Learning to make money as a filmmaker

It's a tricky question.

To be able to make ends meet, living in London, you've really got to be earning at least £1,500 a month. Now, working a full-time, 40-hour week, job, that's perfectly possible – it's just over £9 per hour, slightly more than the London living wage.

Earning that through freelance film work, is very, very difficult, however good you are. I know plenty of working professionals in film who can easily command £100/200/300 per day when they're shooting, but I know very few who can work 22+ days in a month. If you can get jobs working 2 days a week, then you're going to need to get £150+ per day to get anywhere near able to pay bills.

So I think – and here I'm just speculating – that the best thing is to try and find a steady source of work, narrowing what it is you want to do and what you think people will pay you to do. Production companies are the obvious source of work for freelance film people, and, in a way, you can stop being wholly freelance if you're very closely associated with the work of specific production companies. Even then, the work is going to be somewhat inconsistent, but you'll probably get by.

If you're looking to direct, it's going to be much harder. The pool of directors who companies are willing to trust with their finances is pretty small. In the last year, I've only got 4 or so paid gigs as a director (and very bad money at that, not even minimum wage). Luckily, I've not been trying to live off that money, but it's made me very wary about how hard it is to crack that particular nut.

So I don't have any answers, other than that the security of a job is a blessing at the moment.

I will hopefully have some sort of answers after record my interviews with some indie directors I know. I hope to be able to help other directors find ways to build a fan base and make a livable income off of directing. Will update later

While this probably won't help much, making money is rather simple.

Find something that people are willing to pay for... and sell it to them.

The problem comes when you restrict what you do (Eg. Directing) to achieve that goal.

The higher the perceived value, the more you can charge.

The problem with film making is: It's very expensive. It requires people who also require to be paid. The clients often see what you have to offer as having a high perceived value, and those clients who do have already been courted by the high end professionals.

My suggestion would be to specialize. Focus on what you do well. Find a way to differentiate from the competition and push that advantage to let you charge more for your time.

Thanks for the input guys, heres what I have done so far:

Put up an advert on Gumtree, it was an absurd advert in my opinion, here it is:

Hi my name is Alperen,

I am a flamboyant and creative Filmmaker, I write films, I shoot films, I edit films, I make magic happen.

You will not meet anyone as creative as me for the incredibly cheap price I am charging for my services, why am I offering my services so cheaply? well I am in the middle of creating numerous films this year and need to fill in the gaps in my schedule which is quite hard.

So what can I offer? literally anything that doesnt require VFX (I am an in camera kind of guy), I have my own team of filmmakers who I am teaching and they come part of the package, my fees are PER DAY however negotiations can be made for the right person and project.

What makes me different from other filmmakers? my content is creative, its certainly not boring, I am slightly weird in my thinking, I come from a background of poverty and have built my way to the top so I know how to work with nothing and turn it into something magical or at least better than what someone at this price point could do (just look at my videos not one of them cost me an arm and a leg).

I will not under no circumstances stand still and film for you, that is not my style, I am a creative, a magician, someone who strives to bring the scenery alive, I have never had any failed projects, I believe that my style will add something to your vision, if your struggling I can help finish your dream and collaborate with you within the fee at no extra charge (I reserve the right to copyright ideas should you have a consultation with me but decide to use my idea but film with someone else, its called ethics).

So why pick me? you are talking to someone who is on the verge of becoming a world renowned filmmaker (few years yet), you have the opportunity to see what its like to turn your idea into something more glorious, something that you may not have thought was possible, I am to quote Willy Wonka or Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy "The music maker, the dreamers of dreams).

I would like to think I am the cross breed of Nicolas Winding Refn and Christopher Nolan.

Hire me, for if not the reason of madness, but to achieve a level of creativeness & passion that you will not have experienced.

I turn down jobs that I have no passion for, so you know I'm 'Genuine'.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Kind Regards
Alperen Emirzeoglu
Film Autre - Director
Twitter - @filmautre

........................................

Having posted this yesterday, I have had already approach me, I am in progress in conversing with them and trying to set up a face to face meeting to secure the deal, should I gain finances from that I will use Gumtrees Paid Ad featuring at £25 for 7 days to seek further jobs.

I will devise more plans on how to market to more people, Weddings are of an interest to me since they generate alot of money.

Let the journey begin.

Update:

Am now at the stage with Client 1 for a first meeting just waiting for them to give me a time and day (they are conveniently close).

I have had a second Client approach me without much description asking if i had certain gear, which i didnt, they then asked to see my work so have just sent them an email with my links with a request as to what they after, a bit of google research shows they are a musician of some sort.. could be interesting.

I now have a 3rd potential Client approach me regarding a wedding but for next year which I guess is better than nothing, I am awaiting a reply.

Seems that with minimal approach (non-paid advertising) I am getting what i consider to be a good response, if each client accepted my terms and worked with me I would already be £600 minimum in the kitty..

Good luck with landing the clients!
I like the positive attitude of calling them clients, while they are just leads at this moment.
My experience is that not every lead turns into a client.

Got the first client meeting today, I have been approached by 3 more people, one of whom was on xfactor in the finals (they are pretty good) decent money not great but decent, so ROI= 1 Advert Free , 7 Clients ( one im meeting today fairly certain I will get the gig).

will post an update later today.