Getting funding for your film is wonderful but there are also lots of potential pitfalls and complications. The good folk at Active Voice have created a website to help both filmmakers and funders steer a course through these turbulent waters. Check out The Prenups and download a copy for youself.
Brian Newman (CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute) gave this talk to the Tribeca All Access filmmakers yesterday. It’s a little odd looking at slide shows without being guided through them but this gives a good survey of the current online options available to you as filmmakers.
I’ve just been having a look at Reelisor, a new initiative by Discovery Campus who are known for their fantastic training/mentoring events for documentary filmmakers in Europe, along with a string of key partners including BRITDOC and EDN. Reelisor looks like a mixture of an online marketplace, resource and network for doc folk. Savvy filmmakers are getting increasingly strategic about international partnerships when it comes to financing and distributing their films and this is a good place to start as there are already some solid filmmakers, commissioning editors and other documentary professionals on board.
Make sure you check out the other opportunities from Discovery Campus. I know people who really benefited from attending their Discovery Masterschool (unfortunately applications are now closed for 2009 but you can put it on your to do list to apply next year for 2010!).
Here’s the skinny from them:
Do you have new projects on the slate and are looking for broadcasters and additional money? Your recent films are going on air? You are interested in financing new and innovative projects?
JOIN www.reelisor.com
This is the best way to show and tell, or to find projects for your slot. Upload your trailers, project details, build your community!
At Discovery Campus events, thousands of documentary film professionals have been trained by hundreds of experts and decision makers from around the world. Discovery Campus is very well connected with all relevant European training institutions, film schools, major documentary festivals, markets and national documentary associations.
Supported by the MEDIA Programme and together with its partners BRITDOC, EDN, Sunny Side of the Doc, IDF (Institute of Documentary Film, Prague), The D-Word, ZeLIG, DOK Leipzig, dragon forum and documentor, Discovery Campus has now launched the new online cooperation platform for European doc film professionals: reelisor.
reelisor is a navigator for existing platforms and websites. It offers guidance and information throughout the whole year. Its mission is to encourage training, education and the exchange of knowledge within the international film market and its related fields.
reelisor is a freely accessible tool for networking with user-generated content and projects from all over Europe and the world. It connects documentary film professionals, commissioning editors, festivals, markets and all other iniatives active in the industry.
reelisor – YOUR ONLINE ACCESS TO THE WORLD OF NON-FICTION
No need to hesitate, register now, it takes two minutes!
We are looking forward to having you on board,
Your reelisor team
I’m moderating this panel on Monday at 10am at the Conference during Independent Film Week. If you want to find out where the money is, and I know that you do!, please stop by.
FILMMAKING 2.0
Show Me the New Money
Where do you begin when navigating the wide variety of traditional and new media services, sites and opportunities being promoted to assist filmmakers in raising money? How do these tools and services differ from traditional private equity and film financing models? How can the right mix of all three help you access new sources while getting you that much closer to production?
Monday, September 15th, 10am – 11am
Panelists:
Miles Beckett, CEO, EQAL
Ryan Harrington, Indiepix Studios
Slava Rubin, CEO, IndieGoGo
Joel Wright, VP Interactive Media, Paradigm
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and Shooters present ‘Short Sighted’, an intensive day devoted to helping you get your short film exhibited and distributed.
Sunday 14 September, at BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London. Shooting People and BAFTA members pay only £15; everyone else pays £30. The price also includes a little black book of useful contacts and websites.
shootingpeople.org/shortsighted
This is a whole day event of sessions, workshops, surgeries and networking opportunities aimed at people who have made a short film, and want to know what to do next. Already confirmed are MySpace, YouTube, Shorts International, Encounters, British Council, Film London, Filmaka, Cinelan, Daily Motion and BT Vision to name a few of many.
Sessions will cover every step in the process of getting your film out to an audience and the people who might fund future work, from maximising your film’s festival life to knowing the inside story on traditional short film sales to TV and DVD. We’ll also help you judge when and where to put your film online, and look to where short film exhibition in headed in this digital age and ask if it just might start to generate revenue for filmmakers.
I’ve just been checking out ReelChanges, a website that offers a fundraising platform and fiscal sponsorship for documentary projects that “make a contribution to cultural or artistic or educational expression.”
There are a number of websites out there now offering filmmakers the ability to raise money for their films online. I can see lots of great opportunites for crowd-sourced financing if you postition your film strategically and market it accordingly. But these are not easy things to do in a crowded marketplace when you are competing with lots of other films seeking funding. It would be great to get comments from you about the sites you have found useful.
Morrie Warshawski is in NYC this week doing some workshops. If you want to get some great tips on how to raise money for your film then Warshawski is a great place to start. You can also purchase his books: Shaking the Money Tree and The Fundraising Houseparty.
From D-Word:
Applying for ITVS? Want to avoid some of the pitfalls? Starting today at The D-Word, ITVS leading executives Joy-Marie Scott, Cynthia Kane, Karim Ahmad and Kathryn Washington join us online to take us through the complexities of applying for ITVS funds. This moderated “ITVS Special Conference” runs from 17th to 22nd December.
The D-Word, co-hosted by founder Doug Block in New York, Ben Kempas in Munich and John Burgan in Denmark has been hosting documentary discussion forums online since 1999. Membership consists of more than 2000 professional documentary filmmakers from some 80 countries around the world.
As well as the regular discussion boards, The D-Word holds a series of moderated online conferences with guest experts in the field. These week-long discussions cover the art, craft, business and social impact of documentary film.
For more information, join us at www.d-word.com
