A Legit Way To Fund Raise

[Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC]

I believe I should be able to sell VOD downloads of the 22 minute production with my on line distributors to generate income to complete the 40 minute version.

That is, I believe, a legit way to fund raise to complete the 40 minute version.

I have 2 distributors.

[Zensteve]

Originally Posted by Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC

I have 2 distributors.

What do your two distributors have to say about it?

[Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC]

I haven't submitted the production to them yet. I'm waiting on the press to come in.

Seriously duds, they are distributing the original IC now. I think the 22 minute version should be a shoe in.

I'm also waiting on WAB to submit it to IMDB for our promotional production page. That may be a few weeks away.

[PaulGriffith]

How much will a 22 minute version cost? How much do you get and how much do your distributors get? Finally, who's going to buy it?

People here are asking the hard questions, don't take it poorly or personally, it's in most cases given in a good heart to help you succeed.

[rayw]

Originally Posted by Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC

Seriously duds,...

Hey, Bub. You watch who you're calling "duds" around here!
We don't take kindly to such language.
D'em's fightin' wurdz.

[Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC]

Holy smokes! What a typo? My bad!

I really meant "dude."

I don't pay anything to the distributors, if that is what you are asking. They pay out royalties based on download sales. They are pretty big and well-known in the indie world.

I think I know what Paul is worried about because I ran into an "indie distributor" in another forum who wants filmmakers to pay "posting fees" and he takes percentages as well. When I told him one of my distributors, CreateSpace does not charge posting fees, he passed it off as them using a different business model and they are in a different league from him. They sure are. Not to worry, Paul, my distributors are big enough to get it shown everywhere.

The target amount to raise is $10,000. I will look into additional sources besides my 2 distributors that are big and legit as well and hope the combined royalties may hit $10,000 over several months. If not, I can add to it next year with next year's tax refund.

The reviews are free too. So, they should be interesting to read. The editor of one seemed very interested in the fact the production is 100% self-financed and how I put the funds together to make it.

Hopefully, that may lead to an interview later.

[PaulGriffith]

No I was asking about per-sale. iTunes for example averages about 33%, so you're making $.67 on every dollar sold. The real nuts and bolts of the question is how many do you have to sell to meet your goal? It seems like if you can make $10k off online sales, a WAAAAY better business plan is to make more stuff for online sales instead of dumping that money into a TV pitch.

We sell online too. Our two main distributors give us 50% and 33% of the sales. We sell shorts tailored for an extremely, extremely specific market (rather large) who frequent the sites and our best selling one grossed like an 1/8 of what you're trying to. That's fine, we budget time and expenses so that works. But to sell $10k worth of one video just on the better paying site we'd have to sell well over 1300 copies.

Is that a number you can pull off, or is another strategy a better one?

[Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC]

I'm thinking of combined sales from multiple sites. I'm thinking of starting an account with Itunes. I already have accounts with blip.tv, createspace, and bigstar tv.

Two other sites I have to look more into are YouTube and DailyMotion. They have paid per view options available for filmmakers to make money as well.

Another avenue besides cable tv is a web series. However, NYTVF and NATPE will put it before the eyes of tv networks worlwide as well as syndicators, distributors, investors, and industry people who can help. So, it's worth the effort.

I hear that HBO pays better than SyFy. Even getting the pilot or a movie aired on any of the cable networks will improve on line viewing of a web series version. I am friends with 2 producers who have sold content to HBO. So, I pick their brains for tips and advice.

So, I'm looking at this from different angles and will try more than one way to see what will work best.

[welsh_gambit]

I'm in no better position then anyone else to pass judgement or offer advice but don't you think you're being a little too optimistic with your projections here? You want to make 10k in around 7 months? My math is poor but thats..what..$357 a week you would need to make off sales? say you charged $10 a copy, that would work out at you having to shift 36 copies a week to meet your target.

Do you honestly think you can do that? I mean I don't buy VOD but im pretty sure they'd retail a feature at around $10 and a 30 minute episode at around $2-3? If thats the case then you'd need to sell...er...119 copies a week to meet your target.

I dont want to know you dude but thats a pretty big freaking ask for any indie film maker

[Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC]

As I said, I will add more to it next Spring from my next tax refund to bring it to the goal of $10,000.

The $20,000 that funded the 22 minute version did nor come from one source either.

This is way more realistic than to depend on crowd funding for $10,000.

[Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC]

As I said, I will add more to it next Spring from my next tax refund to bring it to the goal of $10,000.

The $20,000 that funded the 22 minute version did nor come from one source either.

This is way more realistic than to depend on crowd funding for $10,000.

[ItDonnedOnMe]

I'm in agreement with everyone else - that seems like a pretty unrealistic goal if you don't already have a fairly sizable audience who are clamoring for the opportunity to pay for your show.

I also don't get the idea of having accounts set up for distribution with all these different sites. That's not likely to improve sales very much, it's a very passive way of marketing if you're just putting it on these sites and hoping someone 1. finds it and 2. decides to pay for it. To get anywhere near your goal you'll need to do some serious, active online marketing. If you are planning to do that it would be better to stick with a single distribution option that works best for you financially and your audience technically - then you can focus all of your marketing efforts on driving traffic to that one source.

That's the thing - hosting and selling your video is no big deal, there are plenty of options for that. It's the marketing and promotion that matters.

[Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC]

That's where publicity comes in. I'm hoping good reviews will lead to more reviews and interviews.

There may be more financial help. A film sales agent based in the UK likes the production enough to contact a NY TV professional to contact me to help get the 40 minute production completed.

Fingers crossed.

[Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC]

My crew and a friend who is an independent producer / director are offering more suggestions to fund raise.

The producer / director is suggesting I write short stories and novels on the I, Creator series and sell them as e-books on line.

The crew thinks we should sell merchandising, such as toys.

I asked a friend who is a composer if we can work on a music video.

These are in addition to VOD sales to increase our chances of reaching our mark.

It's been a good 17 years since I wrote a novel. So, it may take some time to get back into the grove. Short stories may be easier.

[Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC]

Update!

My friend who is a music composer replied. He likes the idea of the music video. He is watching the 22 minute production for ideas for a song. He will send me a rough of the song when he has something together.

My prop master is working on silver demon hunter dolls. He will also work on cyborg dolls.

I am still scripting IC3 and layering a subplot to IC4 - Earth Rebooted into IC3. It may take time to start on e-books. But, I will look for my original hand written manuscripts for I, Creator and its' prequel Future Pioneers. Having the manuscripts should make writing e-books easier.