Financing your movie.

The most important problem which we filmmakers face while making films is getting finance. Specially being an Indie filmmaker makers, it becomes more hard to win people’s trust. Just before writing this topic I decided to talk to experts about my idea. Though my idea was rejected by the experts but I got a better idea from them. I think talking about my rejected idea over here will be a waste of time of my readers. So I am directly coming towards the idea mentioned by experts.

During the discussion they told me that it is better to start shooting after finalizing your script. Over here we are considering that at-least you will have something in your pocket. If this is not the case then I think shut of your PC and go at work to at-least earn some money (by the way I am trying the same thing these days…Lolz). Any ways coming back towards the topic. They told me that after finalizing the script I should start shooting my film. And my strategy should be to shoot the most exciting scenes of my film first to make it attractive towards financers. It is obvious that all the professional financers will have no time to read out your script. SO the best thing is to shoot a great trailer or short film and send it to selected financers. A “GURU” from http://www.indietalk.com/ said

“shoot either a strong scene from the movie, OR make a short film to showcase the writing and filmmaking ability. The first example of this that comes to mind is Sam Raimi, who made a short film "Within The Woods" as a way to attract investors to fund what he had in mind for a larger production -- what eventually became "The Evil Dead." The point is, though, that he put everything he had into making the short movie as GOOD as it could be. You're more likely to attract attention with 15 minutes of quality than two hours of mediocrity and promises.”(apology from the GURU for coping his words).

I personally liked the idea. I recently read one more real event just like this. George Lucas in his earlier career made 5 short films which have never been seen. Then he made a 15 minutes short film by the name “Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB”. The film got first prize and as a prize he got the chance to work with Francis Ford Coppola at WARNER BROTHERS. Soon they became close friends and decided to establish their own company where they made their first feature film which was actually George’s “Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB”. The small success help them to make another film “American Graffiti”. This success of this movie helped them to get more money to make even a bigger film “STAR WARS” and now every one know “George Lucas”.

If we see the success of George Lucas, the starting point was the short film which put him on the way of success. There is one more example and it is of the movie “SAW” which was a short film actualy. It was made by an Australian university student. Now personally I believe, to attract financers, the best option is to make a short film or a trailer with the most exciting and gripping scenes of the movie. Certainly I will try this option some day to make my first feature film.