Money Matters Part II: Talking Financing at This Year’s Forum
Last week, we broke down finance tips from filmmakers and executives who shared their experience and know-how at this year’s Forum. The thing is that there was so much good information at the two-day event, that we couldn’t fit it all into just one post.
We’re back this week to wrap up sharing all the different ways our panelists recommended to get your project financed. We’re featuring insights from our Producers’ Roundtable, Indie TV talk and some LA specific advice from the Home Grown panel.
Producers at the Table: Independent Producing in Uncertain Times
The producers at this year’s table had a lot to say about what types of films they are looking to make, and what films work for the marketplace right now. Hartbeat’s Aaron Edmonds told moderator Gita Pullapilly (Writer/Director, Queenpins, Beneath the Harvest Sky) that his company looks for humor, heart and heat, with heat being something in the zeitgeist that people can get excited about. Producer Sev Ohanian (Sinners) brought his own metric for what he thinks can be a successful project: P.U.G.S. The acronym stands for Propulsive, Unique, Genre-blending, and Surprising. He thinks audiences more than ever are smart and want something they’ve never seen before. Producer Lauren Mann (Joyland) talked about the importance of being both realistic, budget-wise, and creatively ambitious. She likes filmmakers that can make budgetary concessions and still make an exciting project and talked about how Daniels were a perfect example of that when they brought Swiss Army Man to her.
Everyone talked about the difficulty of being able to shoot in the US right now. Lila Yacoub (Ladybird) said that many studios and financiers aren’t willing to shoot in the States when things like cost of living and labor costs are cheaper in Europe. Ryan Zacarias, producer of If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, talked about a project he’s currently making in Hungary, and said the budget was 5-times less than it would have been if it was shot stateside.
Foreign presales were another topic that the panel acknowledged was difficult. More and more, the foreign market isn’t looking for the same stars as the US is, and that can make creative decisions more difficult. Both Edmonds and Zacarias spoke about making projects without foreign presales because they decided that having the right cast was more important.
Ohanian talked about how different the market is today vs. pre-Covid. Artistic projects aren’t getting picked up as much from festivals, and budgets are getting extremely tight. Therefore, he recommended leaning into something that an audience already wants, like genre, to make a project more appealing to buyers. Others like Yacoub still encouraged filmmakers to still swing for the fences but be smart about it. “I encourage you guys to still make those art films because I love them and I think there’s an audience for them. But you really do have to keep it as lean as possible.”
Home Grown: Spotlight on L.A.
The Home Grown panel, moderated by Half Initiative’s Shari Page, started with an acknowledgement that shooting in LA is extremely tough at the moment. When producer Alex Orlovsky was making Lurker, the team didn’t expect a tax-credit and financed as if they weren’t going to get one. The things that made shooting in LA make sense were that it was such an LA focused story, and the budget was small enough. Missy Mansour, producer of Loot talked about making deals with locations that want exposure, like hotels and restaurants. Pamala Buzick Kim, co-lead of STAYinLA, talked about the California tax credit and how small benefits like both shooting and editing in California increase the amount of your credit, and how small credits like those can add up. She also said that in talking to local LA business owners, they miss productions using their businesses as locations and want to make deals that work both for them and the filmmakers.
Screen Refresh: Independent Voices on TV
Wendy Calhoun, writer/producer of Empire and Justified, spoke with TV creators about how financing in TV differs than in the film world. Kit Williamson, creator of Eastsiders, talked about how important it is to create an audience for yourself, and looking at tools like Patreon as a new way to crowdfund. Zoe Lister-Jones, creator of Slip and Band-Aid, encouraged being scrappy and having not only a pilot script, but even a full series written or a shot pilot that was independently financed. She also emphasized writing things that can be easily produced on a budget. Billy Luther, who came from independent film and now writes and directs on Dark Winds, looks for residencies, fellowships and grants and called out sources like the Film Fatales Instagram page, as places to stay abreast of deadlines for grants. Calhoun added that brands have been reaching out to creators directly to create online series for them, and that these projects don’t have to feel like sponsored content.
One benefit that going the indie route can provide for showrunners is that there’s more control for the creator. Williamson started in the crowdfunded world and moved on to creating traditional studio projects. There he saw how difficult it was to have a project you pour your heart into fall apart or disappear and now looks forward to new opportunities in the indie space. “When approaching an independent project, I know moving forward, it’s going to be important, especially for lower budget projects that I get to maintain ownership and agency in those projects,” he said.
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