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The Business Side: From Start-up to Success By Michael Wiese

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Reference: StudentFilmmakers Magazine, June 2007. The Business Side: From Start-up to Success By Michael Wiese. Pages 54 – 56.

Most students of film, whether they are in a film school or not, fail to consider the business aspects of filmmaking.

It’s something, at least in my case, that I stumbled into. Usually, we all start out simply wanting to make films. We pay for them with our credit cards, savings, money from our day jobs, or friends and family. But eventually we have to face the fact that unless we can make a commercial go of it, we’re not going to be making that second or third film — and certainly a career isn’t in the future.

My own career was jump-started because I got lucky producing a popular and profitable short film. It was titled HARDWARE WARS and was a parody of “Star Wars.” It was called the first “fan” film, although ironically I am not a “Star Wars” fan. I made it with director Ernie Fosselius, really just to poke fun at Hollywood. It cost $5,000 and has returned to our investors and us around $1 million. (That includes over nearly 28 years marketing and promoting it). What we quickly discovered was that the success of the film came not only because it was funny but also because it
had “brand awareness.” It was already a pre-promoted product because of the huge marketing push on “Star Wars.”

What other short films can you name that have that kind of tie-in? Very few.

So rule number one on the business side of filmmaking creativity is:

When you make a programming decision, you are automatically making a marketing decision.

This is crucial. When you decide what you will make, you are deciding how well (or how poorly) the film can be marketed. Do you have stars in your film? (This is branding. People come to see their favorite stars.) Is it based on a well-known novel, or song, or true life incident? These things will help elevate the “I-want-to-seethat- film” over and above the vast competition you will have. The more desirable the want-to-see factor, the greater the audience and
revenues.

You can choose to ignore adding marketable elements to your film. You can say that it’s “too commercial.” But sooner or later (probably sooner) you’ll realize that no one will fund your films because there isn’t any obvious return on their investment.

Making media whether it is film, DVD, or television is a commercial enterprise. This doesn’t mean you cannot tell the kind of stories that inspire or move audiences, or are about serious issues; it simply means you need to be smart as you design your concept.

The Pitch: budget, audience, genre and appeal

The second rule that may be helpful to you is: When you pitch your project, the marketability needs to be heard by the other person in your presentation. That is, the budget level, the audience, the genre and appeal of the film must all be delivered in a single sentence. (These loglines are very hard to write. I suggest you read Blake Snyder’s fabulous “Save the Cat” book, which explains how to write and pitch high concepts. Blake is a master at this, having sold over 30+ screenplays including one to Spielberg – and yes, he’s one of the authors my company publishes and yes, I am prejudiced. I love that guy!)

For example, here’s the logline (and I admit it, Blake helped) for a film I’ve developed to be shot in Bali:

“A vacation to Bali becomes a journey into the unknown when two brothers with a mysterious past fall in love with a village girl trained in the magic of the jungle.” What does this one line tell us about budget, audience, genre,
and appeal?

Bali! That’s far away so the film isn’t going to be ultra cheap, but then again it appears to only have three main characters so this will keep costs down. The audience is going to be mostly males (18-35) who want to see an adventure film (perhaps with magic or supernatural elements?) and there’s the attraction of a love interest. Beach, surf, sex? An island paradise? So there you have it…in one line, all the elements that tell the buyer, investor, distributor, “yes,” I can sell this. I got it. It’s clear, not confusing.

Does this get at the core theme of the movie? No, not really. But it opens the door and does the first job of the pitch:

Get interest.

Most filmmakers start telling the story of their film and in a minute or two the eyes of the listener glaze over.

Listeners want the instant gratification of ascertaining that the film, DVD, television show is marketable. Of course, later they will want to read the script to see if the expectations of the pitch are really delivered.

Always find an exchange, a win-win.

Business is always about exchange (and creating a win-win for both parties). You can employ this rule in everything you do.

As you develop your project there will be many people who help you. They should receive compensation in some form. This may be a lunch, cash, credits, publicity, or points in your project — depending on how much they contributed. It can be small or large based on what they do for the project.

Even if they say they will do something for free, be sure to send them a box of chocolates, a thank you note, a CD or
DVD. Make sure there is an exchange.

You’ll think of something. Maybe there is something you could do for them.

This isn’t necessarily a legal thing; it is simply acknowledging others for their contribution to what you are doing. Of
course investors will expect to have their money paid back and receive a share of profits in proportion to their contribution percentage of the budget.

You meet the same people on the way up as on the way down.

It’s simply good business to be courteous and respectful of everyone regardless of their station or apparent power in the media business. Fortunes come and go. They will for you and they will for others. One year you’ll be at the bottom rung on the ladder and the next year you’ll be at the top. Any year you could be on any rung.

So kindness and treating people with respect goes a long way. After all, people want to work with people who are enthusiastic, generous, and fun.

Salary versus equity: a balance.

When I started out I was always thrilled to receive royalty checks that came to me as a result of my films being distributed. It was never very much, but it gave me the idea that if I could generate more royalties I wouldn’t have to work a day job. That is, exchange my hours for dollars. I could spend my day hours doing what I liked best: making films.

In the beginning I worked all sorts of other jobs and did my filmmaking after work. Kind of a typist by day, filmmaker by night scenario, until eventually I was working full time in media producing live television, commercials, pay television shows, videos, film, and books.

If you can produce media products and retain the copyright in them, it is possible after many years to have a library of products generating royalties. These royalties can support or partially support you, and ideally, even finance new work. I think that’s where we’d all like to be.

Focus on one area or skill If there is some subject area or genre that you really like, you’d be well advised to work within those limitations. Yes, we’d all like to be the next Ang Lee who succeeds brilliantly at whatever he seems to touch. But it’s probably more realistic to find an area and get better and better at it so you become the “go-to guy” (or lady).

They want documentaries on underwater subjects. They go to you.

They want corporate pieces on medical science. They go to you.

They want fall down laughing comedies. They go to you. But don’t try to do them all, for when they go, it won’t be to you.

I picked publishing filmmaking books. I started with one that I wrote myself and no one would publish. Then I wrote a few more. Then I got other people to write books for the company. All of the titles were “how-to” filmmaking books. I started this in 1981 and now we are one of the very few publishers in this niche. We almost “own” the niche. We are the go-to guys for film books.

Being entrepreneurial, I’ve tried to publish health books, fiction, humour, and even a book on crop circles. They were good books.

All failed miserably. Why? Because I didn’t know the market as well as I know the film book market. We know everyone: the book reviewers, the distribution channels, the foreign buyers, the web sites, the film festivals, the film schools. Everyone. This doesn’t happen overnight. You build those relationships. You get known for one thing. Pe ople are more comfortable with that. I’ve had several careers where I’ve been known for different things. They don’t mix. It confuses people if you do too many things. (It’s like actors who want to become rock stars. Doesn’t
work.) So pick something that you really enjoy, that you’d be thrilled to be doing every day for the rest of your life, and success is almost guaranteed. (You simply outlive your competition!)

Buy Low, Sell High

This is common to all businesses. Your costs must be significantly lower than what you expect to receive from sales. I
am just completing a feature documentary that I shot in Tibet.

Contrary to what most filmmakers passionately believe about their own work, this is not a film for everyone. It is made for a narrow audience: people interested in Tibet, the Dalai Lamas, and Tibetan Buddhism. The good news is that these people can be easily found through magazines, the web, and various organizations. The film will not be marketed to everyone. I spent very little on making the documentary, which will be distributed on DVD. But with a low production budget and low marketing costs, it should be successful over time.

Find multiple revenue streams

What I learned early on through the lessons of “Hardware Wars” is that the more revenue streams you can generate, the greater your profits. Also, one market informs another and provides an additional marketing kick. So if your short plays theatrically – as ours did – people may buy a ticket to see it AND later buy the video. “Hardware Wars” was first popular at film festivals, which built word of mouth. Then it rented and was sold as a nontheatrical 16mm film to schools and libraries. Then it was a laser disk, and then a video. It was distributed in 35mm film, licensed
to pay cable, commercial television, PBS, and foreign networks.

We sold stock footage. Baseball caps and lunch pails were merchandized. We streamed it on the web. And more recently a DVD loaded with special features was released. This demonstrated to me that you can slice the pie (of your concept) in many different formats and media forms and generate profits from many areas.

Follow the rules. Break the rules. I wish you all great success!

Michael Wiese is a filmmaker, author, and publisher. His most recent book, “Film and Video Budgets”, “The Sacred Sites of the Dalai Lamas” his Tibetan film, and “Hardware Wars” may all be found at www.mwp.com.

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