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Funding for Independent Films
Making 'Independent' Films'………..Myth or Magic…………...first get the money!'
USEFUL CONTACTS AND SOURCES OF FUNDING
First question on most people's minds: how to find the money to make the film?
True independent film production is about financing films from sources that have no control over your story, your vision, your creative ideas. You are free to make the film you want to make …although this generally means that you may have to finance the film yourself! But hey, we're an impoverished artistic community and few filmmakers have the resources to completely make their own films.
FUNDING CONSIDERATIONS
So this is where the various film-funding agencies come and hopefully help you realise your dream film! There are a range of funders you can turn to and they all have their criteria and conditions: receiving this funding depends on the type of film you are proposing. Is your film meant for non-broadcast use i.e. for a local community group, an educational group, a campaign tape for a pressure group? Is it a major film drama for cinema release? Is it a documentary aimed at television? Who will help you to make the film? Are you relying on professionals in the film industry or will it be friends with a bit of know-how or a mixture of both? Are you a writer who wants to see their work turned into a film? Answering these questions will determine whom you approach to raise the necessary funds and of course how much finance you will need.
Tell me a Story
Most filmmakers spend a large proportion of their time not in front of a television or cinema screen but a computer screen; filmmakers have to be good writers! Everything starts from a script: you must begin by putting your ideas clearly down on paper, and there's nothing beats a good idea. So success in raising funds depends on how strong your idea comes across on paper. This is generally all that potential funders have to go on! It doesn't matter if you have a list of award winning credits as long as your arm…even Ken Loach has trouble raising money for each new film…it's the ideas in the script that matter to funders at this stage. Some broadcasters only ask for an outline of your idea, it may just be a couple of pages, other sources may require a much more detailed treatment. It is generally at the script stage that television commissioners decide if they want you to develop the idea further (and perhaps give you a little bit of funding to do so) or, if you're lucky, want you to just go ahead and make it for them. If you're not dealing with broadcast television companies then you may need to work out how much it costs (the budget) to make your film to show potential funders. Most independent films tend to be financed, or co-produced, from a variety of different sources.
Finding a Production Company
Funders tend to favour already established film companies with some sort of track record. You may have to approach such a company and try to get them to produce your film. The producer's task is to put a team and the funding package together. Finding such a producer however is difficult. Production houses are generally small concerns in Northern Ireland and can only take on a few projects per year. Before they even begin to read a script the producer needs to have confidence in the writer, usually one with an already established record i.e. work already published, written some film scripts for radio, film shorts etc., ….afterall it will probably take in the region of at least two years of hustling to raise the funds for a low budget drama based on the script. Unsolicited scripts, i.e. scripts with no endorsement, tend not to be taken seriously by production companies. If the route via a production company isn't possible you may end up setting up your own production company.
BUDGETING
If you're inexperienced it may be difficult to calculate an accurate budget in which case you will need help from an experienced film producer. A one-hour documentary for television, for example, can cost in the region of £180,000! It all depends on which broadcaster you are approaching and their requirements. A 'low budget' drama feature about £350,000. Why does it cost so much? These may seem excessive amounts but when you see a cost breakdown you realise just where all the money goes. So how do you arrive at these figures?
Preparing a budget can be difficult and is a job for someone with experience. Breaking down a documentary script or drama into components is the way they go about it. For example:
how many people are there being interviewed in your programme,
how many different locations are there,
how many days will it take you to shoot it,
how many technical people will you need to work on it,
how long will it take to edit .
what is the total length of the programme?
what format will the production be shot on: film: 16mm, super 16mm, 35mm, or video: Digital or Betacam, all termed as 'broadcast formats' and all relatively expensive formats although film is generally more expensive than video. If it's a non-broadcast production you could shoot on miniDV, the latest digital camcorders, to keep costs down.
LOW BUDGET PRODUCTION
Making a low-budget drama or documentary means cutting budgets to the bone. In practice this can mean roping in a lot of your friends to do non-technical roles for minimal costs or for free, asking a lot of favours of everyone and paying below union rates for the technical personnel and of course exploiting yourself to hell! You may think Union rates of pay are high but bear in mind those who survive in the industry through freelancing are unlikely to find work 5 days a week, every week. You can find rates at www.bectu.org.uk.
APPROACHING FUNDERS
Here is a list of possible funders…some very unlikely sources indeed. All these funders operate their own agendas and different criteria, which is fast changing. It's best to send them a letter first of a rough outline of your project, any deadlines you may have, what format you intend shooting on, the main production people involved, duration of the programme and the intended audience. Hopefully they will send you their guidelines and any application forms. Broadcasters offer many commissioning strands and award schemes. If you think your idea may be of interest to television companies you need to find out first which department and which commissioning editor you should be pitching the idea towards. However you may need to go through an established production company to even get a look-in.
Some television companies operate award schemes. But competition for these is fierce. It is not uncommon for a broadcaster to have 800 applications for 6 ten-minute films! If you live in Northern Ireland unfortunately you are somewhat at a disadvantage when it comes to television film production or indeed any other sort of film production. The major film production and film companies are centred in London and most of the work goes to them!
The Community Arts movement is gaining strength and is increasingly on funders' agendas so this is an excellent time for those working in a community production environment to avail themselves of many unique funding opportunities.
Increasingly local authorities are recognising the value of film and video making as:
a creative medium
a way of building community confidence
of presenting the city in a positive light to an international audience
as an industrial sector offering employment opportunities
fuelling economic regeneration.
extending audio-visual access
addressing the needs of underserved sections of the community
promoting the process of dialogue and reconciliation between people separated by traditional, social or political barriers within and between communities.
PRIVATE SPONSORSHIP
The essence of sponsorship is the notion of an exchange between the sponsor and the recipient. The sponsor pays money to you and in return you commit to promoting its business name, products or services. Sponsorship is normally part of the general promotional expenditure of a business and although that can encompass a sense of corporate or social responsibility it is not philanthropy or patronage.
The main source of funding is the Arts Council Lottery Award (thanks to our colleagues in Britain forcing it onto the Lottery agenda). This is now administered by the Northern Ireland Film and Television Commission. There are a wide variety of schemes and funding for low budget films of up to £5000 is available. They will give you 90% and you will have to find the other 10%, which can be in kind. However, for other schemes you generally need to have funding already (or support in kind) to avail of Lottery funds or a well worked out package of where you will find the matching funds if you are going to the Lottery first. Trying to compete, for larger funds, with the rest of 'mainland based' British filmmakers is increasingly difficult. You need to be a production company as they don't give to individuals. You need to have some form of distribution sorted….tricky when you don't have a broadcaster involved….but then broadcasters really should pay the total costs anyway of most projects….catch 22!
Stop press: May 2003: The Northern Ireland Film and Television Commission have secured production funding, £9.9m over three years, visit their web site to see the criteria.
USEFUL CONTACTS AND SOURCES OF FUNDING
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