Video Production: Fundraising
Before reading this, I just want you to know that if you have a great idea for a video, film, commercial, or marketing endeavor of some sort, I’d be excited to sit down with you and talk through the details and build a budget. I don’t have the ability to fundraise all your ideas, but my company does have the ability to actually produce the videos you need. If you live in Central Illinois or within a 100 mile radius of Bloomington, Illinois, I’d be happy to schedule time to meet in person. If outside that range, I’m free to zoom, facetime, or whatever works best for you. Contact me here, and let’s set something up
There’s a version of this quote that I’ve read a few times and it usually goes something like this, “Better to work 100 for yourself than 40 for someone else.”
As a video production company that works with a wide range of creatives and corporate clients, we are always finding ourselves working hard for someone else. A new business opens and they want coverage for their grand opening, yeah we can film that. Testimonial videos for a social media ad campaign, sure. Spend the evening editing archive footage for an internal meeting, why not I don’t have plans anyway.
The last thing we work on our own projects, even when you own your own business, you stay busy working on what your clients are paying you to do.
As creatives at heart, we always have numerous ideas and projects that we are storyboarding and planning out. As we drive to our next jobs, we discuss our best movie ideas, the documentaries, the next showreels. We can’t resist the pull of our endeavors but it doesn’t end with film. We talk about music, music business, booking, recording, and we discuss other things we hope to do like fixing up old cars, or writing stories.
But it’s so hard to put real dedicated time into any of these projects. Almost impossible feeling sometimes. Not because we don’t believe in them, but because no one is paying us to produce them, and as the old heads say, “you got to follow the money.”
I’m sorry dreams, I just can’t hear you over all this money
We recently started a new documentary with our friend, colleague, and director Zaknafein Luken, and it’s so exciting to be working on a local project that is not only interesting but one that we have an ownership stake in. With us starting that project, we’ve also started fundraising. There are a lot of approaches to raising money for your projects and we can’t cover them all but we can give a run down to our approach with this project and what our hopes are. At the very least, I hope this inspires you to push forward into your next endeavor and to see some lights at the end of the tunnel but I hope it can also serve as a loose template to guide you in planning your next video project.
The film is called “The Fight” (still a working title, which means it could change) and we had a concept from the very beginning. Here’s how the film got started: Luken came to us and said he had an idea for a mini-doc for a local MMA fighter. He had a relationship with the fighter, was inspired by his story, and thought it would be a perfect project for us to collaborate on. He wanted our visual and production prowess to be coupled with his knack for storytelling and our hope is that the story will capture people's attention not just in MMA circles but in the greater film communities. With all of that in mind, our end goal was set, which is to get it into as many medium to larger film festivals as possible and seek out opportunities for small screen distribution.
The story and vibe are easy to get straightened out and we can talk passionately about that part for days. That leaves us with one of the hardest parts, especially for creatives who want to just work on their ideas, deciding the budget. You don’t want to aim too high, but most importantly, you really don’t want to aim too low. I’ve heard nightmare stories about production companies filing for bankruptcy when the cost became too high and they had all their eggs in one basket.
We had some advantages with this project because we knew that even if the costs balloon, it wouldn’t break the bank. So that was a motivating factor in deciding to move forward. To find the ever elusive number, we needed to look at the amount of production days, estimated cost of those production days, and the cost of getting into film festivals, screenings, and marketing. We initially believed that we would need three production days on this project, but later we pushed to four. We knew one was a first time interview plus teaser footage for a trailer. We had another shoot set for covering an actual fight night and knew that it would require travel expenses and lodging. Our last two shooting days would be follow up interviews at a controlled location, likely rented, b-roll, and then one more fight night with travel expenses etc.
To estimate costs of production days the key factors to consider on every project are
How many total days will the production require?
What type of crew members and total number of crew members you need to fill those days? Remember different positions on the film crew cost different amounts. A gaffer (lighting) will need lots of equipment and probably a couple of people to help set it up. Having a Director and a Director of Photography doesn’t mean you don’t need a camera operator. Plus many other jobs can be needed like Sound Mixer, Scripty, 1st AD, and so on. So make sure your producers know what you need and count the cost.
What sort of equipment will you need for the film crew? Consider if you have it all on hand or if you will need rentals to complete your production.
Depending on the type of video, you may need talent as well and that can become a complicated task with casting and an additional expense. We don’t need this for a documentary but you should keep it in mind as most corporate videos, narratives, music videos, sales videos, explainers, etc all need talent.
For “The Fight” we’ve tried to keep it simple and streamline these steps as much as possible. We operate a video production company in Central Illinois, so we have all the equipment necessary to complete this kind of project and we have it all on hand. When we are filming places that require us to fly in, we can’t bring all the gear that we have so often those types of sets usually require rentals. That greatly reduces some of our cost.
We also knew that we would be pretty hands on with this project and that we would be fitting it in between our other work since it’s local. That means we’re not adding additional crew if we can keep from it because we have the luxury of time to do it ourselves. As long as we have access to the locations in advance we can do our own lighting and sound work with a minimal team.
So the first part of the budget is determined. We plan to run 3-5 crew members total at each shoot with our own equipment over 3-4 production days with an estimated total cost of $1,500-$2,000.
Our next step in the fundraising process is to take our notes and create a full picture of how we believe the film will turn out. The reason for doing this is that it allows us to begin actually fundraising. To do this we determine the films plot/synopsis, tone, style, talent, assets, and plans for distribution. We then use that information and create a packet or pitch deck that would get the attention of potential investors. These packets can be really large if shooting a feature or a large commercial, or they can be straightforward and to the point especially when filming a short or something of that nature. The most important detail in my opinion here is that you have some idea of who you want as investors, because you want this packet to be tailored to your target market. These should be people who would be interested in the story you're telling and would feel passionate about making sure this story is told.
With “The Fight,” our target has been Central Illinois area business owners and people who would benefit from the marketing exposure and are interested in sharing a local athlete’s story in a bunch of places that have probably never heard of Lincoln or Peoria or even Bloomington, Illinois. What’s better than a local movie, made by local filmmakers, supported by local businesses? I think nothing, but fundraising has still been pretty grueling. Such is the life of a filmmaker.
A key strategy when putting together a fundraising packet is to make sure that there’s a way for people to actually contribute. Contributing options should be easy to find in your packet and everywhere that this project is discussed on your website, socials, printed info etc.
Read my lips, E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E.
The more options you have, the better. Try to have a way for them to give directly from your website as well as other options like Venmo, Cashapp, and Paypal. Make sure you can give them a receipt, and that you have a way to keep track of who is giving and what you are offering them for their contribution. If there isn’t a way for people to get involved, then this isn’t a real project, it’s just an idea.
With that all being said, our last cost to estimate for our project, is how much to budget for promotion. We skipped a part that most people would have to keep on the table, which is post production, but it’s our movie so we’re doing that work ourselves at the cost of tons of time. But it is briefly covered below so you can have a rough idea.
I have a simple theory that I like to apply when estimating the rest of these costs. It should be roughly the same total cost for post production as it costs to actually have a crew come and shoot the film (unless you have special effects then it will cost so much more), and the cost of promotion/marketing should also be roughly the same. If the production days cost are $2000 dollars, then post production will also be at least $2000 dollars.
Now let’s do it again but for marketing. If it costs $2000 dollars to film your project, then let’s set aside the same amount for marketing as well. These costs being split into equal thirds is a simple theory to quickly find a cost analysis.
So our plan for the Fight is to have another $1,500-$2,000 set aside for marketing. This will give us the opportunity to apply to some of the most prestigious film festivals in the country, and will also give us wiggle room to advertise if later we want to self release this and hope for lots of people to actually watch it. It also gives us budget to do a couple screenings and in person promotions which is a great opportunity to connect and build film culture in our area.
One more rule to get us to our final budget. Don’t break this rule, do it every time, even when bidding a job, this is the insurance policy:
After you have determined what you think is a healthy budget, add 20%.
As mentioned, one of my greatest fears is underbidding a project and it costing us money, that’s a losing equation that you don’t want to be a part of, so add the 20%. That makes our final budget $5,000, which is literally the cheapest anyone can make a decent film of this nature. Bare bones people, that’s what we are working on here, but it feeds our passions I think.
Sorry, I got caught up in the rippling emotions of that last paragraph
Here’s another pro-tip: A lot of people get stuck, feeling like they have to have it all together before pitching investors, but you just need the basic ground work. Sometimes the most important thing is putting a product on the shelf. The longer you spend trying to dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s, is more time that your project isn’t getting funded. A good idea keeps developing even after it all starts to move forward. I learned this after years in the restaurant industry where we would keep trying to perfect a dish or drink, and meanwhile we’re cooking food for ourselves that our customers want now. Put a product on the shelf that you're proud of but don’t consider it finished, just consider it started.
Another tip that all serial entrepreneurs and creatives should prepare for when starting a new endeavor is that it can sometimes be hard to find the passion and energy to talk about one project again and again. It’s a marathon and not a sprint. Prepare yourself to live and breathe the fundraising, and never underestimate the energy it’s going to take. It helps to remember that when it’s funded, and filmed, you will have completed something you’re proud of and that end goal can keep you working through the burnout and exhaustion.
I love talking about fundraising, but what I really love is getting projects off the ground. If you have a video or film you want made, and you need a video production team, we’re ready.
Let’s talk, contact us today.
If you want to find out more about The Fight and consider contributing, you can find out more here