Indie Filmmaking Lessons Learned

In recent weeks we have been asked by several production companies to assist them on film projects.  Knowing that we have our Take A Leap project ahead of us and not able to take on another major project until Spring 2013, we have shared with them the real deal about the costs of filmmaking.  

In those brief conversations, we have encouraged production teams to fundraise before going full swing into production.  They should also include money for marketing and distribution which can get quite expensive depending on marketing efforts and channel of distribution.  More importantly, have funds in place before casting and finalizing locations and shooting dates. Those seem like the first thing to do, but in our past experience, we have learned that having the money in place first is ideal.  


You can always adjust the scale of the production once you have money in place. We encourage fundraising sites such as Indiegogo.com or Kickstarter.com  However, we have only been mildly successful raising a few hundred dollars per production. Yet, they are worth a try because some films have raised well over $100,000 through these fundraising sites. Traditional fundraising ideas should also be considered- yard sales, bake sales, car wash, etc. And if need be, savings, credit cards, and personal loans/line of credit which have been our films primary funding sources.  Best advice is to spend 6-9 months fundraising in advance of start of production.

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