Crowdfunding

Lately film industry people are using crowdfunding sites to raise money for their film endeavors.  In exchange for money you donate, they will give you an autographed postcard or in the case of Spike Lee he will take you out for dinner and to a Knicks game, depending on how much you donate.  One thing Hollywood people can’t do is give you royalties on the movie if it hits big.  Well that is about to change.  Obama put through a law in April of 2012 to make “equity crowdfunding."  This is an attempt to help the depression like era that we live in. 

There are a lot of crowdfunding sites out there like Kickstarter, probably the more popular or at least one of the first.  Well, Kickstarter has no plans to start equity crowdfunding, but there are some sites like Indiegogo who does have plans to start equity crowdfunding and they will have some competition with other sites.  There are a lot of rules and regulations that go into this new law.  Such as you have to have a $1 million dollar worth and your annual income has to be more then $200,000.  Which make for about 9 million American who qualify.  There are allowances for people who don’t make that much money. 

According to Jason Best, “it opens up access to a lot of capital for filmmakers.”  Think about all the people out there who want to make a film but can’t, well this is one way that they can. So even with all these new limitations that Obama put in to effect there should still be about $4 million going to filmmakers in the next four years.  That is a nice chunk of change.   You may not know this but in the US there is about $30 trillion dollars in savings and investments, so if crowdfunding can get 1%, that translates into $300 billion and that may friends is a lot of money.

Film Distribution

A question that is probably on the minds of a lot of filmmakers, is after I make my film, how do I distribute it?  Good Question.   There are a few options.  You could get an agent, self-publish it, film festivals, try to get a network to distribute it or try to get a distribution company like Lionsgate to distribute it.  But what is your best option? 

The first option is an agent.  You have to convince them that you have a good enough idea and that they should try to sell it for you.  You can then always send your film to a film festival in hopes that it gets picked up and wins some awards.  The nice thing about film festivals is there are a lot of industry people who see it and may want to help you distribute it. 

One popular avenue is self-publishing.  There are many sites out there that offer services for you to self-publish.  One in particular is Createaspace.com, they make it so your public can buy a DVD or download your movie.  However there a lot of questions that you need to ask yourself and the list is long.  For starters, do you keep the copyright?  When do you get the royalty checks?  Can you use more then one self-publishing company?  These are some and I mean some of the question you need to ask yourself. 

One of the more involved avenues is distribution through a company like Lionsgate or a television network.  However there is a lot to consider, such as profit sharing.  How much are you willing to give up.  The question beg another response, can you do better on your own?  A studio such as Lionsgate has the money to promote your film and can distribute to a wider audience.  So there is a lot you need to take into consideration when it comes to what avenue will work best for your film.