By Florence Larson
An issue-oriented smaller movie is one that has a theme of social relevance at it's core. Substance abuse, poverty, the environment, homelessness ... these are all examples of a smaller movie with a socially appropriate theme. This is significant as it is A LOT EASIER to obtain donations of time, equipment and supplies when there is a "cause" behind the movie.
In the mid 90's I had the ability to get a 12 minute 35mm movie produced for under a thousand dollars, an absolutely unheard of amount. Catering, areas, film stock and processing, misc supplies, equipment - nearly every little thing was covered through generous contributions since the film had 2 major social issues as the main styles - kid abuse and it's resultant connection to drug abuse later in life.
The approach? Experience manufacturing directories and cold call till you cannot talk any longer. A normal pitch went like this: "we're working on a movie that takes care of some beautiful extreme social issues and we're asking yourself if there's someone we can speak to about making a donation of ..." It takes a great deal of calls, but it works.
Getting contributions is in one sense quite simple as many manufacturing companies want to contribute. The problem that comes from this option to smaller film financing is in the additional coordination efforts required, for you'll have to adjust your schedule to the donors. An example of this is that we needed to cancel a movie shoot two weekends in a row because the 35mm camera that was being donated to us became not available as it was reserved out on a paid shoot (a reality that needs to be accepted taking this method). However as quickly as the rental company's schedule cleared up, the camera was ours and we had the ability to shoot, saving hundreds of dollars in rental costs.
An additional issue with taking this path is producer sychronisation. It's better if you have an unique manufacturer working on getting contributions as it's a full-time task in and of itself. It's best to have one manufacturer to manage shooting logistics and an additional to handle donations. In the end, while our team had the ability to achieve a lot with hardly any funds, the movie suffered because the director/producer (myself) was exhausted with managing logistics and had less time to spend on creative shots, acting, etc. Having an unique producer to deal with donations will resolve that issue!
In the mid 90's I had the ability to get a 12 minute 35mm movie produced for under a thousand dollars, an absolutely unheard of amount. Catering, areas, film stock and processing, misc supplies, equipment - nearly every little thing was covered through generous contributions since the film had 2 major social issues as the main styles - kid abuse and it's resultant connection to drug abuse later in life.
The approach? Experience manufacturing directories and cold call till you cannot talk any longer. A normal pitch went like this: "we're working on a movie that takes care of some beautiful extreme social issues and we're asking yourself if there's someone we can speak to about making a donation of ..." It takes a great deal of calls, but it works.
Getting contributions is in one sense quite simple as many manufacturing companies want to contribute. The problem that comes from this option to smaller film financing is in the additional coordination efforts required, for you'll have to adjust your schedule to the donors. An example of this is that we needed to cancel a movie shoot two weekends in a row because the 35mm camera that was being donated to us became not available as it was reserved out on a paid shoot (a reality that needs to be accepted taking this method). However as quickly as the rental company's schedule cleared up, the camera was ours and we had the ability to shoot, saving hundreds of dollars in rental costs.
An additional issue with taking this path is producer sychronisation. It's better if you have an unique manufacturer working on getting contributions as it's a full-time task in and of itself. It's best to have one manufacturer to manage shooting logistics and an additional to handle donations. In the end, while our team had the ability to achieve a lot with hardly any funds, the movie suffered because the director/producer (myself) was exhausted with managing logistics and had less time to spend on creative shots, acting, etc. Having an unique producer to deal with donations will resolve that issue!
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