Comments on: Budgeting For Your Film In Today’s Marketplace

By: John

John — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:35:02 +0000

Stacey,

Great Post. I just got back from South by South West and what your talking about really resonates. Fact is the old distribution model doesn’t work anymore because of the web, piracy etc…

I’m involved with INCUMEDIA.com which is a business network for Creative Pros to find the projects they want, the staff and tools they need and the business partners to help get the there. We launch in a couple weeks but you can check out our fbook fan page here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/INCUMEDIA/107461872607618

best regards,

By: admin

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:49:52 +0000

Hi Parris,

They’re just not paying that much period….

Stacey

By: Parris Moore

Parris Moore — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:33:54 +0000

I think the neat thing about this posting is that he is going to distribute it himself, totally ignoring the distributors. His distribution story is as important as his budgeting!

What if a person makes his film for 1 million instead of 5 million, are distributors willing to pick that up? What is the “Price” or magic number, Distributors are willing to pay for Indy films.

What exactly is considered an worthy/Indy film anyway, meaning if I get Jude Law and 5 other stars in my film for 5 million, and it has a great story with a dynamite director, why would they not buy it and distribute it like any other film, or is it because I made it and not the studios, (because they just don’t want to spend the money outside of their system?). What I am asking is, if it is a really great movie will they still buy it! 5 million or what ever it cost! Or are they saying no to Indy filmmakers period!

By: Frank Casanova

Frank Casanova — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 23:04:36 +0000

While Variety and Hollywood Reporter are “clues” as to what the numbers are, I would not characterize them as gospel by any means. Heck, the numbers will even vary depending if you’re talking to the Director or to the Producer… They all have a different perspective and different motivations to disclose the numbers they release.
Another clue I just picked up this week from another producer is this: If the production company is a corp, etc. their annual reports must be on file and public record. With some investigation, therein maybe some valuable information.

By: Victor Brown

Victor Brown — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 19:36:44 +0000

This is great information Amy. For any industry, it is so important that we “show and prove” realistic sales projections in our business plan. We must all be willing to join organizations like Film Specific, purchase subcriptions to Hollywood Reporter and Variety, and sign up for search engines such as IMDB PRO, and ShowBizData.com. The competition for dollars is to critical for us to be “penny wise and pound foolish”. Setting a goal each year to spend something to develop our plan is wise. Regardless of whether it’s $200 per year for online subscriptions, or $20,000 a year for an expert to prepare a fundable, viable, and feasible plan for the production of an indie film, we need to use our own money (and/or friend and family money), to make sure our plans contain viable information. Believe me, investors are watching to see if we are investing in our own plans, and will know that we did, when they see the results of our excellent research.

By: admin

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:49:44 +0000

Hi, yes, I’m here

in terms of following what realistic sales figures are….

Sundance is coming up – be sure to follow the trades for what the acquisition prices are. Same with AFM that just past — I wrote several times about how necessary it is to follow the sales figures from a market like AFM. Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and Screen all print sales figures, acquisition prices, etc.

So there are constantly opportunities to find what realistic sales estimates and acquisition prices are, you just have to dig a little….

I also publish sales projections charts on my site Film Specific which I update quarterly. It’s one of the services I provide for my paid members and take the work out of doing it yourself:

http://www.filmspecific.com/members/department73.cfm

But this is definitely information you can gather on your own – I suggest following the upcoming festivals and markets in the trades: Sundance, Berlin, MIPTV, and Cannes.

Also of course I’ll be covering this in Distribution In Reverse program I’m teaching (referenced in this post) and going over specific projections and estimates based on my experience.

Hope some or all of this helps!

By: Miklos Philips

Miklos Philips — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:45:24 +0000

If you are a member of FilmSpecific you can get access to documents of reasonable sales projections at markets given your project genre/ A or B-lis actors attached, etc.

By: Ann Winchester

Ann Winchester — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:09:39 +0000

I totally agree, agree, and so HUGELY agree with both of the above remarks that I have nothing to add )

Except, perhaps, “Stacey are you there …..??”

By: Scott

Scott — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:41:02 +0000

I agree with Frank. It would be great if someone in the business would be generous enough to freely publish some sales info to use for benchmarking.

By: Frank Casanova

Frank Casanova — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 08:14:15 +0000

Totally agree with this very sensible business-like advice. HOWEVER, what’s always missing is the “Where” do find reliable information so that you can “Figure out what the earning potential of your film is FIRST”. That’s the challenge.
Few entities are forthcoming with that information for so many reasons.