alternatives film financing funding financial investment sources

Exploring alternative financial structures in the film industry can be a challenge for independent film companies. Most providers of documentary film funding and documentary grants are looking for creative film projects to finance. You can start by researching information on government grants for documentaries and other sources of documentary funding.

It is recommended to identify documentary film grants and other financial resources so that you will be able to cover things such as film production equipment and supplies, other items may include film camera and lens equipment, not to mention the film set design or the film production lighting and grip equipment. This is not everything you will need so try to get film grant award money from several institutions.

There are four main methods of financing the production of a film, one of which is government grants, while others can include tax schemes, debt finance or equity finance. Film finance is an aspect of film production that occurs before pre-production, so the potential value of a proposed film must be determined. This is something that is difficult to predict, because there is no way to know what the revenue of the film will end up generating. Some things that determine if a film is successful is public taste, artistic merit, release date competition, the quality of the script, cast, and the director.

List of Film Financing Resources:

CPB at Work Grants - Corporation for Public Broadcasting online information offering basic elements of grant writing.

National Endowment for the Arts - Government division offering endowment news, cultural funding and Federal Opportunities.

The Foundation Center

ITVS Funding Information - provides funding, production and promotion of independent film making for public television documentaries, narratives, and children's programming.

Top issues for financiers is whether they will be repaid back their investment. The return they earn is dependent on the success of the film. Other issues are securing title. Since the collateral for any film financing arrangement is based on the ownership of intellectual property rights. So it is advisable to have the film finance transaction start with a title analysis.

Film and Movie Financing and Funding Resources, Guides