Raising Cash: Part 1
Friday, June 6th, 2008
One of the major problems that plagues independent film makers is raising money for their films. In order to make the money to make El Mariachi Robert Rodriguez enrolled himself as a guinea pig for one month. He made $7,000. The budget of his film, $7,000.
Many filmmakers have cooked up hair brained schemes to raise the money, from selling body parts (not really…hopefully) to opening lemonade stands. How will you raise yours?
The first, and most commonly used plan is asking. If you tell your family and friends that you are making a film, they will go into a trance, pull out their wallets, and fill your hands full of cash. It pretty much works like that. You need to have a few copies of your screenplay at hand so you can let them read it before they decide to take the plunge, if they are so inclined. After you tell your friends, and they tell their friends, you should be prepared to start your film.
This works best on budgets under $20,000, unless you have a rich uncle.
Keifer
