Raising money for your films

Given today’s technology and the resources, a short film can be made with very little money. T

Enchanted Forest

A collection of photographs shot in the beautiful mountains of Ranikhet, India. Located in the Kumao

500

A short film made for Open-Space Pune to find out the value of 500 Rs. for different people in our s

 

Raising money for your films

February 5, 2012 in lessons

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.

Enchanted Forest

January 21, 2012 in Photography

A collection of photographs shot in the beautiful mountains of Ranikhet, India. Located in the Kumaon region of the Himalayas, Ranikhet is a charming little town that has held on to it’s secrets.

A forest of magic, lay forgotten.

Covered in mist and sleeping in time.

Until a passing traveller, stole a picture and broke the spell!

500

January 20, 2012 in Films

A short film made for Open-Space Pune to find out the value of 500 Rs. for different people in our society.

If I give you 500Rs. What would you do with it?
Answer before you watch the film:

‘Bomb’ay – A short film for terrorists

September 2, 2010 in Films

2 young street magicians ‘Raju’ and ‘Kaju’, stop a gang of terrorists. The film is set around the time of July 2006 bomb blasts in the local trains of Mumbai.

The making of ‘Bomb’ay:
Raju and Kaju are brothers in real life. They stay in a shelter for boys who were rescued from child labor. The shelter is run by an NGO called Pratham.  Raju (Shahnawaz) is very studious while Kaju (Taufiq) is equally mischievous.

The film was shot over a period of 4 days across Mumbai. In the film, the house that the terrorists stay in, was actually one of the rooms from the Pratham shelter. That shelter has now been vacated as the owners wanted to convert it into something more lucrative. Raju and Kaju along with the other boys from the old shelter have been moved out to another facility in Panvel, which is on the outskirts of Mumbai.

Jadui Pankh (Magic Feather)

January 29, 2010 in Films

Jaadui Pankh is a fun film for the entire family. The film is made up of 7 interlinked stories. These are stories of magic and adventure, of friendship and mischief, of courage and a clever ghost.

This film has been shot over a period of 2 years across various slums in Mumbai. However the stories are not about poverty, misery or hunger.

The film takes you to an unusual world through the eyes of children. They show you that even in the darkest of times and most difficult of situations it is possible to find happiness and hope.

The film has been made with children from 7 non-profit organizations across Mumbai. We shall be releasing one story every month on this web-site. To follow the film, please subscribe.