Let’s have an honest conversation about everyone’s favorite topic - making money.
For emerging filmmakers, funding and making money can be two of the most frustrating topics to understand and overcome. The lack of a budget tends to deter creatives from making their films, taking years to hit their big break, and getting caught in an endless loop of stress and anxiety.
When I started in this industry, I was incredibly naive about my understanding of how to be successful in the film business. I assumed things would work out because my creativity was worthy of funding. I believed that somehow, without a business plan or investment model, someone would see my vision and invest in my abilities.
Over the years, I’ve seen my mindset shift around filmmaking, and I’ve slowly developed a better understanding of the reality of this industry, which is that filmmaking is a business.
Yes, films are made on artistic passion, creative vision, and community - but nevertheless, this is a $25.81 billion industry. It’s also a highly competitive one. Every year, thousands of films are produced worldwide, ranging from major blockbusters to small indie films. Many of the projects we hear about in theaters, streaming on online platforms, or running the film festival circuit comprise only roughly 10 percent of these films. The vast majority go unseen, unlauded, and unprofitable.
Now, I know that can sound a bit daunting and, honestly, downright discouraging, but it doesn’t have to be, and let me explain why.
Over the past hundred years, making films has proven to be a successful business model, and the industry has found ways to evolve, adapt, and withstand economic, political, and societal uncertainty. For emerging filmmakers, this means there is a proven roadmap that shows us how we can grow to be successful in this industry.
To do this, there are two necessary mindsets we need to adopt.
Let’s call the first one our creative mind. This includes our ability to write, produce, and execute our projects and tell beautiful stories about the world. Our creative mind is the one we spend a lot of time developing, honing, and crafting because it's the more exciting one to work within. In fact, I would reckon a lot of you are already pretty good at operating in this mindset.
The second necessary mindset, and arguably, the one that is harder to develop, is the ability to sell that creativity. Let’s call this our business mind.
As emerging filmmakers, we must realize that our creativity is not only art but also a product, service, or idea worthy of investment, funding, and support. Yes, we make films because we have something to say about the world, but if we want to have a career in making films, we have to start developing this business mind.
This means learning how to fund your work, network with other members of the industry, scale your business model, and sell your product. By developing our business mind, we are learning to finance our passions and become entrepreneurs of our creativity.
Now, the problem is that we too often spend all our time in the creative mind, focusing on our art and working on our creativity. Don’t get me wrong, spending a lot of time honing your craft is not a bad thing, but when we neglect our business mind, we indirectly limit our ability to allow ourselves more space, time, and resources to support the creative mind.
Truthfully, unless you’re producing blockbusters, writing the next HBO series, or above the line on the next Gerwig film, you’re likely still living a life where your creativity isn’t the primary source of income. And the goal, I would assume, is to make your creativity and your income intricately intertwined.
That’s why it’s imperative to learn to develop both of these mindsets. We need our business mind nearly as much as our creative one, especially if we want to sell our creative ideas, finance our passions, and build a career in the film industry.
The way we use the two minds may look different to everyone, but whatever your goals and aspirations are, our ability to use the business mind to support the creative mind may be one of the most important things to learn to make it in this film business.
Throughout this newsletter, I want to dive more into the topics of the film business and share my experiences, learnings, and failures from my efforts to combine these two minds. In addition, we will hear and learn from the experiences of other successful members of the industry who’ve paved their own path in the film business. Make sure to sign up below to receive the free edition of the newsletter every Sunday evening.
Thanks for reading, The Backlot will return on Wednesday with the first installment of our Oscar’s Preview. See you around!
Film Industry Value - https://www.popflick.com/film-industry-statistics