Financing

Hey, Stage 32 Community, Boy, do I have some exciting updates for you! Our tireless Stage 32 Education Team has been hard at work to bring in some incredible education opportunities and resources for this fantastic community.  Over the next month, you'll have the chance to learn from knowledgeable industry executives, showrunners, acclaimed directors and screenwriters, Emmy-winning producers, video game writers, distributors, attorneys, and representatives. Impressive creative professionals...

As an independent producer, I'm always planning my next project. With a stack of screenplays (many of which are my own), and no Mr. Moneytree waiting to spread his love, it can be challenging. This is why I've taken the Robert Rodriguez approach when it comes to filmmaking. For those of you unfamiliar, Robert Rodriguez's first feature film, El Mariachi, had no crew. And almost no budget. At a meager 7k, he was the writer, director, cinematographer, location scout, sound, and editor. With inflati...

Hi, Stage 32ers! This past month was a busy and exciting time as our Stage 32 Team worked to bring in as many new resources and opportunities as possible to enrich your experience here at Stage 32! Moving forward, we want to share these exciting updates with you as we engage with new Industry Leaders, Executives, and Educators to provide you all with diverse experiences, perspectives, and wisdom. At Stage 32 you have direct access to pros who helped develop, produce, distribute, direct,...

The 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival is running from May 16th- 27th, 2023 in Cannes, France, who's ready?  Stage 32 is thrilled to host an incredible lineup of panels this year taking place at the FilmUSA Pavilion (if you missed our blog announcing the panels, click here). During the day we'll bringing the most innovate panels talking about the shifts in the entertainment industry, and by night, we have some great events in store. If you're planning on attending Cannes this year, be su...

There are multiple financial transactions on an independent film project, to finance, produce, and distribute the film. An example can be an investor that pays money to the production, to invest in a film, with the aim to earn the investment back and receive a return on investment and share in the film’s profits, if any. Another potential scenario is an international co-production. The co-producers from different countries jointly produce a film and each of the co-producers provides a financ...

Having been in film for decades, producing and distributing many films and documentaries, I am very aware of the difficulties in trying to fund independent films. After some deliberation, my approach to project funding has changed. New technologies and changes in funding legislation have created innovative funding sources that should be incorporated into an updated "hybrid film funding strategy". New funding sources have become available, but it is also important to identify the involvement and...

Indian Cinema, often loosely defined as ‘Bollywood,’ has much more to it than meets the eye. The films in India are produced in over 20 languages and an equal number of dialects. However, the mainstream cinema of Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu languages is generally considered financially viable and offers great opportunities. This millennium has seen Indian Feature Films and even web series reaching foreign shores. We began this experiment when we took Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Devdas and its st...

I am a Distributor turned Filmmaker. I have a finance degree and a law degree and I spent the first 22 years of my film career in Distribution. Then I got the bug to become creative. I have since made and successfully self-distributed 7 feature films, 3 of which are presently airing on Netflix worldwide. I help hundreds of indie filmmakers and the initial conversation usually goes like this: Jeff to Filmmaker: “You need to think about distribution BEFORE you make your movie because it could...

Hey Stage 32ers! We have a fantastic industry creative here, Ryan Little, to share with you the top three things you need to land financing for your film. As always, we want to make sure that our ever-growing Stage 32 community has access to as many valuable resources as possible through the blog, and that's just what Ryan has brought us today! Ryan Little is a director, producer, and cinematographer with over 20 years of experience in the industry. His first feature, SAINTS AND SOLDIERS,...

Hello Creative Army! Read any of the trades right now and our industry is in a rapid state of change. The entire Stage 32 team is on the phone every day to keep their fingers on the pulse of what's happening. It's an exciting time for you as a content creator - whether you work in film, television, or digital - and it's equally exciting for content makers because the world has opened wide to international voices traveling beyond borders. We are seeing more and more diverse and international...