Film Business Plan

Anytime that you want to create a film project, whether large feature film or a smaller YouTube web series, you are going to need money for it.  Most of the time, you won’t be able to come up with all of that money yourself.  This is where a film business plan comes into play.  In order to get funding, you are going to need to create a film pitch and a business pitch to present to potential investors.  Ryan Colucci and Kevin Geiger are two film business plan experts who have shared their knowledge.

Ryan Colucci is an American film producer, writer, and comic book creator.  Some of Colucci’s works include the sci-fi  thriller White Space, the CG-animated feature Battle for Terra, graphic novel Harbor Moon, original manga series Orange Lif3, and a children’s book series The Fuzzies.  Colucci also offers film business plan services to help independent filmmakers.  On his blog he offers some tips for filmmakers.  One of his most helpful post explains what a PPM (Private Placement Memorandum) is and how it can affect your film project. 

Colucci explains that unless you are getting your funding from family or friends, you should draw up a PPM.  He points out that having a PPM is important as it acts as protection for yourself and for your investors by describing all of the potential opportunities and risks.  Colucci lays out the key points of a PPM:

     – Be accurate and complete

     – Meet the highest standards of full disclosure

     – Know what type of film you’re making

     – Do not oversell your film

     – If making a low budget indie film, do not compare numbers and     
        risk factors to those of theatrical releases

     – When comparing numbers to other projects, be as conservative as          possible

He also lays out what specifically needs to go into a PPM:

     – Company details

     – Film details

     – Financial details

In his blog he lists specific items to fill out for each of these areas.  Colucci reminds his readers that if any of these areas of the PPM are not filled out, then you are not ready to approach investors.  All of these tips and details are important because an investor is looking for and needs to know everything about the project and how they will get their money back before they will even consider investing in you or your project.

Kevin Geiger is another producer/production manager/digital artist turned film business plan expert.  Some of his best known works include Chicken Little, Species, Reign of Fire, Henry’s Garden, and Fantasia/2000.  In recent years Geiger has turned his attention more towards teaching the business end of film making and has a four part workshop video on indie film business plans on YouTube.  A few of his main points in this workshop are:

     – Organization in the development of a company is important

     – Understanding the structure of a production company (each                                                                           individual film is usually set up as a 

        Limited Liability Company under the company)

     – Film pitch and business pitch go hand-in-hand, investors want to see both together

     – Be able to summarize the business model in ten slides

     – Research and compare your film to at least five other similar films

     – Do your research for the business plan and pitch

In the videos, Geiger explains each of these points in detail for you to understand.  These points are important because each of these areas are things that investors are looking for.  Investors want to see an organized pitch so that they don’t have to figure out what you’re saying.  They want to know the numbers and risks and how they will get their money back.  And investors want to know that you are confident and know what you are talking about.  If your research or pitch is weak, they will not be interested or trust you with their money.

So, now that you have a general understanding of the importance of a film business plan and what all goes into one, you can begin writing up your own.  Hope this helped.  Good luck and have fun filming!