Cart Before the Horse

As I was rewriting my business plan for The House, back in August, I came to a conclussion: independent film production is the only business that is backwards. We "put the cart before the horse". Just think of this, the founder of General Electric, Thomas Edison, may have started with one invention, but the company isn't and was never about an invention. It was about a long-term business model of inventing and improving upon those inventions until it was ranked by Forbes Magazine, in 2009, as the largest company in the world. As an investor buying stock in the company are you investing in a lightbulb? No, you're investing in the entire company. The company could stop making lightbulbs and it woud still be in business.


What do filmmakers do? We focus on getting investors to invest in a "project" not a long-term career. Now I know it's a commonly known practice, and I agree with it, to have investors physically invest in just a LLC for the project and not in your business. The purpose of doing this is many reasons, one of them being that if someone sued you over one project it should protect you from it effecting another. Another reason is that the investors might agree with the purpose or story of your new project but not in the previous one or later projects. There are numbers of reasons, but the physical investment isn't what I'm talking about, but a mental perspective.

Filmmakers seem to focus all their attention on "the now". What does it take to make this specific project. We throw all our energy into these projects, then have very little to show for it. For instance, I think it is ludicrous that filmmakers "rent", not "buy" their equipment. Are we hoping to get rich quick; and land some great deal with a major studio. If you were a dentist who their had their own business they'd rent office space, they'd own equipment. If you were a carpenter you'd own your tools, your truck, your ladders. But filmmakers think short term.

A filmmaker needs to think of the promotion of each film being an exstension of their last. Each time you're promoting your film on the internet, people should be connected to your main website, not just the site for the film. You're building a library of content. Each film gains the attention of more people, which means that you're more marketable than you use to be.

Part of my new strategy with my filmmaking has been to spend time establishing my brand. Making simple statements about the types of projects I create. I have a unique storytelling style and brand that can't be explained just in words. I need to show my audience and the world with visual statements. To produce another feature film to make this statement would be costly in time and money. I am planning on making another feature, but I have decided to establish what you should expect first before spending that time or money. One of the things that I am doing is working with my brother to create "mirco-shorts". These "micro-shorts" are basically what have been termed as Scene Selects. They are either scenes from the films or scenes that could have been in the films. This gives the audience a chance to interact with the material and give me feedback. This also helps me in connecting with the audience members who would be the biggest fan base.

Here's the reaction I get from some other filmmakers: "shorts are not good choices econimically to make..." I used to be of that opinion. "Why make a short that you can't sell when you should make a feature that you could". But here lies the problem. We think of each film in terms of instant financial gradification. And we translate this in how we talk to investors and fans of our projects. We're all about "The Now". Focus on establishing your brand, whether you make money now or not, so that long-term you'll be a cinematic storyteller to be reckoned with.