on financing mirco-budget films…

This question was posed:

Is there any real investment available for independent film makers?

The funny thing is that a majority of investors require certain things in place, percentages of funds, attachment from A-list stars, etc. But has anyone stopped to realize that if you have a list talent and 10 percent of your projected budget you can get financing through major companies not smaller ones. So really my question is simply this does financing exist for people on a smaller scale?
I am curious for myself, as well as for other independents. Yes it is nice to have big budgets, but sometimes you just want to do a $250,000 project strait to DVD. The residuals are better if you don’t have a 1000 theaters. Just food for thought.

This was my answer:

First, making a micro budget film is not impossible, nor is it impossible to get financing. Do you need stars? Not necessarily, although from a distribution standpoint, it certainly helps. I say this on so many forums on here, I’m beginning to bore myself, but here it is once more.

Package, Package, Package.

You don’t HAVE to have names on either side of the camera, although as I said, you’ll pique the interest of so many more distro companies that way. (they’re not as expensive as you might think for the most part)

The trick is to show a viable investmet. How do you do that? With a proper package, business plan and marketing strategy. Investors are out there and depending on one’s level of experience, the less you have, the better the package you’ll have to create. The final number is less relevant, becuase we all know you can make a digital feature for $250K and it “can” look like a $1M feature. The problem here is that if you haven’t already done so (and we presume you have not or you wouldn’t be struggling to get the $$) you’ll have to dot even more i’s and cross even more t’s to prove to a potential investor that you have every base covered.

Same goes with pre-distrubution. Show that plan (sometimes sans budget) to a distro company and you could get paper. Then take that paper to your investor and say, “we’ve sold the house, all we have to do is build it.” (anyone with a couple bucks will get that analogy)

The bottom line is to be creative…sometimes more creative with your fundraising than your production. I say this all the time as well…filmmakers have to be equally as good marketers as they are movie-makers. Figure out the right blend and you’ll be on to your next project with all your funding in place.