Check out Dov Simen’s 10 steps to raising money for your film:

1. GET THE SCRIPT
2. PREPARE PAPERWORK
3. WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN
4. DO YOUR LEGAL WORK
5. SELECT A CINEMATOGRAPHER
6. GET READY TO SELL
7. PHONE THE INVESTOR(S)
8. SEND PAPERWORK
9. SELL THE SIZZLE
10. ASK THE CLOSING STATEMENT

Get more info from his blog.

http://webfilmschool.blogspot.com/2006/12/chapter-14-financing-12192006.html

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