Let me tell you something I know about you
You’ve got an incredible short film script but are no closer to getting it made than when you closed Celtx 3 months ago.
Here’s why…
(and no, it’s not because of COVID)
THE SHORT FILM CYCLE
(are you familiar with it?)
✔️ You had an incredible idea
✔️ Thanks to all this time in lockdown you had chance to fully concentrate on writing it
✔️ You got a solid 1st draft done, plus some great revisions
✔️ You’ve even gotten great feedback on it from friends
But now you need to get funding…
❌ You don’t even know where to start looking
❌ And is anyone even funding anything atm???
❌ Now you’re in a BFI guidelines for short film funding rabbithole
❌ You’ve sent over 50 emails & applications just to get rejection after rejection
❓ Maybe there’s something wrong with this script…
❓ What if there’s a ‘trendy topic’ that investors want scripts about?
❓ And oops it’s been 3 months since you finished your script and you’ve got £0 in funding
Raise your hand if you’ve been there 👋
I remember it like it was yesterday (although it was 2017)
As soon as I started the BFI Academy I realised producing was my thing. It was a serious lightbulb moment, and I started marketing myself as a producer (when in reality, I didn’t even know what a release form was)
Out of the blue, I started getting project pitches from writers, including one self-funded project I picked up and produced solo. We shot the whole thing in one 14 hour day, I’d roped friends in as extras and we’d even snuck into London locations with a mic attached to the camera
Then I got to produce another short at the Academy and before I knew it, I had 2 producer credits in the space of less than 3 months
I was developing great ideas, connecting with brilliant filmmakers, convinced this would be the start of a successful career (and I’d finally stop hearing ‘so have you got a proper job yet?’)
But after months of work, effort and trying to stay motivated…
I’d made ZERO of my own films
My CV was a total mess from me doing everything from runner to 1st AD to location scout to dialogue writer to occasional producer
I felt like I was failing big time. I was convinced that there was something I was missing, something that was holding me back. After all, there were people all around me getting funding for their latest script and casting incredible actors
Why couldn’t I do it?
Looking back
(now that I have a full slate, a bank of invaluable connections, finance plans coming out of my ears and an incredible team at my production company)…
It wasn’t that my ideas sucked or that I wasn’t motivated enough
I was just working on the WRONG things
It turns out I was missing something. There was something holding me back. Want to know what it was?
It is never just about the idea.
For successful filmmakers (the ones you worked with a couple of years ago who are now getting press releases in ScreenDaily and Deadline) it’s all about the p-a-c-k-a-g-e and having their own watertight creative systems
(no more relying on 1-2 *almost finished* ideas)
This is where the real stuff happens
That’s how you transition to part-time filmmaker self-funding all of your own projects to an exciting, watchable filmmaker who’s getting new offers, ideas and connections on the daily
When you have this, EVERYTHING CHANGES
- You have a TON of pitch-ready ideas that people are begging to see scripts for
- You have your own buyer’s network so you always have someone to call when you need a producer, an investor or a distributor
- You start seeing audience members coming to you and asking where they can watch your latest film
- People are desperate to talk to you after you screen your film at your 5th festival THIS month
- Profits start rolling in after your latest incredible online launch
