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The Director’s Chair Issue #68 – July 18, 2006 (INDIE Film Financing)

INDIE Financing
by Wolfgang Wagenknecht

The holy grail of INDIE movie making has always been
financing because without money “nothing goes”. So how
should one do it? What I am talking about in this article
are INDIE productions with up $2.5 million dollar budgets,
please keep that in mind.

First, and that may disappoint some of you, there is no one
hard and fast rule, unless you live e.g. in Europe where
Governments have grants and will fund low budget movies.

There are a few considerations when undertaking the stormy
waters seeking money from private investors for your
production. When I made my first feature film I started out
with nothing but my script and the burning desire to get it
made.

We had my friend to produce, we had a reputable Line
Producer, myself to direct, and the “package”. With that we
started to contact people we knew, or have been told, wanted
to invest into an INDIE movie. It was a trial and error
process and sometimes frustrating, but eventually we found
our two investors and the production was financed within a
couple weeks. What did we learn, and what should you do
before approaching a serious investor:

It all starts with the script, a solid professional package,
your team, and talent attachments if you have any. The more
you have done your home work on the package the easier it
will be for an investor or production company to say “yes.”

Try to surround yourself with more experienced people and
create momentum “positive energy”. Have your production
attorney available to take calls from investors if needed,
he is one more piece in the puzzle to make investors feel
comfortable if they want to talk to him. The key word here
is to anticipate, and be ready for what investors might ask
from you. Make a check list prior a meeting so you wont get
“caught with your pants down”. You only have one shot, first
impressions count. Be over prepared and know about the movie
business so you can talk with confidence.

Your goal must be to make the investor(s) feel comfortable
to entrust you with their money!

Don’t talk art and artists fighting the evil powers of
commerce. Talk dollars and sense. Network and find out who
might be a potential investor(s) and pursue the leads. Many
of them will turn out not to come through. It’s a numbers
game, read up on the the “Colonel Sanders story”. Always
have a package ready to send out, or show if needed, “strike
the iron when it’s hot”.

Be professional when meeting a potential investor, remember,
for them it’s in investment opportunity, they are looking
for a safe and reasonable ROI, you are using other peoples
money. Investors lend you money to make more money, simple
as that. Be conservative when you give projections and let
them know.

Be realistic when budgeting, meaning, the script must fit
the budget. Always be conservative. There is nothing worse
to find out later that the budget doesn’t fit the script and
you need to go back to your investor.

If you are a first time director be polite and patient with
investors asking you questions, some may want to replace
you, stand your ground, and don’t get discouraged…
preservere. You are being entrusted with a lot of money and
investors have the right to bombard you with questions.

Wolfgang Wagenknecht
Wolfpack Pictures LLC.

———————————————————-
Wolfgang has written several screenplays, one of which he
has directed and helped produce. He is presently finalizing
domestic and foreign distribution with two very reputable
distributors for that project. He is also currently
packaging another script of his for funding, which he is
attached as director and producer. Wolfgang is available for
the right project to direct, or produce. Wolfpack Pictures
is based in LA, USA mailto:wolfpackprodla@aol.com.

Wolfpack Pictures LLC. has distribution contacts for U.S.
domestic & International territories. We can act as sales
agents for productions we feel are suitable for the
distributors we are dealing with. Producers with completed
feature length movies and/or documentaries, including
trailers, please contact us with synopsis and nature of
production.  mailto:wolfpackprodla@aol.com.

Copyright (c) 2006 Peter D. Marshall / All Rights Reserved