Many Filmmakers, like everyone else effected by COVID-19 are itching for some level of a return to normalcy.  Unfortunately, like many others think that there may never be a full return to normal.  It may well end up as a pre-COVID and a Post COVID period.  Similar to how the world changed before and after the great depression, 9/11, The internet, or World War II.  Societal traumas tend to leave lasting scars, and that tends to effect the market as a whole and certain industries in meaningful ways.  So let’s look at what one executive producer ..read more

Last week I laid out a glossary of general use film financing terms, but the blog ended up a bit too long and dense to be a single post.  So, I broke it into two.  Last week was the basics, this week is more of the next level, and focuses entirely on investment terms.  Some of these may seem tangential and unnecessary, however if your goal is to close an investor, you’ll need to thoroughly speak their language.  If there’s something you don’t see here, check out last week’s blog here. Capital While many types exist, it most commonly refers to money.  ​ Liquid Capital Money that can ..read more

A colleague of mine asked me if I had a glossary on film financing terms in the same way I wrote one for film distribution (which you can check out here.)  Since I didn’t have one, I thought I’d write one.  After I wrote it, it was too long for a single post, so now it’s two.  This one is on general terms, next week we’ll talk about film investment terms. ​ Capital While many types exist, it most commonly refers to money.   ​ Financing Financing is the act of providing funds to grow or create a business or particular part of a business.  Financing is more commonly used when referring to ..read more

Pretty much every filmmaker wants to find money to make their movie.  Unfortunately, many don’t quite realize that in order to raise the kind of money you need to make anything above a micro budget movie, you’ll generally need a lot already in place.  It’s something of a catch-22.  Investors need name talent to market the film, and distribution to make it available.  Distributors need name talent and a tested team to give any meaningful commitments, and name taken need to know they’ll be paid.  There are ways around all of this, but generally they require money up front.  This blog is about ..read more

If you’re a screenwriter, you have two options.  Produce it yourself, or option your work to a producer.  In order to option your work, you need to understand who is going to buy your movie.  Unfortunately, there’s more bad and incomplete information than there is good information out there.  Recently, a client of mine forwarded an email he got back from a contact in Hollywood who worked as a script doctor.  This email epitomized that bad information, so I thought I’d redact any contact information and publish it for others to learn from as well.  (I did check with my client first, and he w ..read more

Every filmmaker wants to see their work on the big screen.  However, given the state of the indie film theatrical market, very few filmmakers can pull it off outside of the festival circuit.  Especially for their first films.   It requires a lot of skill, and an idea that appeals to a wide audience, ideally an audience you already have an in with.  So how do you scale your films to that point?  Well, this blog can get you started. ​ In order to get a theatrical run for your film in today’s day and age, you need a distinctive voice, flawless technical execution, great writing, an audience ..read more

Last week we talked about the 4 major types of Media Entrepreneurship, so this week I thought I’d expand on the most common production company that my readers seem to run.  That’s the small production company that they hope to scale into something bigger.  Here’s why your production company is a small business, and how to  treat it like one so you can see it grow. 1. ACCEPT YOU HAVE A SMALL BUSINESS Film is both a business and an Art.  The two don’t have to be enemies, and work much better together.  For more on what I mean, click the related link below.  I have a different point to ma ..read more

Traditionally, when we think of entrepreneurs we think of Steve Jobs starting Apple in a Garage, or Jeff Bezos Traveling across country to raise funds while writing his business plan in the back seat of the car while his wife drove.  However, there’s more to entrepreneurship than that.  Entrepreneurs find new and novel solutions to problems by building organizations despite a huge amount of risk and uncertainty. Since this month is Entrepreneurship month on both this blog and the blog I run over at ProductionNext, I thought I’d start out the month with a little of an expansion of Film Ent ..read more

To cap off my first ever distribution month, I thought I’d talk a little bit about where Independent Film Distribution is heading.  Markets are going to be a big center of commerce for the film industry for a few years, but they’re going to continue to wane for the truly independent filmmakers, which means one of the biggest areas for entry for filmmakers is likely to go away.  With the fall of Distribber, and how Amazon looks like it’s going to scale back its filmmaker direct distribution programs there’s only one real path left for filmmakers.  That path is to build an audience that’s hig ..read more

It’s no longer a controversial statement that streaming has changed the whole game for independent film distribution.  It hasn’t been one for quite a while.  However, it is becoming apparent that not only has streaming changed the game, it might as well have become the game, at least here in the US.  That’s not really a good thing for indies.  Here’s why. Streaming has made such a vast library of content available people don’t need to buy movies. The biggest reason that Subscription Video On Demand streaming has engulfed the entire media landscape is that it’s put a giant library of fil ..read more