Paul Bettany at Margin Call UK Premiere at the Vue West End on on January 9, 2012 in London, England

In a very very very watered down quick way.. Movie studios seek the greatest profit from minimal risk. So in pre-production, the rights to the concept are purchased and a script written. A producer takes on the project and seeks a budget (whether that be indie, major studio driven or otherwise). Locations are scouted and actors are found. Equipment is purchased or rented (cranes, locations, cameras, recorders, lights, film, etc. and on and on), any permits are obtained. The movie is filmed. The movie is then edited together and shopped to a distributor (quite often still owned by the major studios). If a distributor purchases the film, it is then distributed. Then reedited for DVD and released.

Money distribution within the project depends on the budget and the contracts. Some are paid a flat rate and some are paid a percentage of the finished product’s total take and that all depends on what they’ve negotiated. Most money anymore is NOT made in theatrical release but in the DVD market (less people go to the movies because tickets are ridiculously expensive and the turnover rate to DVD has sped up considerably–some movies come out on home media a month or two after theatrical release whereas it used to take around a year). The profit is then generally kept by the major studio who distributed it after payment is made to those who worked on it.

It’s not a perfect explanation by any means and not very thorough, but off the top of my head, that’s what I can remember from film classes.

Can someone explain, all aspects of film finance, from pre-production to post-production. how movies are financed? how do they make money? How money is distributed?

What is it with you Indians and putting you’re personal information everywhere?
Don’t you have Hacks, Stalkers, Murderers or Rapists in India?

All the best with your team

hello, i just want to know what are a producer’s job in films or in TVC productions? i was told that they take care of the financing of the production? can someone please explain this better to me? thank you

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_producer
A film producer is someone who creates the conditions for making movies. The producer initiates, co-ordinates, supervises and controls matters such as fund-raising, hiring key personnel and arranging for distributors. The producer is involved throughout all phases of the film-making process from development to completion of a project

http://www.skillset.org/film/jobs/production/article_3876_1.asp
The Producer’s role is to turn story ideas into profitable cinematic entertainment, and to persuade others to share in his or her commercial and creative vision. Producers usually report to the production company, or to the Executive Producers appointed to supervise the production on behalf of the financiers and Distributors

http://www.filmmakers.com/stories/Producer7.htm
It is important that the producer coordinate the activities of the press throughout the course of the making of the film.

My brother and I are independent filmmakers. We have complete creative control over all our projects (including feature films, shorts, and concert performances). We write, cast, produce, direct, shoot, and edit all our own work. The best experience you can obtain in being a filmmaker is just to watch a diversity of films in every genre, from all around the world. You can learn just as much from watching a “bad” film, as you can by watching a good film. Then you have to put everything you’ve learned into practice. Filmmaking is not for the faint of heart, or for those who don’t want to accept difficult challenges, or aren’t talented when it comes to problem solving. You learn how to be resourceful, especially when your working on a shoe string budget. If you would like to learn more about our work, email me offline at pilferingmonk@yahoo.com and I’ll send you an invitation to join our Yahoo group site. We are based out of Salt Lake City, Utah (and no, we aren’t Mormon LOL!!).

we have a thrilling and funny story about – how it would be if only children would rule our world! main actors will be children from different countries and dogs. it is fantasy but with a real background.
a common film financing we cannot get because we intent to spent all theexpected incomes for “poor children projects?” under supervision of UNESCO.

I am serious about this. Go to the UN, as they will benefit from such a venture, and ask them. The have support, public relations and beneficiary departments, as well as individuals, that are ready to assist you. Contact their Public Relations division first (begin with snail mail, as this will establish a contact individual). They’ll be happy to guide you through the maze that is the United Nations. I ought to know, I was an economist their.

Dear all,
I want to make a movie But I don’t have any crew or team. I am sure there are so many people but theydon’tt have any source or any experience or team, but they have passion & dedication,that’ss I am looking for. I have knowledge about the every part of film.I did not shoot any movie but I can do it. Its like that whoever is intersted toworkk in movie or any part of movie we willworkk together. We will contribute and everydecisionn will be ours/Team. We all sit anddiscusss every part of movie like, story, script, location, cast, lights, costumes, finance, etc.

Friends
About me I am Ashwani Kumar 29 Year old. you can contact me +91-8146501133 email-ashwinikumar_08@yahoo.com, zordanashwani@gmail.com, canonlidecanon@gmail.com If possible reply me as soon as possible.

Final thing is this – I am not looking for suggestions, I am looking for a team.

Actually, that is quite a funny concept but if all the people on yahoo answers donated $10 you would easily have around $100 million which could make a seriously good film, I would do that if everyone chipped in.

Here’s an interesting concept. If all the users of Yahoo Answers pitched in $10 (the price of a movie ticket), we could finance 5 films easily.

So, just as an experiment, nothing binding, if you were to get a contract that said your $10 buys you X% of a film’s profits, would you do it? $10. No questions asked other than the contract itself.

I see it as putting the power of filmmaking back in the hands of the people who watch the things in the first place.

Yeah, I know, at this stage it sounds half-assed. There would be other legalities that would have to take place….but assume they’re all in place.

Thoughts anyone?

Has anyone had any experience in investing in the movie business? I am a high net worth investor and former VC who is exploring doing this via a structured finance deal of Section 181 and State rebates to minimize my risk. Anyone have experience in this?

The State Of Michigan is offering a new 40% cash rebate of motion picture production which makes it the most aggressive program in the country. Its is trying to send a message to hedge funds, private equity groups, money managers, family offices, tax attorneys, high net worth investors, tax credit buyers, New Markets Tax Credit investors, and other international investors on the risk minimization of entertainment finance by getting a 40% cash back on the cost of equity.

However, on top of the 40% cash rebates, investors may also utilize Section 181 to offset their 75% and in some instances 100% dollar for dollar on the cost of film finance, all before operations, distribution, and international revenues.

In the past two years many institutional investors such as such as CITIGROUP, Deutche Bank, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Dresdner Kleinwort, GE Commercial Finance, ABRY Partners, AIG Direct Investments, Bank of America Capital Investors, Columbia Capital, Falcon Investment Advisors, and M/C Venture Partners are all involved with the finance of films.

Indiviudals who are financing films include Larry Ellison, Paul Allen, Steven Rales, Fred Smith, the CEO of Federal Express, Norman Waitt, the Co-Founder of Gateway Computers, Jeff Skoll Of Ebay, Marc Turtletaub of The Money Store, Roger Marino Of EMC Corp, Sidney Kimmel Of Jones Apparel Group, Minnesota Twins owner Bill Pohlad; Real Estate Developers Tom Rosenberg, Bob Yari; and, financiers Sheikh Waleed Al Ibrahim, Zeid Masri of SilverHaze Partners, Michael Singer, Mark Esses, David Larcher, Michael Goguen, Richard Landry, Michael Reilly, Rafael Fogel, and Philip Anschutz

The American Jobs Creation Act Of 2004, the 2004 enactment of Section 181 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the “Code”) marked an unprecedented change in U.S. policy toward the phenomenon known as “Runaway
Production”.

Runaway Production refers to a film or television production that leaves one state or country to be filmed in another purely for economic reasons. This movement occurs because producers tend to film in the location where they can minimize production costs through tax incentives, cheaper labor.

Over the years, Canada has been the greatest beneficiary of U.S. runaway productions (according to some reports, Canada has claimed up to 80% of the U.S. runaways, generating an economic impact of $10.3 billion in production output in 1998 alone).

Section 181 represents the first time that the U.S. federal government has recognized this impact by passing tax legislation to actively combat the flight of film and television programming.

Section 181 permits a 100% write-off for the cost of certain audio-visual works, regardless of what media they are destined for (e.g., theatrical, television, DVD, etc.).

An individual or company who makes an investment into Section 181 qualified productions can take a 100% deduction of their investment against their passive income in the year their investment was made.

The deduction can be made against active income should the investment be made by or through a widely held C corporation. The law is in effect until December 31, 2008, therefore investments must be made before that date and the money invested into qualifying productions must be spent by then by the productions.

But since Section 181 also allows for all other debt costs which are usually associated with film finance, a $10 million dollar film, where only $3.5 million is equity, an investor can deduct $3.5 million dollars against the $10 million, especially if the latter is mezzanine or gap finance.

Plus, an additional 20%-40% in state tax credits or rebates can be generated back to the Investors, before revenues. And with the The State of Michigan offering a 40% cash rebate for making a movie there, which is the most aggressive in the country. That translates to an additional $4 million in rebates to an investor based on a $10 million dollar film.

With the current appetite for alternative investing, real estate, and hedge funds starting to crunch, the viability of having an investment guaranteed up to 75-100% before operations and revenues is something that should be reviewed and considered carefully as part of a new asset class and portfolio holdings of private equity groups, money and wealth managers, and high net worth individuals.

So hope that helps!!!

As with anything in life, it’s more about who you know than anything else. I’d look for a film school with a reputation for turning out successful writers/producters/actors etc…and network just as much as you study!

But until that point, writing is like drawing….anyone can learn how to draw, but few of them are truly talented at it. So start and/or keep writing.

Find groups that you can get with to have others read your work and you read theirs. (meetup.com is a good place to find groups). Join poetry groups, and other general writing groups.

See if you even have a knack for it and then decide where to go from there.

Either they lacked skills or lacked finance to film it the regular way. What a piece of crap movie they were.
all the shakings were substitute for special affects. what a rip off!!!

that sucks! I hated blair witch. after hearing ur review, cloverfield sucks big time too!
shake instead of special effects? that really sucks! i was going to rent one but noooo way. thanks for the warning though & saving me few bucks

I have a script done for an indie film of mine. I’m wanting to shoot it in 3D.
So there seem to be two routes for doing this, Go in debt for the rest of my life and possibly sell my soul… OR buy a 3D consumer cam and make it like, well lets just say it’ll look like ‘Mummy Maniac’

So can anyone help me out as far as where to buy/rent the camera(s) editing software etc. Thanks.

wow, just wow, don’t even know what to say…

self-finance a 3D, but it seems you can’t afford it. Have you ever made any movies prior to this work? Maybe shorts? If not, then getting financing will be a fun adventure.

Anyways, you should contact a production company, they’ll point out the options for you.
As for now, you can contact this guy, he’s a screenwriter and producer, working in the industry, he doesn’t work with 3D, but knows about the system a lot more than anyone I know on this site.

http://answers.yahoo.com/activity?show=Sk1MELo9aa

My dreams are to become a producer and, above all, a screenwriter. I want to major in finance so I can learn the business of movie making since it is one. Also I can have something to fall back on just in case and the money is good. Finance can help me in movie making since I can start my own project.

What do you think? Any suggestions/answers?