What Your Movie *Should* Cost
What Your Movie *Should* Cost
Reverse engineering what a project should be made for based on, well, a lot of different things.
Happy Friday! We made it through the first week of the new year …hooray!
If you’re just coming to life, you may have missed my dispatch earlier in the week Three Mistakes To Avoid In 2023. I want to follow that up with another faux pas I’ve made myself and am seeing come across my inbox a lot, and that is stating what your film costs to make, rather than what it should cost to make.
In short, it’s tempting to want to budget out your script first thing once it’s done and see what it would cost so you have that number handy when trying to set it up in the market. Like I said, I understand the impulse to do this as I’ve done it before myself, but I’ve since adapted another way to go about it that reverse engineers from the market what a given project should be made for based on the genre, type, and package I have in place.
Obviously approaching it this way requires attaching some elements to the project to see what kind of value you can build in it first, and then floating it by your sales agent and financing contacts with the package so far, and seeing what they think the market could fetch. This also helps you raise the right amount of equity to support any pre-sales you can get because now you have ammunition to go to investors with and you’re not shooting in the dark with their money.
I’m going to break down this process in more detail over a series of newsletters starting next week - I think it’s a great place for us all to start right here at the top of a new year. New year, new process! Back into the right budget rather than getting too attached to a budget you think you need.
In the mean time and before heading into the weekend I wanted to give you a few updates….
Film Distribution & Development Kits
I referenced these resources we were putting together in Dec and we finally put the finishing touches on everything and have uploaded to the FS Pro Resource Hub.
If you’re not familiar, the FS Pro Resource Hub is free for all FS Pro Members and includes the following:
• Sample sales estimates
• Sample contracts (talent, investors, distributor, broadcast, option, etc.)
• Hand picked and vetted submissions lists (Distributors, sales agents, etc.)
• Sample talent offer templates for packaging outreach
• and more!
Plus you get ongoing coaching from me and it’s filled with a great group of filmmakers all pursuing financing and distribution for features and series. If you’re planning to attend any markets this year (EFM, Cannes, MIP, AFM) this group and the resources included will be especially valuable.
I’ve opened up applications for new members for the year, so check it out and apply here if you want to join in our crusade….
» Click here to learn more about FS Pro
One on One Strategy Sessions
Over the years I’ve gotten so many requests for one-on-one sessions just to run something by me, get advice, direction, talk production and financing plans, distribution strategies, etc.
I finally have some time to do these and carved out a few hours next week if you’re interested in setting things in motion right at the top of the year.
You can see available and book a session here…
Any questions or if you require different availability than what’s listed, just email me at stacey@filmspecific.com.
I look forward to hearing from you and have a wonderful weekend everyone!
To your success,
Stacey