Filmkaar

Given today’s technology and the resources, a short film can be made with very little money. The main thing that is stopping people from making a film is not money, but the idea.

To make a multi million dollar film, you should have made a successful one million dollar film. Before making a Million dollar film, you should have made a 100,000 dollar film. Before making that, you should have made a successful 1,000 dollar film. In fact, before making a 1000 dollar film, you should have a made many wonderful zero budget films.

Once you have made a few small movies with zero budget and built up a small base of admirers (not counting your own family and polite friends) you may wish to advance to the next step and make movies with a little bit of money.

Here’s a list of possible funders.

1. You yourself
2. Friends, Family

While these may be the most easily available funds, it is advisable not to use funds for these sources unless the amount is very small. For higher amounts, the risk of losing friends or going bankrupt is very high.

3. Corporates / Non-Profits / Govt. institutions
4. Media Channels, Producers
5. High net worth individuals (e.g: Rich doctors, lawyers.. you get the hint)

To get funds from these sources, you’ll need to be a genius salesperson. It is difficlt to convince these sources to fund your idea unless they see a direct benefit out of it.

Here’s a simple tool to test and implement your marketing skills.
Elevator Pitch:
How do you pitch your film in just one line? That’s what the Elevator pitch is. What if a producer just has a minute to listen to your idea. You pitch your film in one line, which tells the genre, the protagonist and the conflict of the film.

Example: Guess the blockbuster – from this elevator pitch:
An intense love story between a poor boy and rich girl, set aboard the fatal journey of the world’s largest ship that is going to sink.

You may practise the elevator pitch on a rich friend or a rich relative first. The idea of the elevator pitch is to get the person interested in hearing more about your story. Once you have the attention, you can get into the details and hopefully at some point discuss the production budget.

6. Grants

There are a few grant making organizations, that give small grants to make movies, or work on a particular aspect of making a movie like script development or distribution. A list of organizations can be found at: www.cinereach.org
Check out the Resources in their grant making section.

7. Crowdsourcing

In a digital world, a lot of filmmakers are now turning to the internet to raise funds. If you have a good plot and storyline, you can upload it on the internet and ask for funds from the whole wide world

Check out web-sites like: www.kickstarter.com, www.indiegogo.com, www.gofundme.com

Tip: It helps to have a good trailer for your film and some strong credentials or talent on your team to convince other people to donate for your project. Check out the examples of films that have succesfully raised funds to get an idea and learn from them.

Visit Lesson 10 on filmkaar.com to see a list of films that were made with a handycam and a zero budget. All these short films were made with a handycam. The only cost incurred for the film was the lunch for the crew and cast.

END NOTE:
Never let, lack of funds stop you from making a movie. Sometimes the lack of funds can bring out the best creativity in people. And creativity is more important than money when it comes to making a good movie.