Hello lovely producers! I am currently working on a business plan and doing some market research for a short film a few of my friends and I are making. I was wondering where you find most financing comes from. Theatrical releases? International sales?
Would love to know your thoughts.
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No money in shorts unless you win an Oscar or some prestigious festival and sell it to a streaming service. Ive Never paid to see a short movie at a theater. Ever.
Generally, Short movies are just auditions; a job application. My college classmate spent his own money (credit cards, family, working shitty jobs, eating .50cent ramen dinners, saving $), made a short which got him hired to direct a B movie, lead to a DGA union membership and full-time career as a director
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Financing? It comes from you and your friends. Each of you pony up $500 - $1,000, and go make a good one. No one invests in short films. So go for it, and use it as a calling card to open doors!
Thanks @Dan MaxXx and @Lindbergh E Hollingsworth. I guess my question wasn’t so much about the short making money as it was about feature films. I am more curious about where you find financing comes from at markets etc. and what avenues distributors take or you take directly
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Matt Ip Shaw dunno, never made a theatrical feature movie. I did work for one Hollywood producer; he partially financed a feature by selling his house. The movie was a flop, he was homeless and his wife divorced him.
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For features, it used to be you could get some money (pre-sales) from the individual territories, and then use this to help finance a movie. Not anymore. Or if you have an a-list director and name talent you could get a 'minimum guarantee' (MG) from a distributor, and then use this to get debt financing from a bank that will loan you the money against the MG (because the MG would be paid to them first; debt equity is always paid first). The avenue I take directly is to call up the studio-distributor when helping to sell a completed feature film.
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Matt - there is NO money in making shorts; period. Making shorts is all I do now - it's my personal hobby now that I'm retired. I'm striving to make an Oscar winning short because I'm a quality freak and I enjoy helping young folk discover potential employment opportunities that feed their right brain creativity. There ain't NO money in it but there's lots of satisfaction for me.