How to start in the film business offers new filmmakers a great way to easily begin their filmmaking careers. Learn from the pros and reduce your risk of error by following this film business advice.
How to Start in the Film Business Part I of our course covers:
Starting in the film business
First time Producer
Know Your Movie Market
Build a Film Team
Movie Company set up
Create a Business Plan
How to Find Investors & Raise Money for a Film:
How to Get Into the Film Business
If new to the movie business, first get some experience.
Volunteer to be an extra on a movie, even if acting is not your ultimate goal.
Sign up with a local student film, at a local college or go online to find local films in production
Observe, learn and absorb anything you can. This is great experience to have on your film career resume.
Attach yourself to those with industry experience and contacts
Once you have a great script, make sure you own the rights to the script
Register it with WGA (Writer’s Guild of America) and ensure it is copyrighted.
Meet with a local attorney and figure out how to offer them something in return for legal advice. You can offer them partial ownership of your movie and/or producer credits.
How to Find Investors & Raise Money for a Film: Importance of Knowing the Market for First Film
Quentin Tarantino worked at a Video Store and this was a large part of how he knew which movies were sold and successful.
A genre that translates well globally is horror and suspense. Remember, your first film is not always the one about which you are most passionate.
The most famous directors and producers saved their best film ideas until they were already famous and successful, after they learned how to make a movie.
Finding Investors & Raising Money for a Film: How to Set Up an LLC or Corporation for a Film Production Company
Filmmakers gain a huge advantage when they start a film production company. This process allows them to pursue equity-based crowdfunding for larger sums across a wider base of investors than just typical donation-based crowdfunding. It also helps to protect your film, management team, opens additional financing opportunities and makes your projects far more appealing to film investors. You will, of course, need to secure legal counsel to pursue this path, however, here is a high level overview of some of your options.
More Tips on Setting Up a Film Production Company
You want to protect your investors’ money, yourself and the film.
Corporations such as LLC or S-Corp provide this type of shelter in case anything goes wrong before or during filming.
When learning How to Make a Movie, key Business Plan items include:
Risk Disclosure,
Script Synopsis,
Company Management and Organization,
Director and other Key Production team members,
Business advisors
Industry overview
Top Sheet and detailed budget
How the investment is structured and most important, how the money will be returned to investors.
FilmProposals Business Plan Template will save you days of time and thousands of dollars creating the best Business Plan.
It includes pre-written and formatted:
* Confidentiality Notice
* Film Investment Risks
* Executive Summary Format
* The Company and Sample Management Biographies
* Complete “The Industry” description about Independent Film
* Example Investment Opportunity Description
* Example Financial Notes and Descriptions
* Example Distribution Strategy
