Guide to Documentary Filmmaking Pt.2: Funding and budgeting
Filming Discipleship Explored in Belgrade, Serbia.
Funding
If you’re going to make a film, you need a budget. It’s self-explanatory, right? If this is your first film and you’re doing it by yourself, funding is by far the most challenging step. However, the barrier to entry to make and distribute a film through a website like Vimeo is so low that almost anyone can do it. However, where do you start?
Budgeting
For a smaller project, begin by thinking through everything you need to buy and everyone you’ll need to pay to get your film made and sent off to manufacturing and distribution. Here is a template (notice the other tabs in the Google Sheet too) to give you a headstart:
Click image to go to Google Sheets. To make your own click File > Make a copy
I’ve used the above template for budgets as low as $10,000 and as large as $2,000,000. I Keep in mind that it is almost impossible to get your budget 100% accurate, and that’s why the template includes an estimate and an actual column. Continue to update the numbers as money is spent, and add new items as necessary (that’s why it’s important to build in a contingency). Keep track of this all the way through until you pay your final bill.
Methods of funding large projects
If you are looking to fund a larger project (my first feature-length documentary that had a proper budget was $45,000), then the steps are a little different. Here are methods that I have used:
Kickstarter and social media
Investors
Partnerships
Kickstarter and social media
Build an audience on different social platforms—Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. For content, you can share relevant quotes, interesting stories from that time in history, or peculiar and fascinating facts about the subject you’re pursuing. If you find something interesting, there’s a good chance that people on social media will too. Also, people like authenticity, so be willing to peel back the curtain and bring your audience along with you as you work through the process of creating a film.
Once you have built an audience, you can share your idea and a version of your visual treatment. Then, invite people to contribute to your project on Kickstarter. Kickstarter is a powerful tool for creatives because it allows anyone with an idea and vision to see that idea come to fruition and publish it for the world.
Investors
The other way I’ve gone about funding projects is through seeking investors. When I released Through the Eyes of Spurgeon to the public, an individual offered to connect me with people interested in funding my next project. Long story short, I presented my next project (Luther) to a group of investors who ultimately funded it. Here is a modified version of my Luther investor booklet that you can adapt and use to build your pitch:
VIEW LUTHER INVESTOR BOOKLET SAMPLE
If you’re pitching to investors, walk them through your visual treatment and then the investor booklet. After that, present the ask (which is most likely at the end of your investor booklet anyway).
Partnerships
If you’ve been in the industry for a while and started to build some name recognition, you can ask like-minded groups if they would be willing to fund a project. Alternatively, groups might reach out to you with an idea they would like you to bring to fruition.
This was the case with Puritan. Reformation Heritage Books partnered with Media Gratiae to make the definitive documentary and study set on the Puritans. Media Gratiae asked me if I would be the Director and Producer of the project. It fit right alongside projects I had done in the past, and I was happy to enter into this type of partnership.
In part 3 we will be covering the development of a project. Many of these stages blend together but all are important to creating a successful well organized production. If you have a question or found this helpful please leave a comment below or send me an email.
Stay watchful.