How to ... Fund Your Film
In simple terms:
- Self-fund – your savings, friends, family
- Public funding – Lottery, Objective One
- Sponsorship – Business support
- Broadcaster – Buys licence to screen
- Bank
- Sale and Leaseback
Funding for Independent Films (Extract from Northern Vision – Northern Ireland)
True independent film production is about financing films from sources that have no control over your story, your vision, your creative ideas. You are free to make the film you want to make …although this generally means that you may have to finance the film yourself! but few filmmakers have the resources to completely make their own films.
There are a range of funders you can turn to and they all have their criteria and conditions: receiving this funding depends on the type of film you are proposing. Is your film meant for non-broadcast use i.e. for a local community group, an educational group, a campaign tape for a pressure group? Is it a major film drama for cinema release? Is it a documentary aimed at television? Who will help you to make the film? Are you relying on professionals in the film industry or will it be friends with a bit of know-how or a mixture of both? Are you a writer who wants to see their work turned into a film? Answering these questions will determine whom you approach to raise the necessary funds and of course how much finance you will need.
Tell me a Story
Most filmmakers spend a large proportion of their time not in front of a television or cinema screen but a computer screen; filmmakers have to be good writers! Everything starts from a script: you must begin by putting your ideas clearly down on paper, and there's nothing beats a good idea. So success in raising funds depends on how strong your idea comes across on paper. This is generally all that potential funders have to go on! It doesn't matter if you have a list of award winning credits as long as your arm…even Ken Loach has trouble raising money for each new film…it's the ideas in the script that matter to funders at this stage. Some broadcasters only ask for an outline of your idea, it may just be a couple of pages, other sources may require a much more detailed treatment. It is generally at the script stage that television commissioners decide if they want you to develop the idea further (and perhaps give you a little bit of funding to do so) or, if you're lucky, want you to just go ahead and make it for them. If you're not dealing with broadcast television companies then you may need to work out how much it costs (the budget) to make your film to show potential funders. Most independent films tend to be financed, or co-produced, from a variety of different sources.
Finding a Production Company
Funders tend to favour already established film companies with some sort of track record. You may have to approach such a company and try to get them to produce your film. The producer's task is to put a team and the funding package together. Finding such a producer however is difficult.
Before they even begin to read a script the producer needs to have confidence in the writer, usually one with an already established record i.e. work already published, written some film scripts for radio, film shorts etc., after all, it will probably take in the region of at least two years of hustling to raise the funds for a low budget drama based on the script. Unsolicited scripts, i.e. scripts with no endorsement, tend not to be taken seriously by production companies. If the route via a production company isn't possible you may end up setting up your own production company.
Low Budget Production
Making a low-budget drama or documentary means cutting budgets to the bone. In practice this can mean roping in a lot of your friends to do non-technical roles for minimal costs or for free, asking a lot of favours of everyone and paying below union rates for the technical personnel and of course exploiting yourself to hell! You may think Union rates of pay are high but bear in mind those who survive in the industry through freelancing are unlikely to find work 5 days a week, every week. You can find rates at <a href="http://www.bectu.org.uk", target="_blank">www.bectu.org.uk
Approaching Funders
Funders operate their own agendas and different criteria, which is fast changing. It's best to send them a letter first of a rough outline of your project, any deadlines you may have, what format you intend shooting on, the main production people involved, duration of the programme and the intended audience. Hopefully they will send you their guidelines and any application forms. Broadcasters offer many commissioning strands and award schemes. If you think your idea may be of interest to television companies you need to find out first which department and which commissioning editor you should be pitching the idea towards. However you may need to go through an established production company to even get a look-in.
Some television companies operate award schemes. But competition for these is fierce. It is not uncommon for a broadcaster to have 800 applications for 6 ten-minute films! The major film production and film companies are centred in London and most of the work goes to them!
Other resources
How to raise development finance: (Website run by British Council): <a href="http://www.britfilms.com/resources/developmentmoney", target="_blank">www.britfilms.com/resources/developmentmoney
How to fund your production: <a href="http://www.britfilms.com/resources/fundinginformation", target="_blank">www.britfilms.com/resources/fundinginformation
