Film Funding Abbie Shuttleworth

Introduction

I am researching into Film funding for Small films and how I would be able to secure my funding's for my film. I will look into many different ways of funding such as charities, local councils, banks and many more. I will find out who they are, what their purpose/motifs are, why they might fund a film and which types of film they might fund. I will also work out what method of funding will be most suitable when creating my own film. I will research into how to secure funding for my film and why.

Charities

Who are they?Charities such as the Wellcome Trust fund films. The Wellcome trust encourage original and imaginative art projects.

What is their purpose/motives?Charities purpose to is to raise money for a specific thing, for example Wellcome Trust tend to fund biomedical science.

Why might they fund a film?Charities might fund a film to get recognition.

Which types of film might they want to fund? Most charities would want to fund what there charity is about, f0r example if someone made a film about a dog then a charity is more likely to fund it if It was a dog charity. The Wellcome Trust tend to fund films that have something to do with biomedical science.

How to secure funding?When looking at the website for the Wellcome Trust, it was easy on how to secure a fund. On there webpage there is a link on to apply for it.

http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/?gclid=CPGmlfGg7LoCFc7JtAod_lYAIQ

Local Councils

Who are they?The local council are a group of people that look after the town.

What is their purpose/motives?Their purpose is to fix roads and cater for the town. They tend to be in charge of the town and costs.

Why might they fund a film?The council might fund a film to make the town get noticed and to make money.

Which types of film might they want to fund? Local councils might want to fund films that are maybe filmed in their town as it might attract people to visit.

When creating my opening sequence, if I was to use my local town Dunstable and it was advertising it to attract people then I could ask my local council of Central Bedfordshire for funding.

http://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/default.aspx

Banks

Who are they?Banks are business that handle money. They lend money out in order to help people.

What is their purpose/motives?The banks purpose is to make more money. They look after money and take loans.

Why might they fund a film?The bank might fund a film to get more publicity

Which types of film might they want to fund? Banks would want to fund films that are going to have a high profit in order for them to be successful.

If I was to go to the bank to fund my opening sequence then I could just take out a loan where as if I had a high profit film then I could turn to the bank to fund me personally rather than just taking out a massive loan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyds_Bank

The British Film Institute

Who are they?The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation that is established by the Royal Charter.

What is their purpose/motives?The British Film Institutes purpose is to nurture and invest in the UK film makers. They discover and develop new talent. They support a range of films of UK distributors in order for the best British film to be seen from a wide range of audiences.

Why might they fund a film?They might fund a film to support the British Cinema and aid.

Which types of film might they want to fund?They tend to fund films that are British as that is what they specialise in.

If I wanted to get the BFI to fund my film then I would have to make sure that it is based in Britain as that is what they specialise in. If I could prove to them that my film was going to be successful then they would fund me as they like to discover and develop new talent. When funding for my opening sequence I don’t think that asking the BFI would be necessary.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/

Film Studios

Who are they?Film Studios are entertainment companies that are privately owned, they make films.

What is their purpose/motives?Film studios purpose is to make films and make a profit out of them.

Why might they fund a film?They might fund a film in order to gain money. For example if they didn’t fund a film they wouldn’t have an part in it so they wouldn’t receive any money. They also might fund a film in order to get recognition.

Which types of film might they want to fund?Most film companies would go for high profit films for the big companies.

When thinking about funding for my opening sequence they wouldn’t fund me unless I could prove to them that my film would be high profit as they are big companies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_studio

Private Individuals

Who are they?Private individuals tend to be either family or friends who tend to have a bit of money that can cater for a low budget production.

What is their purpose/motives?Their purpose is to help overs achieve in their film making.

Why might they fund a film?They might fund a film as they have the money to and want to be a part of it. They might be friends or family that want to help succeed.

Which types of film might they want to fund?They would fund low budget films.

When getting funding for my opening sequence I could turn to private individuals, however I don’t know anyone personally that would fund my low budget opening sequence.

Competitions

Who are they?Competitions are organised events in which money is available to win.

What is their purpose/motives?The purpose of competitions is to give people a chance. For example say if someone did a competition of whoever's plan of a films the best wins and gets a sum of money.

Why might they fund a film?Competitions might fund a film to give people a chance. A particular charity might not fund or the bank might not give you a loan.

Which types of film might they want to fund?They might want to fund the film that is the best idea in order to achieve and invest the money well.

Crowd sourcing organisations

Who are they?Crowd sourcing organisations are people who fund films normally via the internet. They are asked by small film companies to either put a small/large sum on funding toward the production.

What is their purpose/motives?Their purpose is to become part of the film in order to be successful.

Why might they fund a film?They might fund a film to be helpful in making someone's production go ahead and reaching their goals. It motivates people by wanting to see a project come to life.

Which types of film might they want to fund?Crowd sourcing organisations might fund any films in which look good to help reach goals.

When thinking about funding for my opening sequence I could think about using crowd funding, this would also give me an idea of what people might think about my storyline.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdfunding

http://www.kickstarter.com/

Conclusion

In conclusion , if I had to chose the best option for me when in need of film funding I would mainly turn to local councils or crowd funding. I would choose to use my local council if I was going to film something to do with the local area. I would also turn to the local council as I would only be creating a low budget film. If my local council wouldn’t fund me then I would use crowd funding, this would only be successful if others thought my plan was going to be successful. Also with crowd funding there are many sites for new people. For example when researching about this is came across a website called ‘Kickstart’ in which gives people a chance if they are starting out as a beginner. I wouldn’t chose to use private individuals as I don’t personally know anyone who would fund my opening sequence. I would also rule out any funding companies that are looking for high profits as my film would only be a low budget opening sequence. If I was struggling to get funding from anywhere then I could turn to the bank and ask for a small loan however I would have to make sure that my production would create enough profit in order to pay it back. I wouldn’t use charities as funding as I disagree that we should be borrowing money from them.