“Notwithstanding last year’s disparaging headlines regarding declining box office and DVD sales, 2006 ticket sales and DVD purchases proved that the public actively enjoys movie-going and the in-home DVD experience, despite the proliferation of other entertainment alternatives,” Genius Products CEO Trevor Drinkwater said.

Much of the cheery-eyed optimism floating around the studio DVD divisions stems from the fact that the industry has just come off an exceptionally strong fourth quarter. Things got off to a good start when 20th Century Fox’s X-Men: The Last Stand and Buena Vista’s The Little Mermaid Platinum Edition generated $80 million in consumer spending in a single day. Further triumphs came as the quarter progressed, culminating this month when Buena Vista’sPirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest sold 10.5 million DVDs its first week in stores, putting it on track to become the top-selling live-action DVD ever.

“A couple of interesting things happened in the fourth quarter,” Warner Home Video president Ron Sanders said. “You had some very strong theatricals that performed very well across the board, and you also had the additional benefit of TV-DVD continuing to have a huge upside, year-over-year. All of this pointed to a very healthy category.”

Visit BrandWeek for more information:

http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/sportsent/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003525962

Came across an excellent article on the role of the director in helping to raise funding for a film project.

If Reitman’s story proves just how hard a director has to fight to get his film made today, it also is indicative of something else: the blurring of the lines between what might once have been considered a director’s role and that of a producer. “As an independent director, you can’t simply wait for a job to come to you,” Reitman says. “You have to create the work yourself. I see producing and directing as one and the same.”

Today, directors like Reitman are key players in almost every aspect of getting their films made — from sweet-talking actors and developing business strategies to wooing financiers and even overseeing marketing campaigns.

“It is so hard to get a movie made that the idea of sitting back and waiting for somebody to put it together for you is just a pipe dream,” says Neil Burger, the director of Yari Film Group Releasing’s “The Illusionist.” “Nobody is going to believe in something as much as you do or have the real passion to push it through — which isn’t to say there aren’t good producers who work really hard. But it is naive to think anybody is going to do it all for you.”

http://tinyurl.com/w7gmn

ITVS IS LOOKING FOR

• programs that will bring new audiences, topics and voices to public television
• television programs in any genre, including drama, documentary, docudrama, animation, experimental works or innovative combinations
• single programs of standard broadcast length (56:40 or 26:40). In rare cases when a maker’s skills, subject and story structure warrant it, ITVS will consider programs at feature lengths through the Open Call and DDF initiatives.

ITVS IS NOT LOOKING FOR PROGRAMS THAT ARE

• completed and only seeking distribution
• series proposals
• projects intended solely for theatrical release

HOW IS ITVS FUNDING DIFFERENT FROM A GRANT?
Accepted applicants will receive funding in the form of a “Production License Agreement” for production (Open Call or LInCS) or a “Development/Option Agreement” for development (DDF). Both of these contracts assign ITVS certain important rights over the production. Please read carefully the “ITVS License Agreement”.

http://www.itvs.org/producers/funding_guidelines.html

http://www.itvs.org/producers/funding.html

A recent article on BusinessWeek.com offers this advice:

An Investor In the Biz

When looking for investors in the film industry, it’s helpful to reach out to the talent agencies, says Jeff Fishman, a Los Angeles-based financial adviser who works with many entertainment clients. “Agents have relationships with many movie financiers. If you’re looking to meet people at the agencies, try to attend film festivals or even enter your film in a festival. This is usually a great venue to meet varied people from throughout the entertainment industry.”

Your ideal investor will be someone from the industry who knows you well and can help you not only financially, but also strategically. “Such an investor will help you tactically take things to the next level,” says Channing Chen, a venture consultant with the San Francisco Small Business Development Center. “These people…understand what it takes to make this movie successful from a financial standpoint.”

Read more:
http://tinyurl.com/wqub5

I think Business Week missed the boat on this one. While talent agencies do play a critical role in financing, if you do not have an established set of relationships this path is not going to be helpful.

Likewise the advice about seeking investors with experience in film is probably just plain wrong. If you are just beginning your fund raising activities, you need to tap into people who can make an investment of $25,000 or greater. These people are business owners, doctors, perhaps people with family wealth. If they are already in the film business, I think you will find it particularly difficult to recruit them as an investor in your project.

Report: Financing Mobile Video Projects Not an Easy Task

11/06/2006

The market for mobile TV and video is growing rapidly, but content providers are finding it difficult to finance new projects, according to a new report by Informa Telecoms and Media in partnership with peacefulfish.

Informa forecasts worldwide revenue from mobile TV and video services will rise from $2.46 billion in 2006 to $8.35 billion in 2011, but content providers vying for a share of this market face challenges.

“While mobile TV and video content is less expensive to produce than film or broadcast TV content, it still requires upfront production costs that typically run several thousand dollars per minute,” said Chris Coffman, senior research analyst at Informa and author of the report. “Revenue shares don’t fund the initial creation of content. The mobile TV and video sector would benefit from distributors, such as broadcasters, mobile operators and content aggregators, sharing in more of the risk.”

The report said companies from both the mobile and media industries are using minimum guarantees and licensing payments to help finance projects. Content providers also rely on outside investments.

The report also suggested producers take advantage of mobile video users’ desire to watch short clips and create new formats and programs designed specifically for that format.

Informa Telecoms and Media www.informatm.com

peacefulfish www.peacefulfish.com

http://www.xchangemag.com/articles/537/6bh612512990066.html

Filmmakers should keep up-to-date on developments regarding content creation for mobile platforms. While licensing is in its early stages, there is a tremendous potential for creativity, and evenutally, meaningful revenues.

Philippe Martinez, a newcomer to Hollywood, won the film by outbidding seasoned art-house studios and by gaining the trust of the movie’s writer and first-time director, David Ayer, who had financed the film by mortgaging his own house.

“I thought, ‘We can be neophytes together and reinvent the system,’ ” Mr. Ayer said in an interview last week at his Silver Lake office, where a folded and framed American flag hung behind his desk.

But the system, he has since learned, is not so easily reinvented. Now, “I want the warm, loving embrace of the studios,” he said. “Studios are the way they are for a very good reason.”

More than a year after Toronto, “Harsh Times” is just making its way toward a Nov. 10 release, with scant public awareness, a nest of tense financiers and a handful of abandoned release dates in its wake. …

The complications over “Harsh Times” — which at first light had some festivalgoers talking Oscar for Mr. Bale — are symptomatic of the perilous road that Hollywood newcomers and independent producers face. Almost everyone involved was new to some aspect of the business: Mr. Ayer was a first-time, self-financing director, Mr. Martinez a brand-new distributor who promptly handed over actual distribution to the newly pared-down MGM.

Read the full story at the New York Times [subscription required]: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/26/movies/26hars.html

This article in the New York Times discusses the financing and distirbution of Harsh Times, from first-time director David Ayer and starring Christian Bale. I think it underscores the point that obtaining an acquisition deal, seen by many filmmakers as the end of the journey, is in many ways just the beginning.

Casting a major star in the film, and getting a $4M acquisition deal, has not automatically led to a lucrative film that enables investors to recoup their investment and turn a profit.

Australian stories drown in sea of American films

“WHILE many are talking about the resurgence of the Australian film industry, revenue from overseas sales has slumped.” …

“The soaring number of “independent films”, produced cheaply with international stars outside the Hollywood system, had made it harder for Australian releases to attract attention overseas.” …

“Under the Government’s review of film funding, the corporation has lobbied for a new tax offset that would attract more private investment to the industry.

It has also argued that the existing tax offset for higher-budget productions be increased from 12.5 per cent to 15 per cent to rival the incentives offered by other countries chasing offshore Hollywood productions.”

Garry Maddox, Film Writer, Sydney Morning Herald, October 27, 2006

Great post from the CinemaTech blog:

- The Audience Database

It seems that one of the most important assets for a filmmaker in the 21st century isn’t going to be a camera, a great casting director, a well-connected producing partner, or a relationship with a distributor. (Though all those things are nice to have.) It’s going to be the audience database: a collection of the e-mail addresses and ZIP codes of the people who’ve seen your previous movies, purchased them on DVD or as a download, or expressed interest in your work.

Arin Crumley and Susan Buice, the filmmakers behind `Four Eyed Monsters,’ are already converts. By accumulating enough e-mail addresses and ZIP codes of people who wanted to see their movie this year, they were able to arrange 24 theatrical screenings of `Monsters’ in September, which netted $13,000 in combined box office. “We have this audience base,” Crumley said, “and we know how to communicate with them.”

This is a very insightful post. Go read the rest!

We will be posting an article in the next week about using online strategies to build a following for your film. In the meantime, check out this cool online promotional feature:

Film Grants in the State of New York:

As one of the world’s largest and most important production centers, New York City is the ultimate place to break into the media and entertainment industries. To help support the City’s rising film, theatre and broadcasting stars, numerous organizations offer fiscal sponsorship and a variety of other resources. Here’s where to go for more information on grants and sponsorship:

The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting artists in New York State. NYFA Source is the organization’s online database listing thousands of grants and sponsorship opportunities available to artists in a variety of fields, including film, theatre and broadcasting. The database allows users to search by discipline, geographic area and other criteria to develop lists of grants for which they are eligible to apply. Through NYFA Source Live Assistance, the organization provides free advice via telephone and e-mail to help artists with this process.

NYFA also awards more than $11 million in grants to individual artists annually, and offers fiscal sponsorship to emerging media and artistic organizations. NYFA sponsorship provides these organizations with the legal status and 501 (c) (3) non-profit, tax exempt status required to apply for funding from many organizations. For more information, visit http://www.nyfa.org.

New York State also awards grants to non-profit arts organizations. The program is administered by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and funded by the Governor, New York State Legislature and National Endowment for the Arts. For more information on these awards and on other resources available to artists in the State, visit www.nysca.org.

Source: http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/html/incentives/film_grants.shtml

New York City, with a population of over eight million people, is located at the mouth of the Hudson River Estuary which stretches 153 miles inland from the Atlantic ocean and includes a wide range of wetland habitats. Home to more than 200 species of fish, the Hudson River Estuary serves as a nursery ground for sturgeon, striped bass and American shad. It also supports an abundance of other river-dependent wildlife, especially birds. (Photo: Stanne/NYSDEC)

On the http://filmbiz101.com resource website we posted a page that asks:

A distribution or acquisition deal can help you recoup your investment, but how do you get the financing in the first place???

We think this is a critical question for just about every documentary filmmaker. Check out our observations on the state of funding for this genre.

Here is one tidbit:

Private donors are important and you may be able to obtain their financial contributions. In order to offer a tax benefit to donors, you must either establish a non-profit organization or your project must receive Fiscal Sponsorship.

Read the full article on funding documentaries