How do you fund your equipment and productions?

[komatoast]

other than asking mumsy and daddy or the lesser popular robbing of the local bank to get the cash for your equipment and productions, how do you go about raising funds for them?

we have a few productions in the advanced ideas stage and are now needing to figure out if we can afford to do them by getting some money together.... we have raided money banks and emptied all the change from the washing machine but we are still short.

so some tips on raising funds that dont involve the arts councils or the princes trust (due to equipment having to be bought with the money)

all advice is welcome!

[Marc Peters]

Call me old fashioned, but hard graft and a good business plan will give you the funds you need. Like any business, you'll need to invest capital you haven't got in order to reap long term benefits. In the short term you'll therefore need to borrow against your future income, i.e. a business loan.

Put together a business plan and see about getting a loan. Even if you're looking for grants, you'll still need a structured plan or you'll either not get the money or piss it away.

[Alan Mills]

I presume you have a business plan drawn up with budget details so how much are you shy of your requirements?

I saw a magazine article (I think) recerntly that talked about this. Depending on where you intend to distribute your end result and how much you expect to claw back from it you could talk to local businesses. You might be able to use their premiesis as a set or you might even get some cash for the promise of a return or for prominently displaying their logo or store front in your movie - maybe even add a line to the script mentioning them etc etc

But if it's just another skater vid to post on yourtube they might not listen that closely - lol

[The Guru]

There is a reason why producers are the ones who collect the Oscar for "Best Picture".

Directing, acting, camera, that's all relatively easy compared to producing. Getting the money is the hard part. A good producer is permenantly busy with the finances, writing letters, making visits, acquiring sources. They would rather give you a kidney than a source. Any fool can make a picture, getting the finances and organising it efficiently is the art.

There are three ways of becoming a producer.

1. Film School (NOT some wishy-washy "media studies" at Uni).

2. A long apprenticeship starting as a runner, assistant production supervisor, assistant location manager, assistant production manager (then them all again but not as assistant) until finally assistant producer and then (cue trumpets) Producer.

3. Just call yourself a producer and sit in coffee bars or log into web forums telling everyone about the project you're "just about" to make or which is "in pre-production".

[komatoast]

Originally Posted by The Guru 3. Just call yourself a producer and sit in coffee bars or log into web forums telling everyone about the project you're "just about" to make or which is "in pre-production".

im sure there are none of these here

basicly we are just short of about £2000 - £3000 for equipment. as i said there are a few ideas in the pipeline but nothing like a feature film or even film short.

we are currently talking to lots of local and web based companies about advertising on our site and a few other things.


in terms of getting loans and overdrafts it way out of the question.... we are not a LTD company and i am sertainly not prepared to loose my house or equipment if it goes tits up.


we have been playing the finding money game for quite a while now and managed to buy the basics of what we need to get the band and events stuff done but we are looking to venture into a higher end of production for music vids and maybe shorts along the way.
the major problem that we are encountering is a very catch 22 situation - we want to get some high quality music vids done but we cant due to not having the inital equipment to do them and therefore we need to look elsewhere for funds.

[The Guru]

"there are a few ideas in the pipeline but nothing like a feature film or even film short"
" i am sertainly not prepared to loose my house or equipment if it goes tits up."

In other words you're not serious about video making. You haven't got a plan, a script or even a completed idea, you don't want to risk anything and, if it doesn't work out, you're happy for investors to lose their money as long as you have a shed-load of equipment at the end of it.

Which coffee bar do you frequent?

Get real. If you want people to invest money or (more importantly) if you want any sort of success then you have to apply the three most important parts of film making.
1. Planning
2. Planning
3. Planning

Do that right and the rest will follow.

[komatoast]

Originally Posted by The Guru Get real. If you want people to invest money or (more importantly) if you want any sort of success then you have to apply the three

a little harsh i feel. i never said i was looking for any investers.... any money we get will have either been raised through fund raising or selling products and servics.

i respect the fact that you are making a living from video production and as such your views are valued but please dont take the piss....

i would rather find the money needed rather than get a bank loan as its only for a few thousand or so.

[The Guru]

So, what do you expect?

Basically your question is "How do I get three grand quickly without borrowing it, risking my own money or asking my parents?"

The blunt answer is "Get a job"

Did you honestly expect someone to say "make wedding videos" "make music videos" or "ring up the manufacturers and they'll give you the gear for nothing"?
If you want to be taken seriously as a videomaker then you have to bite the bullet and put a lot of effort into making videos (before you moan that you haven't got any equipment... think.) and convincing people that you're worth investing in.
If your question is how did we get our video equipment, the answer is: we worked, did overtime and when we still couldn't afford it, we increased our credit card limit or got a bank loan.

The question has been politely answered by Marc and Alan, but you didn't seem to understand, so I put it a bit more directly.

You wrote:
"i would rather find the money needed rather than get a bank loan as its only for a few thousand or so."

Well if you come from the sort of household where it's "only" a few thousand, than ask mummy or daddy (oops, I forgot, you didn't want to do that), for me "a few thousand" is still a lot of money. Secondly where do you think you'll "find" money? On a tree? Under a bush? Especially as you haven't got a business plan, or even a script, or anything more than "a few ideas in the pipeline".
You don't need expensive equipment to make videos, but it's a good excuse not to make them...

and if you think that's taking the piss then you're in for a shock when you enter the real world.

[Marc Peters]

Originally Posted by The Guru If your question is how did we get our video equipment, the answer is: we worked, did overtime and when we still couldn't afford it, we increased our credit card limit or got a bank loan.

Life's a real bitch when you realise you've gotta sacrifice one thing for another. Hated selling my car, but wanted a house more... and now I'm the 'proud' owner of a clio (with no key, but that's a different story). Honest truth is that it does take blood sweat and tears. You could, for example, get that extra few grand by taking another crappy job working in addition to your normal job. Who needs sleep anyway?

[Mark W]

Given invention and resourcefullness I dont think equipment is the most important thing.

A great idea well executed is far more important than the latest toy.

Our local BBC film cres collect the news on PD170s...

My 'main' cameras are ancient smeary noisy vx9000s, but used carefully they look great even when projected at our local independant cinema.

Even my tiny old knackered 150 quid off ebay pc6e can look great with some clever editing.

Dont forget that most people see video via dvd or tv, and that is for the vast number of people an sd picture at a bit rate of 2 to 6, vastly less than 'ordinary' SD DV.