1st Edition
Making Movies Without Losing Money Practical Lessons in Film Finance
Introduction
PART 1 One small problem
1 A surprising discovery
2 The journey begins
PART 2 The obstacles
3 The culture of secrecy
4 Fear and loathing: commercial is a dirty word?
5 This stuff is complicated
6 Falling revenues: falling demand for indies
7 The downside of festival culture
8 Trends in film journalism
PART 3 How films make money
9 Rubber, meet road
10 The players
11 Monetization
12 How much to DIY
13 Promotion and publicity – who’s selling this thing, anyway?
PART 4 Making profitable films
14 Sell the sizzle
15 Development: crafting a commercial success
16 Genre
17 Rising above genre
18 More film elements
19 Drafting
20 Casting
21 Producers and producing
22 Financials
23 Raising money the traditional way – beg
24 Before you start begging
25 Reducing the risk when presales don’t work
26 Press – the gift that keeps on giving
Conclusion
Top ten lessons
Appendix: case studies, interviews and producer profiles
Case study: micro- budget filmmaking – Marcus Mizelle
Interview with legendary film school teacher Dov Simens
Case studies: niche moviemaking – Tom Malloy
Case studies: low-risk, low-budget sci fi – Jeffrey Giles
Case study: making 70 films with Daniel Zirilli of PopArt Film Factory
Biography
Daniel Harlow, a Departmental Scholar from UCLA, founded a technology consulting firm in 1993 which grew to 300 employees in six offices around the country. After selling his company, Harlow attended the Independent Film Producer Program at UCLA. He is currently the founder and CEO of a new hi-tech startup, Bunker 15 Films, with the mission to help indie films find their audience through Smart Publicity and Promotional programs. Harlow believes, with good technology and good planning, filmmakers can sustain financially rewarding careers.
