After developing and making both of our independent feature films, ‘Revolution X’ – released around the USA and Canada in the summer followed by world wide release later this year & ‘The Tenth Planet’, premiering 2024, achieved through private investors, We were able to gain the experience, knowledge and know how to develop and create these two incredible movies.
Why is finance important for a film?
Financing is the most crucial aspect of any film project because the production team needs funding to pay for every step of the filmmaking process. Securing funding for a film project can be an arduous task for filmmakers, but there are many viable financing options available to pursue.
Development money is the sum total you need to invest in your idea until it is in a form (a package) suitable for presenting to investors and capable of attracting production financing. Development money is used to pay the writer and script editor while the screenplay is being written, the producer’s travel expenses to film markets to arrange pre-sales financing from investors. It also covers the cost of administration and overheads until the film is officially in pre-production.
While there is no such thing as a typical budget, most development budgets will include the following items:
Development money is the most expensive and financiers who put up development money typically expect a 50% bonus plus five percent of the producer fees. The bonus payment is usually scheduled to be paid on the first day of principal photography along with the five per cent of the producer’s profits as the film starts to recoup.
While development is the most essential money for a movie, it is also the most difficult to raise. Financiers, be they private or industry, consider this money to be the highest risk, and therefore the least attractive from an investment point of view. From a practical level, the more time (and therefore money) that can be put into a film before financing is sought, the better the chance of finance, be it development or production. And the further you can carry the project along without resorting to outside finance, the greater your profit share will be when the film finally comes into a revenue stream.