Hello, beautiful people!
A straight question. I am looking for money to make a UK-based 90-minute comedy about art, mental health, friendship and gold smuggling.
I have assembled a core team, we are in the middle of location scouting, casting and other early pre-production steps. I have reached hundreds of producers and studios. In other words - I am doing as much as I can, but sometimes it feels like I'm banging into the wall. Those who are not nephews of J.J. Abrams and didn't have agents, how did you manage to get your first feature funded?
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If you're shooting in the UK you can take advantage of the tax credits here, you may need a UK based co-producer, and maybe post in Germany where there are also good tax credits. For the rest, have you thought of the pre-sales route via a sales agent? If not have a look at that, you will need some bankable lead actors to achieve international pre-sales, though depends on the potential audience, and budget, they can be well known TV actors, though better if well known film actors
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Every feature I've produced and was able to raise funding on came through relationships. Building a reputation as someone who can deliver on your promises, bringing quality, bankable material to the party, offering value at every turn sets you apart from everyone else trying to do the same thing.
This is why I treat networking like a job and dedicate at least an hour a day to the process. It's a brick by brick approach.
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One strategy that sometimes works is to create a great looking trailer or short, demonstrating not only the concept but also the skills of the Director. Having something like that in your package when pitching the project can usually help.