• Stephen J. Kerr
  • Blogs
  • Investment Banking
  • Industry Experience
  • Project Board
  • Business Plans
BMC online News Stephen J. Kerr
Contact BMC / BAM at: 1-310-666-6474
FOR: Corporate / Film & TV Valuations, Mergers & Acquisitions,
Business 
Plans & Exit Strategies, as well as a broad range of 
Investment Banking services. Reviving Underperforming IP, 
Rebuilding Brands, Creating Financial Projections, Syndicating
​New & Legacy Streaming Media Content, and Helping
Emerging Media Companies Prosper.

Who's On First...

4/7/2013

1 Comment

 
Picture
“Who’s on first.  What? What’s on second. I don’t know.  No. He’s on third”. 

Funding a movie seems a lot like that old Abbot and Costello routine.  Unintelligible answers to insolvable problems.

I hope you’re laughing… because that’s about the only thing that you can do.  “Do you have the $10 million to make your movie? No, my investors want to know that the film will get distributed first.  Well, we can’t commit to distributing your film until you have $10 million”.  See, it always comes back to “Who’s on first”. 

Every producer goes through this.  Investors are wise to the game.  They won’t commit to a film until you can prove to their satisfaction that the movie will be made and distributed as you say.  The theatrical film distributors get so many submissions, that they know that they can sit back and let the producers take all the risk of developing, financing, producing, editing and even pre-marketing the film without making any financial commitment to the project.  While they are taking a chance that you’ll make a big hit that another distributor might profit from… in the movie industry, that usually not a huge risk.

Do the math.  More than 15,000 films are made each year in the English language alone.  Fewer than 700 ever see the inside of a movie theater.  Maybe 100 of those make a significant profit.  To the distributors and exhibitors you represent nothing but risk.  They are in the business of taking a risk on distributing motion pictures to the public, but, if they have their druthers, they’d l limit that downside risk by making no commitment to a film until after it is made, edited and reviewed.   

Back when the studios ran things and made all the movies, they developed films from books and screen plays that they commissioned; financed, produced and then handled all distribution throughout the world.  I worked for Disney… I was once part of that system.  And, the system worked pretty well for the better part of 70 years.  Today, the studios turn out many fewer films and most of those are remakes and sequels.   Not much creativity there.  The really interesting films are being developed, financed and made by indy producers.  Those independents can either try to sell their projects to a studio (good luck with that), release through a “rent-a-studio”, model or chose their own path through the growing legions of independent domestic and foreign distributors like Millennium, Freestyle, Cinedigm or Inferno. 

It’s a tough road. But doable.

So, to answer the eternal question, “Who’s on first”?  Second and third…

You are!  Welcome to the world of independent film making.


1 Comment
Angelique LaCour
4/7/2013 10:58:09 am

Great blog, Stephen! Thanks for putting this out there. Here's what I've decided to do--I'm writing my first novel--a character-driven family drama. With self-publishing and e-books blazing new trails, publishing a first novel is a piece of cake, and pretty cheap. If it finds its audience, "does some business" then one of the big 6 publishing houses may pick it up for the big box booksellers, and/or an indy producer may see it's potential for screenplay adaptation--or none of the above, and that's okay too. In the meantime I have all the control, handle all the promotion, and happily start writing my next novel. If Nicholas Sparks can do it, I know that I can too. Not putting him down, but films like Safe Haven get made because, like his plots, Sparks has a predictable following, and distributors can calculate potential box office based on sales of his books. You are so right--It's all about the numbers. Lucky for me, those numbers don't have to be big for me to "make it" these days:-) Keep tellin' it like it is, Stephen!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Stephen Kerr is president of BMC (Business Marketing Consultants), a subsidiary of Bel Age Medias. 

    He has 30 years experience in the media and entertainment industry. 

    ​See more on his LinkedIn profile.

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    June 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    June 2019
    May 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    May 2016
    August 2015
    June 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

    All
    Content
    Distribution
    Entertainment
    Leadership
    Observations
    Turn Arounds

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.