Producing : Moving Forward or Sitting Idle - Sometimes Less is More by Shane Stanley

So you have a film or TV show you want to produce. Maybe it's a deep-seated passion project or a new found story you've just acquired the rights to. Passion is contagious but it's on YOU to get the ball rolling. I am a firm believer that you cannot achieve certain goals without writing them down. What's holding you back from getting the wheels in motion and seeing this through to its fruition. I promise you, the obstacles are real and you aren't alone. But knowing that doesn't solve the problem. When I get excited about a project and it burns inside me to 'get er done' the first thing I do is map out a strategy - a game plan if you will to start getting this from concept into reality and ultimately delivery. How much will I need to produce it? Who can I attach to justify those costs and where can I go to get it financed. I don't need to get into a whole discussion about film finance - we have enough wonderful webinars and guidance on Stage 32 to fill the Titanic, but what are the core elements you need to have in place in order to start seeing progress, I'm talking about the arsenal of weapons to present to your potential investors. You can start with a great synopsis of the story/script. Too many of us believe that people will read 100+ or - page scripts and get excited about the idea. That's not the case. As I learned almost 30 yrs ago when I started pounding the pavement for finances, less is a whole lot more.

So... what to put in your film finance package is key. I opt for things to be short and sweet with the less is more mentality. Keep paper weight to a minimum and realize the investor you’re reaching out to probably has more stuff than they wish they already did cluttering his or her desk. Don’t just ad more to a bottomless pile they’re loathing to get through.

Years ago I walked into a potential investor’s place of business and saw several three-foot high piles of binders lining the room's perimeter, along with countless proposals stacked on their desk. When I handed over my proposal, he gestured to the paper piles and said with a soft smile, “Shane, pitch me verbally. If you don’t, this will end up with the rest of these proposals which have been sitting here collecting dust and untouched for as long as I can remember.”

People with real money are presented opportunity all the time and you have to think on your feet and always be prepared for an audible. Know your presentation backward and forward and never be afraid to say, “I don’t know” when asked something you don’t know the answer to. One of the best business relationships I ever had was launched on the three words; “I don’t know,” which was my answer to a question they asked in our first meeting. Those three words told them the truth; I didn’t know and I had the confidence to admit it. I capped it with “...but I will find out for you,” which gave this man a sense of security that I wasn’t going to tap dance or create some line of BS just to appease him right then and there. It also gave me a great excuse to reach out the next day and get him the answer he was looking for, ultimately allowing me to close the deal. That relationship went on to last til his passing at 90+ yrs old and I believe included over 15 films or TV shows.

I don’t think you need too much weight in the room. A simple proposal can include a summary about your film, your bio, the target audience for your end product, plus a distribution plan including similar films and how they did in the marketplace. You might want to bring a copy of your script to show so they can see it in person, but offer to email it to them later if they’d prefer but let them know there's a one page synopsis in the proposal. Again, a great excuse for a follow-up unless they’ve already read your script before the meeting, which is VERY unlikely. I don’t recommend putting pictures of famous actors you may never get in your proposal. It just sets you up for failure and ultimately their disappointment.

They might ask, “Who do you see starring in the picture?” That answer can be met with, “I’d like to spread our cast budget over three or four well-known actors to better the odds of our film’s success in the world-wide marketplace. Almost like an ensemble.” Trust me, they’ll appreciate that. Everyone knows even Tom Cruise has a dud from time-to-time and that can happen to any actor on any given film. Notice I used the words, “our film” and "our budget" in there? It’s the little things in your presentation - both verbal and in writing that will help give you a snowball’s chance in Hell to getting that elusive ‘yes’.

Think outside the box and keep things in the ‘real world’ when giving investors comparables. I’ve used films in my presentations like Once, Lovely and Amazing, and Like Crazy; films that cost under a million to produce and turned huge profits more realistic to obtain. Don’t use examples like Juno and Paranormal Activity that made hundreds of millions of dollars but also had major studios behind their release or production. Dig deeper than the obvious when listing comps and return on investment potential. Trust me, they’ll sniff through the hype immediately. This is what they do all day, every single day and if it's not them doing the research, they pay people smarter than you and I to do just that.

Imagine if you were pitched a real estate investment. You’d feel hustled if you heard about the investor who put in $50k and flipped it for $7 million a year later. But a person who invested $200k and turned it into $250k seems more realistic. Base hits and doubles make sense to investors and they’ll be more apt to develop a sense of trust with you early on. The big difference between you and them, besides they have money and you don’t, is you’re looking at what’s right in front of you and they’re looking way ahead. You need money now in order to get your dream off the ground…but they’re envisioning the conversation the two of you will be having a year from now. I promise, your thinking is light years apart, no matter how often they smile and nod their head during your presentation meeting.

So speak carefully and clearly. Always under promise, so you have a chance to one day over deliver. If your investor turns a profit and makes their money back plus 15%, that’s an attractive investment. But if they are anticipating making five times their money because you said they could, they will only be disappointed when things fall short. Always keep things in perspective so that any return can be seen as a victory and you haven’t set yourself up for failure.

I will be hosting a webinar here on STAGE32 on Tuesday, MARCH 11th at 1:00 PM PDT and I hope to see you there. The class is: Multi-Hyphenite: Your Blueprint to Produce, Direct & Edit Your Feature Film where we certainly will be covering some of these tips as well. Here's the link and I hope to see there:

https://www.stage32.com/education/products/be-a-multi-hyphenite-your-blu...