Hey Crew! What’s the difference between a pitch deck and a lookbook? My version of a pitch deck is a mini business plan combined with a production lookbook. Pitch Decks are what you present to your production financiers and lookbooks are what you share with your crew. A pitch deck is 80% business and 20% visual. A pitch deck should cover the following. 1. Budget 2. Producers (have they managed production funds before) 3. Executive Read more…
Hey Crew! I want to congratulate my personal friends and filmmaker clients Miguel Cantu & Eddie Hill on having their screenplay optioned by an established Executive Producer, on their horror comedy Reefer Creepers! Had a fun time creating their pitch deck, poster, and film budget! I also helped them negotiate the option agreement. We vented the Executive Producer and he had multiple produced films in our budget range and genre. So we knew we weren’t going to have the script Read more…
How much would it cost to produce my screenplay? Have you finished writing a compelling screenplay worthy of being produced? Now what? One of the first things you should be asking yourself is “how much is it going to cost to make my film?” $150k? $250k? $700k? or $2 million? Should it be all union or non-union? Which state has the best film incentive? It isn’t the responsibility of the screenwriter to come up with Read more…
Line Producer. The incognito ninja. Who is this elusive crew member? The Line Producer is responsible for making an accurate preliminary film budget and shooting schedule in pre-production and managing the production once it is funded. Be it a horror film, drama, sci-fi, comedy, or action film we break down the screenplay and go line by line. Once the film is fully funded, the Line Producer starts hiring crew members, sending deal memos, negotiating with Read more…
On Feb. 10th, 2022, I got hired to be the film producer for a photoshoot for a filmmaker client who is making a dramatic film about our first responders and the alarming rate of mental health issues they suffer from. Especially our paramedics. They see trauma every single day. Currently entitled The Thrill is Gone! We could have easily used free stock photos and saved some cash but we decided to go for broke and Read more…
Hey Fellow Filmmakers! Wanted to share some insight I had while researching who my ideal film investor for my paranormal documentary Deadly Dogmen. This is part 2 of my producing my journey. Here is part 1. https://filmbusinessplan.com/producing-a-paranormal-documentary/ As a recap, I’m currently producing a paranormal documentary called Deadly Dogmen. A quick breakdown. A dogman is supposedly either a supernatural werewolf or an alien hybrid werewolf. It’s the biggest hunting game since Bigfoot. So instead of Read more…
Yesterday, I got a random email from a filmmaker who saw one of my blog posts. It was very disheartening. He mentioned how he’s been pitching his projects for over 5 years with no results. He stated that he had some attachments but never got any serious momentum. day. He basically lost everything. The tone of the email had a sense of dread that affected me all day. It really bummed me out and I’m Read more…
Do you have a fear of pitching your film? After years of research and talking shop to fellow filmmakers the number one reason that filmmakers struggle comes down to funding! Especially for projects over $75k. I’m not talking about passion projects that are self funded or crowdfunded but films that need an actual investment. In my opinion it comes down to three things. 1. Not knowing where to start. Funding is a long and process. Read more…
As a producer you have to have multiple film projects going. You never know which one will catch momentum quickly. Two buddies of mine have been developing thier paranormal documentary entitled Deadly Dogmen. It’s created by Paranormal Investigator Eddie Hill and Director Miguel Cantu. The lore surrounding the Dogmen is fascinating and creepy! From Lycan secret societies, government experiments, to alien hybrids this is a folktale that has a lot of potential. I’m a bit Read more…
How do you translate your screenplay into a business plan? Where a potential investor can emotionally connect with your screenplay and see the financial potential at the same time. Where words translate into numbers and deals. Your script has hidden clues that reveal who your demographic is, what monetary funnels you are not considering, and the roadmap to profit. One of my duties, when I get hired to do a business plan for an indie Read more…