How to I fund a feature movie

Hi everyone, I'm new here. I've never really joined message forums relating to indie film making so I'm giving it a try. I've been a short film maker since 2004, mostly animated and puppet films. I've done small live action films but just featuring myself testing with home made special effects. I've recently had a friend that I knew for 5 years who said he was going to make my art and film dreams come true, it ended up being me making films for them without creative freedom so we went our separate ways.

So anyway I'm currently working with my best friend who I've known for over a decade and we love irreverent old school comedy films and animated shows and I'm trying ti figure out how to make films with him and even stuff that I do solo.

Anyway I'm thinking of an idea for a feature. Though I wonder how to I fund money to make an indie movie?

I've read things like grants, scholarships, asking random people for donations, investors (which is a complete risk from what I've heard). Then I heard that you need to ask a lawyer about the laws of funding a movie. I tried that and a lawyer try to charge me $100 for it which I thought was too expensive. I've been reading Lloyd Kaufman's Making Your Own Damn Movie. I have all the books and DVDs so far.

I haven't tried fundraising just yet because I don't want to get into any sort of legal trouble plus I don't know who to ask. My social life is extremely small, and my mother is the only relative that I can get along with but she refuses to donate money to my films. lol
 
short film maker since 2004, mostly animated and puppet films.

Dude, you totally have to post some of these in the Screening Room. I love animation... and puppets! :cool:

how to I fund money to make an indie movie?

Short answer: Pay for it yourself, or get someone else to pay for it. ;)

What kind of budget are you looking at? Have you even written your script yet?

A lot of people have been using the Kickstarter & Indiegogo platforms to raise bux... with hit or miss results. Probably worth looking at, anyway. You could probably put together a decent picth video for it, with bits & pieces from your existing films used as examples of your work.

Welcome to the forums, btw. :)
 
Dude, you totally have to post some of these in the Screening Room. I love animation... and puppets! :cool:



Short answer: Pay for it yourself, or get someone else to pay for it. ;)

What kind of budget are you looking at? Have you even written your script yet?

A lot of people have been using the Kickstarter & Indiegogo platforms to raise bux... with hit or miss results. Probably worth looking at, anyway. You could probably put together a decent picth video for it, with bits & pieces from your existing films used as examples of your work.

Welcome to the forums, btw. :)

Awesome your into puppets and animation as well :) I'm not sure what budget I'm thinking of for the one I want to make currently. I know I want to do a mocap digital puppet movie later down the road whenever I get 10 thousand for equipment, though this one I want to do with my best friend I want to be a low budget slapstick satirical comedy sketch film like Kuntucky Fried Movie, Amazon Woman on The Moon and Onion Movie. With a hint of Monty Python / British style humor and satire. I'm a huge fan of British humor. Though I'd like to get some special effects like sugar glass windows and maybe a studio just to film sertain scenes or even chroma key it if necessary.

I'm currently writing the script now but I would need to hear back from my friend to see if he's interested in making a feature. I know we written an animated short I'm hoping to submit to comic con this year.

I've written a few sketches, like I want to film in certain places which I think I would need to ask permission like say if I wanted to film in a store early in the morning or closing time or something like that. I know a donut shop manager promised me that I could use his Honey Dew Donuts building if I wanted to film but I'm not sure if he knows what he's in for. lol We knew each other for about a year or two but he's never seen my work because I'm very irreverent and I'm not sure how his sense of humor is sense he's sort of a religious person.
 
Anyway I'm thinking of an idea for a feature. Though I wonder how to I fund money to make an indie movie?

I've read things like grants, scholarships, asking random people for donations, investors (which is a complete risk from what I've heard). Then I heard that you need to ask a lawyer about the laws of funding a movie. I tried that and a lawyer try to charge me $100 for it which I thought was too expensive. I've been reading Lloyd Kaufman's Making Your Own Damn Movie. I have all the books and DVDs so far.

I haven't tried fundraising just yet because I don't want to get into any sort of legal trouble plus I don't know who to ask. My social life is extremely small, and my mother is the only relative that I can get along with but she refuses to donate money to my films. lol
Dig through this thread and take some notes about the financing stuff relevant to the level of work you're interested or likely to produce - which probably isn't at the "lawyer level" just yet. (Mine neither! Ha!)
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=39122

After that you'll probably want to figure out what sort of film incentives your 'New England' state has and determine if it makes sense to try filming in an adjacent state just to get a percentage back:
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=40055

This small film budget diagram set could be beneficial:

20120509FilmIncentivePrivateEquityCrowdsourceCashFlowExample2.png



And then when you think you have a handle on that and are ready to start fundraising give this thread a good looking over:
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=38636

And then to see how others around here have fared and what they have learned from their crowdsourcing experiences try this thread:
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=39742

FWIW, I'd like to see continued contributions of experiences and takeaways, good and... enlightening, from other IT community members with crowdsourcing. :yes:

And then a good tour of kickstarter's "Recently Successful" page and the campaigns that got there might uncover a few precious and semi-precious gems. (Expect more quartz, fewer diamonds. ;))
http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/narrative film/successful?ref=more#p2

GL!
 
Writing your script will take some time, could you not save some money for your lawyer. You will need him for crowdfunding and all your finance agreements if you want to not get screwed. The law on crowdfunding changed in the US this year, don't you have to file and film a small lip by a certain deadline to get the crowdfunding in under the old rules? You should check that, it was all over the web a few months ago.

Have you thought if more traditional finance, like industry lenders? Could you send me a link to your animation videos?
 
@brunerww -- Wow, I can't believe I've never seen that article before. That resonated with me more than any other article I've read on the subject. Thanks!
 
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