The IIFF (Institute for International Film Financing) hosted a “Film Financing Town Hall” this evening at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. The IIFF is dedicated to bridging the gap between film making and finance by hosting networking events and panel discussions in support of connecting filmmakers with investors.
This evening’s event focused on documentary film funding. The panel consisted of Steven Shainberg, acclaimed director/producer/writer of Sundance winner Secretary and director of Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus; Judy Bass, a NYC-based media and entertainment attorney with 25 plus years of experience, Peter Hamilton, a leading international authority on financing, distribution and marketing of documentaries, and Elizabeth Delude-Dix, whose most recent feature documentary, Traces of The Trade: A Story From the Deep North opened at Sundance and screened on PBS.
Peter Hamilton started off with an impressive slide show displaying the wealth poured into the documentary/factual television market by major networks such as The Discovery Channel, PBS, even The Food Network. This is a billion dollar “flourishing market”, but there is a difference between “documentary” and “factual television”. Only about 10 million goes into documentary films, and the rest is used to produce and allocate “factual television”. Mr. Hamilton noted the difference as “factual television is not social film making – this is a market – not deeply felt well crafted films on social issues”. He went on to explain that there are essentially a division between two types of filmmakers, the “Journeyman”, one who approaches a studio and asks “where are you hurting and how can I fix it?”, and an “Artist”, one who asks, “can you fund my project, I’m committed, etc.” Mr. Hamilton also points out that the first of these two is consistently more successful in finding work. He states that he used to be a “lefty” and liked films that had a “fantasy about changing the world”, but now realizes that to get work to pay the bills is also an honorable achievement.
Steven Shainberg says that if you want to make a film, all the resources are available as far as technology is concerned. Cameras, editing systems, etc. can be acquired for next to nothing, and Final Cut Pro is so easy, “even a nine year old can operate it”. He stresses the importance of “the idea” and says that you can go from a nobody to an international sensation based on one film, noting Steven Soderbergh’s success with independently produced Sex, Lies and Videotape, which brought Soderbergh international acclaim at the age of 26. He suggests to borrow money from people you know and to go out and make the film on your own, once you have that magical idea.
The second half of the event had the panel made available to answer questions from the audience.
If you don’t know anyone who can help you with finance and you feel you have a great script or idea, what do you do next? What about an agent? How do you attach stars or a great director to the project? How do you get to these powerful people? What about film festivals?
Mr. Shainberg spoke about the realities of film festivals such as Sundance. First of all, there are approximately 3,000 submissions to fill the 160 slots. Only films featuring “stars” are even considered, aside from one or two, in order to keep the notion of it being an independent film festival, and these nameless films have to be “fantastic” in order to be selected. Out of the 6 documentaries that were actually sold at the festival, the filmmakers collected a gross totaling $0. Yes. Nothing. They essentially gave their films away in order for them to be distributed. That’s the reality.
Steven Steinberg explained that the Catch 22 of Hollywood is that you need a powerful agent to make things happen, but to get a powerful agent you have to had already made things happen. He says, “This is a nightmare that everyone has to go through until you reach an insane amount of power”. He suggests when trying to reach a person of power, for example, if you wanted a high level producer to read your script, then what is best to do is to research the right company and then target someone with the lowest level job position at the production office, “someone who you can seduce to read your script or watch your film”. The reason being, it is assumed that someone at the bottom of the totem pole within the production office will be in search of an exciting project to bring to the head of the company in hopes to advance his or her own career.
The old idea of going into a production house and “pitching” an idea to a studio member is dangerous, says Judy Bass. “It is a power relationship, and you have no power”. Every production studio has a basic contract that you would have to sign that says “if the company has a similar or exact idea to the one that you are pitching, they can produce it without any legal repercussion”.
Steven Shainburg finished with a note of encouragement, saying, “Don’t let the tale wag the dog. At the end of the day, the question is, ‘Did you make the film that you wanted to make’?”
Here are some links that were recommended for documentary funding and film festival research:
Filmmaker Magazine
“Helpful in researching film festivals.” – David Shainberg
The Foundation Center
“A great place to research grants for your documentary. Friendly staff available to help.” – Elizabeth Delude-Dix
Truly Indie
A website designed to grant direct access to distribution services for innovative films and filmmakers.
South by Southwest
Film Festival
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