Red Rock Entertainment review: How the film investment companies define the attractiveness of the project?
Global box office revenue will grow by $5 mln worldwide in 2020. The number of the film industry employees continues to grow day by day not only in Hollywood or Bollywood but in Britain’s and France’s filmmaking as well. Generally, the industry becomes a more and more attractive investment opportunity for anyone who has some money.
As the filmmaking grows worldwide, it becomes literally vital to get the funding for your project on time. Experts from a production company Red Rocks Entertainment explain that in the modern world it’s not enough to only draw the attention of the potential film investors; you need to hold it and to persuade them in the profitability of your project. The means you use to do it are entirely up to you. However, there are particular characteristics that all film investors will look for in every new film project. Read below how film investors define the attractiveness of a film project and apply the knowledge to your offer.
Should you pursue investments?
Persuading a potential investor that your project is worth funding is much easier if your film is a narrative. Commercial financing looks much more attractive to the potential investors only because the return on the investment is much more probable and frequently is even a guaranteed deal. In case your film is a documentary or an indie project, be ready that you will have to double your efforts to get the desired money.
Don’t feel down because of the information you’ve just read above because film investment market is currently on the verge of change. More and more festivals open their doors to indie films not only for screenings. Young festivals frequently support indie films either by funding them or by offering free participation, for example. Niche films like documentaries also find lots of support from independent film organizations and communities all over the world. The thing is that you shouldn’t stick to your country limits when looking for an investment offer; go beyond the borders just as your film will.
Film industry is still a business
However artistic and creative film industry might seem, you should always remember that when it comes to money, it’s still a business. Your film project needs to be a sound investment opportunity so that people with money get interested in it. Besides making sense on the paper, your film must also be a project you would invest your own money in. Only when you become convinced in the profitability and worthiness of your film, will you be able to embrace the entrepreneurial spirit and hit the right investors for the project.
Script and pitch
It’s great that you are sure of the profitability of your film, yet your word is not enough to convince your potential investors in this idea. One of the main elements of a successful investment project is a script. It must stand out from the crowd and be genuinely brilliant. Investors’ assistants read tons of trashy scripts on a daily basis, which means that they don’t usually go further than the first couple of pages. If your script is not perfect on those two first pages, then you can forget about getting your money.
Most writers feel very protective of their work, and it’s a common trait: the inability to evaluate the script level objectively. For this reason, you can ask at least your friends and family to read the script before you get to prepare it for investors. You can even work with a script reader who will highlight the strong and weak elements of the script so you can work on them closer. And always remember the industry’s axiom: great scripts get made.
Once the script looks perfect, it’s time to prepare a pitch for the investors. This shouldn’t be a 30-minute presentation with some particular details. No, the pitch should be short, yet capacious. You might meet an investor in the line at a grocery store or in a bar at some party. You never know, so you should always be ready to present it.
Business plan is a must
Once you got an investor interested in your pitch, you will be asked to present a detailed business plan for your project. And it should be a killer one! Business plan is a tool that will bring in funding and make your project into a real film. There are plenty of articles that will guide you through the process of creating a successful business plan for a film, so let’s proceed to the following step.
Return on investment (ROI)
In the film industry creation of a new project is always a gamble that never has a 100% success rate (unless it’s something like Harry Potter or Star Wars saga). When investors look at your business plan, there should be an article about ROI to explain to them how you see the profitability of your project. Yes, generated returns may be stated as 50%-100% for the three-year period; however a more real and actually trustworthy rate should lie within 35% and 85% frame, according to Gary Collins, the CEO of Red Rock Entertainment company. The lower ROI would be too little of a profit for investors to get interested in your project, while a too high number may sound too-good-to-be-true and so have the opposite effect. Here are a couple of good articles to help you understand the ROI numbers better.
The bottom line. The attractiveness of a film investment opportunity is evaluated by how sure you are in the project’s success, and by how well you can present it to the money-giver. Of course, financial calculation, business plan, and ROI numbers do matter a lot.
This testimonial by Red Rock Entertainment is advice: if you want to offer an investment opportunity to someone, you need to be sure that the give-back of the project will have much more value than you’re requesting. Begin your investors hunt only after you have an ideal script, a sound pitch, and a neat business plan.
