ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

9 years, 11 months ago - Lee 'Wozy' Warren

Oh and it's $199...

9 years, 11 months ago - Dan Selakovich

"Slated" is a much better service. They have industry heavyweights, investors, and the best analytics I've ever seen.

9 years, 11 months ago - Raza Mallal

FilmEstimates.com correlates the parameters of a specific feature film project to similar ones in the largest database of historical film financial information, OpusData from Nash Information Services (The Numbers). Additionally, it takes the current value (bankability) of main cast & crew into account. Hence, FilmEstimates is not a software but an online tool that automates what many sales agents and distributors use anyway to calculate their estimates but at a fraction of the time needed to manually process the data. This may also be helpful for screenwriters and filmmakers (e.g. those who do not yet have financing in place which would enable firm name cast attachments; which then would attract sales agents and distributors as cornerstones for discussions with investors) to make meaningful decisions in view of their project's potential.

9 years, 11 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

A sales estimate is certainly useful, better still is a sales estimate from someone you're going to hold to it. I mean, I'll happily estimate you a film budget, but if you're going to hold me to it, you'll get a more useful answer, kinda similar...

Better still is a sales guarantee, that's something you can actually advance against. You might get one of those if you have competing sales agents believing in (ie that they can make decent money from) your project. Sales estimates are free if the agent thinks they can sell your project (which is based largely on names).

9 years, 11 months ago - Adam Ethan Crow

The problem with this service is that your P&L needs to be done by someone with a real reputation, for it to have any value at all. And a bloke with an online-algorithm really doesn't cut it.

9 years, 11 months ago - Marlom Tander

Sceptic hat on.

If these numbers were in any way reliable it would be much easier to get films funded and it wouldn't be considered the insane risk that it is.

So, what do people (investors, or, to be more accurate, people investing other people's money) want when they ask for a sales agent report?

They want a comfort blanket. They want to know that "an experts opinion is....." and if that opinion supports their view that they should invest, if it bombs, they can show their due dilligence. "We saw the expert reports".

A software tool just won't cut it.

From a math perspective, I doubt that the data is solid enough to draw any conclusions at all. To value an actor in any remotely rigorous way, in the context of "do we book him for this film now" you really want the data of at least 15 films, preferably all released within the past year or so, all starring him. Ditto for your other main cast. Ah, er...

Which is why it's a judgement issue, and why I think investors won't take software generated reports seriously.