film, you need to sell your movie to 4.45% of the 1/3 of the population of the United States

There are a lot of opportunities all over the world. Balance your goals with your resources. Don't ask for more than you need and hopefully savvy investors will find you and everyone can profit from the union..

RB posted a great piece earlier on a new proposal in New York State to expand their tax credit and include $100M annually specifically for indie film, which is awesome. Production is expanding all around the world as well as in the US and states need to compete - but not just for outside production, but also building up their local filmmakers.

DeNiro funded a giant sound stage in Queens two years ago. Just from my eyeball sighting, there seems to be more movie & tv show productions going on in my city. Not as much pre-covid 2020 but not as worse as year 2021 & 2022 with the labor strikes.

Anyways, praying the suits in charge dont send productions overseas to save $ on human U.S. labor but sadly, majority of tech/show business corporations are anti-unions. Gotta have heavy hitter creatives make a hard stance- even say no to their own productions if the Suits want to move overseas for cost savings. Supposedly director Todd Phillips said "F-no" to Warner Bros Boss who wanted to shoot The Joker 2 overseas.

Thank you for the article. I know of Simon but have never met him. Any information as to the complexities of a deal are essential to make negotiations move forward at a smooth pace.

This is a really useful piece. Pryor Cashman is a terrific firm. I'm book marking this to revew as needed and suggest everyone in my network do the same. Thanks, Jack Binder.

Happy Holidays, Austin Oneal Jones! Did you see this blog? www.stage32.com/blog/influencers-vs-investors-the-future-of-film-funding...

That's a great share, Maurice Vaughan. I also suggest checking out Michelle Alexandria's webinar on raising initial funds for a feature film - she's an amazing resource and wealth of knowledge - here's a link: https://www.stage32.com/education/products/first-money-in-how-to-raise-d...

One can easily see how badly the AI generated images keep warping and morphing as it goes.

Also, there is no sense of accomplishment, goal, theme or purpose depicted in a whole long list of nearly stationary scenes.

This proof of concept captures the ambiance of the theme of the project and I can see a gritty dark beginning ending in an optimistic and brighter ending. Don't know if it's animated of live action and don't know what the target budget is. An injection of a little bit of specific philosophies or emotion would enhance what you have already.

This is great advice, Jack Binder, and the clear picture of current global demographics super helpful. Viewing habits continue to evolve making predictability a bit easier in the older demos and less so in the under 20 demo but content will always be king and knowing where, and how, your intended audience will find and ingest your work is so important.

Thanks Sam Sokolow - I would venture a non-educated guess that the cinema youth market is under-served viewing the above metrics. This might account for the migration to YouTube, away from theaters.

Jack Binder While certain age brackets do have their own unique learning curve, this being a worldwide overview of population ages, this can't possibly be a constant meter as to how to judge a target audience. Every region of the world has its own environmental and cultural parameters as to how their residents view the world. Certain genres can be immune to this variety, but it makes more sense to figure out your primary region and then craft your work to entertain as many as possible specific to that region.

Too often the film industry hinges its projected outcomes on flawed and lazy data. Saying this star has so much draw depends entirely on the genre. Some stars can weather that as well, but nothing is a constant in this industry.

It's all about making extremely excellent entertainment that is loved and rewatched by a lifetime of the movie audience.. Throw in all the stats you want, but if your film is a "one and done" viewing, all the data in the world won't calculate to a winner no matter what fantasy numbers you punch in.

Your project sounds very cool

Tell me, Sydney, can I get a Producer to finance Malibu Sunrise? You can read my screenplay without committing yourself to produce it; I will attach it to your email address if you request it. I have written the screenplay myself and I'll direct it. I can direct the 35mm feature film for one million dollars!

Sara Elizabeth is the best - such a geneorus educator and experienced producer - I cannot recommend this lab enough for anyone looking to get their film financed. When you need to do work like this, learn from an expert. Flagging for my network. Thanks, Sydney S!

Thank you, Sam.

All you have to do is request my screenplay and I'll attach it to my email back to you. If you like it, you can Produce it, and I'll direct it, shoot it, and edit as well.

Great article, Sam Sokolow! I'm glad to hear the global movie production market size is estimated to grow so much and the growing popularity of global box office is driving that growth! Filmmakers should definitely think globally. So should screenwriters and other creatives. There's other important things to think about and talk about in the article, like film piracy and VR and their impact on the industry.

Interesting statistics and very good news for the worldwide production sector. I think "movie production market" requires a proper definition as it is not a term I am familiar with, which doesn't mean much, ;) (does that include all soundstages, for example?)