Ok, I have created this blog for the one simple purpose of documenting all of what I deem necessary to write a compelling and solid business plan for your movies.
Why? Because I was asked 1 too many times about it and I felt it was about time to put it down somewhere so A. I don't forget, and 2 so I didn't have to keep typing out the same responses. Third, it's sad to know that there are movies out there that could be told but the producer stopped short because they didn't know how to write a sound business plan. :-\
A little background on me: I have been attempting to write business plans for about the last 10 years or so. In the very recent past I've written more than I care to think about. Some to fund my own non-film business ventures, some to help others form their companies, to assist in the funding of grants, etc. The latest plan I'm working on is by far the most detailed and thorough plan I've ever written. It's for a film and it's been an ongoing process for the last 6 months. Some will say that you never really finish writing it as the company or film evolves, so does the plan. You should always have someone that updates the plan and helps keep tabs on the important stuff as to keep the company and/or film on track. It also helps appease your investors that they know the company and plan they've invested in is still on track. So why 6 months? Research, and you'll see below, as I've outlined all the steps and categories I've included in it. What I like to do is combined both a Creative Plan with a Business Plan, explaining both sides of the filmmaking coin and meshing them together in a very beautifully sound plan.
Why is it necessary to have a business plan if you're making a movie?
Well, if you want to raise money you NEED a business plan. If you want to be taken seriously and advance your career and start making better movies, you'll need money therefore you'll NEED a business plan. If you want professional filmmakers to be apart of your "team", they will probably want to see that you have a firm direction in which you're going in order for them to jump aboard your ship...and you'll need to pay those people, therefore you'll need money, and if so then you'll NEED a business plan. There are a ton of other reasons, but you get the point.
Disclaimer: crowdsource funding sites like KickStarter and of the like don't require a formal plan but I'm referring to bigger-than-kickstart-funding for your picture and just want to go the ol'fashion route and ask someone to put up the cash.
So, you now know that you need one, what next?
First and foremost, take the black page you're looking at and write this at the top "SIMPLE, SPECIFIC, REALISTIC & COMPLETE". Those are the 4 points I feel will keep you on track the most. I remember someone writing that on one of my first drafts of a plan back about 4 or 5 years ago and it was if a light went off.
Simple: keep all the technical jargon out unless it's absolutely necessary. Communicate effectively. Film investors aren't filmmakers (most of the time), so they aren't going to know all the mumbo-jumbo lingo thrown around on a set. It confuses them so leave it out. Just keep it simple.
Specific: What do you want to accomplish. Get to the point and leave out the fluff.
Realistic: Can you actually do it and follow it? We all want our films to be made for $10,000 and make $100,000,000, but it's not realistic. We all want Johnny Depp to be the lead actor, but it's not realistic. Be realistic in your description of your plan and make sure you can achieve what you say you can.
Complete: Make sure you are including all the necessary information your investors will want to know and need.
So when you think you've got everything in that you need, you can always just look at the top of page 1 and ask "Is this simple? specific...?" It's helped me tremendously.
Know Your Investors
When writing your plan, you should have an idea of who your potential investors are. Are they family? Mom and Dad? Are they friends of yours? Are they business men? Do they know business? Do they own a business...are they film investors? The further down that list the more detailed you're going to have to make your plan.
Now on to the good stuff...
Executive Summary
This is a solid summary of the entire plan. You should have at least a paragraph or two on each topic and/or objective listed in your plan. I think of it as a treatment. It summarizes the entire plan in just a few pages.
The Movie (but don't call it that, call it "The Film" or "The Motion Picture" or just use the actual title)
Tell us what the movie is about, what genre and explain the genre. Don't just write "This film is a horror film", give a nice background on the genre and even can tie in how and why your film falls into the genre. Also expand on the stages of production, development to distribution. Who is your target audience, identify and expand on that. Give specifics, such as young African-American Men 18-25, because later you'll need to explain why your marketing plan is what it is. Budget, break that down and how you intend on controlling the costs. Also you'll want to include a top sheet for reference.
Company and Mission
Here you're going to explain the entity that you have (or will) set up (sole proprietorship, general partnership, limited partnership, LLC, S corp, etc) once funding takes place. This most likely will be an LLC, Limited Liability Company. You also want to give some background into who's running the ship. If it's an LLC the operating agreement is going to list the "Managing Member" of the LLC, probably YOU! So give a brief bio on yourself and anyone else on your team at this point. You may also go on to explain the management team you're looking to assemble once financing is in place or at least development financing or "seed money" or "1st round". This 'team' should include an accountant and an attorney...if you're playing by the rules. Finally state your mission; you intend on producing a movie called "___" and fill in all the big fun words.
Marketing Plan
Know your market, know your audience and how you intend on getting the word out. This section starts with breaking down the market and listing your projections. This is where the research is going to come into play. Everyone knows the film they intend to produce is "Something meets Something-else". The "Die Hard meets The Muppet's" , but what you should do is a little more in depth than that. Your projections come from complete and utter breakdown of all the emotional beats of your script and then finding upwards of 40 movies made in the last 5-7 years that closely compare to the same beats, then narrowing it down to the top 5 or so films. Then taking that data and breaking that down further for you to pull your projections from. Now, going back to the "REALISTIC" aspect of your plan. When breaking down your projections, give more than just 1 expectation, give 3. What if your film isn't released theatrically? What if it's straight to DVD or streaming VOD, etc. What if you don't penetrate all your ancillary windows you expect to? So give honest assumptions when outlining your projections.
Target Audience - along with your projections you will get an understanding of who your target audiences are, primary and secondary. So tell them who they are and that will lead nicely into how you intend on reaching them and letting them know about your movie.
The Plan - armed with the knowledge of who your audience is you will be able to put together a nice outline of how you intend on engaging them. With the example given above, African-American males 18-25, where are they hanging out? How are they receiving content and information? It's a multiplatform approach, with internet, phones, iPads, Pods, etc. you want to be able to reach out on all levels, it's not just a TV ad and movie poster world any longer. You also might want to explain each campaign during each of the phases of production you outlined earlier.
Distribution
Your meat and potatoes of the entire plan. this is where the investors will look to see how you plan on getting their money back. So you better have a nice objective on how that is going to be achieved, and give a good explanation of the various types of distribution as well and the various different fees involved; if it's released theatrically, mention the percentage that goes to the house, to the studio, to the P&A costs, and how much little is left over in the end. Be honest. DVD/Blu Ray, explain the costs of printing the art, the discs themselves, etc. Be honest. How do you intend on reaching out to these distributors? Domestic? International territories? Remember to be complete.
Investment
This is where you explain how much you're looking to raise, and what offering you're making to them and what the return will look like. Are you offering a first position interest return? No? Why not? Most investors will probably think they can earn a better interest rate than they would having it sit with you, so make it attractive all around. Explain the risks involved as well, clearly! Explain how to you plan to offset some of the risk as much as possible (is that possible?) Then let them know any and all information be obtained through you through the private placement memorandum.
Bio's
Now give a more formal bio on you and the other members of your production team at this point. Give filmography's if applicable. Most importantly, give contact information. Email & phone number.
Attachments. You will want to have several different attachments to your plan that they can use as references to the information you provide. As mentioned, the top sheet of the budget, the comparable films as a chart if not already included in the plan, your deliverable's chart which explains each step of the process from development to a screening, your projections, any letters of intent from talent which is big if they're a name actor or director, if you have any pre-sold territories for distribution, include those letters.
be creative. This is a creative field so don't be afraid to add some spice to the "look" of the plan. Add pictures that are relative to the topic, a movie poster perhaps, but don't go overboard.
So that's it. A very brief overview on a business plan for a film.
So that's it. A very brief overview on a business plan for a film.
No comments:
Post a Comment