Have a strategy
Have a plan. Do everything well and seriously, have a long term strategy.
One of the most common things I see when receiving a proposal or treatment is that there is not much done in terms of planning. It happens that I see strategic partnerships and other great things in the proposal, however those proposals are far and few between. The number of quality proposals are few and if you do the extra work, it will be valuable and maybe even a nice surprise for anyone reading it.
Most films are not being made and the reason is quite simple. There is probably no strategy in place and no plan and definitely no quality behind the script or idea. Usually, the team expects everyone to love the project and that is mostly not the case. Always go in open-minded and never love your project to much. I’m going to touch on that a few times in this post.
Another reason films are not being made is when someone comes with an idea or a script with no substance like LOI's or again, a plan. That makes it so much more time-consuming for anyone involved and that means, most of the time, no film or series will be made. You see, if you put some effort into a project you’ll be able to show that to potential investors or partners, that’s when magic happens.
As with all businesses, you have to get out and get your hands dirty. Show how you work and get people interested by actually doing yourself. By doing, people will have a clear picture and goal of where you want to go or at least feel confident you actually believe in the project. Assure your potential investors or partners that you are experienced and have done more than they expect. Get out and make something with your project before you ask someone for help or interest. If this is hard, because it can be, ask a colleague or friend in the industry to help you out.
Do your homework and plan ahead
Do some research, get your hands on information, most of it is public and free for everyone so it shouldn’t be too hard. Or use Google, you’ve heard that enough times to know what it is, especially if you read this.
By homework, I mean, understand the industry and get some knowledge of the different areas, you don’t want to give people the wrong impression. Start by finding out who you have in your circle that could potentially introduce you or to be frank, partner up with you. If you can find people working with distribution, purchasing or licensing you’ll have a head start. You can ask them if they know someone looking for the kind of content you are attempting to produce but please do not sell before you actually have something.
Let’s say you want to work with a studio, a well known one of course but you’re making a $250k feature - chances are quite high, they aren’t the right fit for you. Going to the bigger ones would be a mistake. However, it’s important to get in front of the gate keepers and early on without asking for their interest but instead interest from someone in their connections or company. It is not necessary to get a green light, the value is in getting a professional opinion on your project or early work. Do not ask for a favour before you’ve actually done something or have something tangible, source future contacts.
What you really should be doing is planning for the future. Find out who is the players and who has the ability to green light projects or make major decisions. Know who they are and talk to them before you ask for a favour or want to partner up with them. This can also be smaller production companies and distributors that are on the rise or are about to release several films during a year. These people and companies can be extremely valuble, not only do they have answers to most of your questions but they can also be easier to run down ideas with. The same goes with sales agents, talk to them don’t be lazy.
Do not wait
All to often filmmakers stand by until a film is wrapped before talking with buyers and distribution companies, while this can work in rare or some cases, this is usually a big mistake for a few reasons. When a film is done shooting it’s “best before date” is starting to count down. Sure, not every movie has a best before date but for a distribution company or sales agent, this makes their job much more difficult. They want to be involved in the process and production as early as possible to be able to market and plan for the release of the movie. This is not the case for the $250k feature we took as an example above.
A way of getting around this little obstacle with finshed films is to bundle them up with new productions or movies not yet produced in order to get a reasonable price for the “old“ one and be able to finance the new ones. This is not always possible but can be a viable option if you don’t have any other ways to go about selling the film.
Another important part of selling your movie is to start early with the key players. Make sure to have a solid PR strategy ready and put effort and resources into this. Don’t be cheap, this will prove to be your greatest asset in the end.
If you can show people (specifically those who drive returns) and make them excited about your production before you head in to principal photography, this will help you in the long run and this can be done with good PR. Selling your film doesn’t have to be hard.
conclusion
As with most things in life, planning makes things easier, not easy but easier. Since the process of how you sell your film is so critical to your production and to be frank, your future career, I thought it might be good to write a more basic version as well. So as soon as possible, I’ll start with that one and post the link here when it is done.
I hope you learned something new and got a few ideas after reading this. If you want to know more, feel free to join me on youtube where I’ll bring you with me on meetings and talk about the entertainment industry.
Thanks for visiting!
